Colt Terry, Green Beret

10. Pleiku and Martha Raye

10 Pleiku and Martha Raye I     ,     ,                  Detachment C- at Pleiku, Vietnam, as XO under Col. William A. Patch.1 At that time, in the mid-s, a number of field-grade officers were transferring into Special Forces in Vietnam so that their records would show combat in a Special Forces unit—a card punched on the way up their career ladder. Patch, the son of a general, had no prior experience with Special Forces; as Colt recalls, he had just come from the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and was assigned to the C-team. When Colt was first introduced to the colonel, Patch commented that he thought they might have met before. He did not remember Colt from their previous meetings, and the XO did not remind him. Indeed, he had met Patch when Colt was a young major stationed at Fort Jackson. Assigned to participate in a war game as part of planning for an invasion of Cuba, Colt had been the airborne advisor to a Marine Corps general and a navy commander in charge of the preparations. Patch was then in the d Airborne Division, directing the main element to be parachuted into “Cuba” on the simulated invasion. The commander’s staff, which included Colt, was assigned to play the role of the enemy. Colt had read an obscure top-secret intelligence report indicating that Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro had his tanks driven onto lowboys (trucks that haul cranes), chained down, and parked in underground bunkers in Havana ; that way, he could quickly dispatch them at high speed to the location of an invasion. Castro believed that he could have those tanks rolling off the trucks so quickly that invading troops would be wiped out. Because the intelligence was classified top secret, Colt figured that it was probably true. Based on this information, he did what Castro would have done, deploying his tanks rapidly on trucks. His tactics resulted in Patch’s men being wiped out during the simulated invasion of Cuba. The colonel did not like that at all. Colt gave all the credit to the intelligence report. In Vietnam Colt grew to really respect Patch’s leadership style and felt      that he definitely turned things around for the better. In his opinion, Patch became an outstanding Special Forces commander, partly because he was an inclusive leader. As his XO, Colt had a vital part in helping the colonel plan theC-team’soperations.PatchalsoutilizedColt’stenyearsofexperiencewith Special Forces, realizing that he could lean on the major and count on him for straight answers.2 Even so, while Colt was XO of Detachment C- at Pleiku, he sometimes wondered if Colonel Patch just liked him a lot or possibly subconsciously dislikedhimalot .ThecolonelkeptassigningColttothemostdangerousmissions. Each time, Patch joked, or so it seemed, “What’s it gonna take to get you killed, major?”Ofcourse,ColtalwaystoldhisCOthateachassignmentwasa“pieceof cake.” Colt really did not need help from Patch to endanger his own life. C.  ,  , , -, redheaded pilot, visited Colt at Pleiku. Conway had been with Special Forces back in the States and had been a member of the Armed Forces Day rappelling demonstration team with Colt in Washington, D.C. He had transferred out of Special Forces to attend army flight school. Conway and another pilot, Charlie Thompson, arrived at Pleiku in two Mohawks—twin-engine, twoseater ground-support bombers. In his Tennessee drawl Conway said to him (as Colt recalls), “Sir, I heard you’re up here kickin’ the VC’s ass.” Colt responded, “Ya got that right.” Conway, speaking for himself and Thompson, added, “We wanna come up here and fight along with y’all.” Colt was flattered but warned, “You don’t wanna do that. You’ll get yourself killed.” Conway countered, tauntingly, “We can’t live forever.” Colt asked, “What d’ya got out there?’ Conway answered, “Two Mohawks.” The major looked them up and down and, with a gleam in his eye, acquiesced . “Okay, how ’bout flyin’ a mission for me?” Conway said, “You got it, sir.” Thompson agreed too. Colt outlined the mission. Some of his men were operating on the Cambodian border near Duc Co. The Special Forces Detachment A- camp at Duc Co, also known as Chu Dron, was opened in May, , and continued to operate until it was turned over to the control of the South Vietnamese Army    on October , .3 The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) was reported to be...