Operation Tailwind
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| Operation Tailwind | |||||||
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| Part of the Vietnam Conflict | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Hatchet Force of MACV-SOG | Elements of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) | ||||||
| Vietnam War |
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| Ap Bac – Binh Gia – Song Be – Dong Xoai – Ia Drang – Long Tan – Dak To – Tra Binh Dong –Ong Thanh – 1st Tet – Khe Sanh – 1st Saigon – Lang Vei – Hills 881 & 861 – 2nd Tet – Hamburger Hill – Binh Ba – Ripcord – FSB Mary Ann – Easter '72 – An Loc – Kontum – Phuoc Long – Ho Chi Minh – Buon Ma Thuot – Xuan Loc – 2nd Saigon – Barrell Roll – Rolling Thunder – Pony Express – Steel Tiger – Commando Hunt – Linebacker I – Linebacker II – Chenla I – Tiger Hound – Lima Site 85 – Tailwind – Chenla II – Cambodia |
Operation Tailwind was a covert incursion into southeastern Laos by a company-size element (Hatchet Force) of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (MACSOG or SOG) conducted between 11 September and 13 September 1970, during the Vietnam Conflict. The purpose of the operation was to create a diversion for a Royal Lao Army offensive and to exert pressure on the defenses of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN).
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[edit] The Operation
The CIA in Laos was desperate. Operation Gauntlet, a multi-battalion Royal Lao Army offensive that was to determine the fate of the strategic Bolovens Plateau, was failing. A call went out to SOG's Saigon headquarters; asking if the highly classified unit could insert an element near Chavane and disrupt PAVN defenses. Colonel John Sadler, SOG's commander, replied in the affirmative, even though none of his cross-border reconnaissance teams had ever operated so deep in Laos. Indeed, the target area was 20 miles beyond MACSOG's authorized area of operations.
The mission was launched by three platoons of Command and Control Central's (Kontum) Hatchet Company B and two US Air Force Pathfinder Teams. The 16 Americans and 110 Montagnards, under the command of Captain Eugene McCarley were hele-lifted from a launch site at Dak To to a landing zone (LZ) in a valley 60 miles to the west, near Chavane. The distance to the target was so great that the men were lifted by three US Marine Corps CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters of HMH-463 "Heavy Haulers," and were escorted by 12 AH-1 Cobra gunships.
The Hatchet Force then proceeded to raise hell in the enemy's backyard, which was a SOG speciality. McCarley wasted no time, calling down airstrikes on enemy troop dispositions and equipment caches. The North Vietnamese responded by trying to concentrate their forces, but the U.S. troops and their mercenaries kept on the move, even at night.
On the morning of the third day the Americans hit pay dirt when they overran an enemy bivouac and killed 54 PAVN troops. Why the enemy had not run was a puzzling affair until Hatchet Force discovered a bunker buried beneath 12 feet of earth. Inside they discovered maps and documents. They had overrun the PAVN logistical headquarters that controlled all of Laotian Highway 165. Two footlockers were quickly filled with the intelligence haul and the Hatchet Force now began to look for a way out. The North Vietnamese were closing in, but McCarley punched through to three separate landing zones and the entire force was extracted.
Casualties amounted to three Montagnards killed in action and 33 wounded while all 16 Americans were wounded. Many more men would have died had it not been for the heroic efforts of medic Sergeant Gary Rose, who was reccommended for the Medal of Honor for his actions.
[edit] Controversy
On 7 June 1998 a totally different version of the above events was broadcast during the premire of the Cable News Network's NewsStand CNN & Time in a report entitled "Valley of Death." The segment alleged that Operation Tailwind had been devised simply to eliminate a group of Americans who had defected to the enemy and were holed up in a Laotian village. The broadcast went on to claim that the nerve agent Sarin (GB in US nomenclature) had been utilized during the operation. According to Valley of Death, the agent had been sprayed from aircraft twice - once to prep the village and once during the extraction. It also claimed that over 100 men, women, and children had been killed during the attack on the village.
The broadcast (and the ensuing 15 June Time Magazine article) seemed to have reliable credentials. Admiral Thomas Moorer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time of Tailwind, stated that nerve agents had been used, and not just during Tailwind. Former SOG Lieutenant Randy Van Buskirk (one of the three platoon leaders) and three sergeants lent testimony to support the allegations.
Van Buskirk stated that the Hatchet Force was exposed on an LZ when the agent was deployed to drive the enemy back. He also stated that he saw his men (who were not equipped with gas masks) convulsing when the wind blew the agent back upon the LZ. If a nerve agent had been utilized, the men would have either been quickly incapacitated or they would have died. One key point of proof that was missing from the broadcast and the article was that PAVN, who had chemical warfare units stationed in southern Laos at the time, made no comment on what would have been a propaganda coup of gigantic proportions.
The reports, which indicated that war crimes may have been committed, caused the Pentagon to launch an independent investigation. It concluded the claims made in the program were false. Van Buskirk, it seemed, had forgotten the episode for 24 years and had only recently recalled his repressed memory. He was also suffering from psychological problems. Admiral Moorer was 86 years old at the time of the story and living under assisted care retirement. The difference between poison gas and tear gas may no longer have been clear to him. It was discovered that the statements of the other participants in the broadcast had been selectively edited to fit the story.
[edit] Fallout
CNN and Time Magazine then undertook an internal investigation which concluded (within three weeks) that the journalism was flawed, and that the story be publicly retracted and apologies made. Two key CNN producers of the report, April Oliver and Jack Smith, were fired. Senior producer Pam Hill resigned. Reporter Peter Arnett was reprimanded, he soon left for HDNet and then NBC.
The producers, Oliver and Smith, were chastized, but unrepentant. They put together a 77-page document supporting their side of the story, with the testimony from military personnel that apparently confirmed the use of the nerve gas. Active and retired military personnel consulted by the media, including CNN's own military analyst Major General Perry Smith, noted that a particularly strong formulation of CS gas (a tear gas) was indeed used during Tailwind, but that it should not be confused with sarin, which is categorized as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations [1].
In early July, 1998, CNN News Group Chairman, President and CEO Tom Johnson issued a statement describing the findings of the internal investigation. He pledged acceptance of the findings and reiterated that the allegations in "Valley of Death" and ancillary reports "cannot be supported." He said there was insufficient evidence that sarin or any other deadly gas was used, nor could CNN confirm that American deserters were targeted or even at the camp in Laos.
After their dismissal from CNN, Oliver and Smith maintained the truth of their work. Both brought lawsuits against their former employer. By June of 2000, none of the executives responsible for firing the two, including Johnson, remained with CNN.[citation needed] As of 2006, Ms. Oliver is an attorney at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP [2] and Mr. Smith teaches political science at Loyola University [3].
