I have no idea why you think my experience should make my perspective any more or less valuable. But for the record:
I really thought I said all I needed to on this issue. I said where I was, and when I was there. I also told you exactly what my choices were. So you KNOW it was not my choice to go there. I also told you the qualifications I had that enabled me to attain the "deal" I was presented to avoid prison time.
I also said I made the wrong choice. I would have been better off in prison, and best off fleeing to Canada, where I would have been pardoned along with all the others by President Ford.
If you look at a map, and see where the Shan is, you will understand that I was involved in a criminal endeavor on behalf of our Department of State. We had no legal right to be in Shan Country.
Of course, we never played by the rules. A lot worse was going on in Cambodia then, and we just looked away. Were we justified in Cambodia? More than likely we had "just" purposes, but no legal right. Same in the Shan.
I was technically NOT sent there to be "in combat" and even though I was shot, I never knew by whom. I have a scar, but don't know who pulled the trigger. I was captured and held prisoner along with 4 others. We were kept in a "tiger cage" (covered hole in the ground), where we froze at night and cooked during the day. Each day of that was far worse than a month in any american prison, I assure you. Our "guards" were 15 or 16 year old boys with weapons they did not know how to use. It ended up making them dead. And making us "free". And no, I was rescued. I was no Rambo.
I expect that those who attacked us were not military combatants. More likely armed farmers...like you see in the movies these days in places like Columbia. We were far north of where the American armed forces were fighting. We were collecting photographic and mapping information to determine the source and the routes used by the ARVN to transport opium and other drugs south to the war zones, which at the time was a big concern of our brilliant leadership. The powers that be thought we were losing the war because the American soldiers were incapable of fighting due to their use of these easily obtainable drugs. So it became a big issue.
The truth is that we were losing the war because we were fighting an enemy on their turf. Defending their HOMELAND. They were fighting for their country. We were not. The British had small odds of winning the Revolutionary War here for the same reason.
Look at a map. Even when we were in Shan, we did not usually know what country we were in. If we were in Thailand, we were there rightfully. Hell, we were just tourists with cameras. And weapons for hunting. And fine press credentials too. Laos, and Burma, we were illegal. We had no GPS, and we had no accurate maps. That was our purpose. To make accurate maps and to observe the activities on the trails and rivers.
If you want to know more, see what you can learn about the HoChiMinh Trail, and the Mekong River. There will probably be a Disney Land there sometime soon. If the economy ever gets back on track.
Think long term. War only makes things permanent for it's casualties. I hear Saigon is quite a tourist destination now. As is Tokyo, as is Berlin. And Cairo and Jerusalem used to be. And Beurit was not so long ago, the Paris of the Middle East. Oh, yeah, Paris!
Peace, and Good Hunting.
Don't keep trophies though, they end up being in bad taste.
Rs7
....and no u didnt miss it, you have an open invitation.....Just remember to keep an open mind; we are all in this together....take care and good luck spinster...