Parachuting Into Laos From 400 Ft. Altitude

No Reserve ‘Chute—No Helmet

A Factual Account of a Special Warfare Mission

September 9th, 1970. It is 4 AM. There is no moon. The sky is black. There will be zero visibility for at least another hour.

The military “cargo” plane, a C-130, is painted black, has no markings, and no lights. It is invisible in this sky—black on black.

It is entering airspace over N.E. Laos, flying very low at 400 feet—and slowing air speed down to 100 knots.

From the tail ramp of this Blackbird, a parachutist pushes into the black void. He is rapidly followed by three more jumpers. The “T-10” parachutes are dark in color and are invisible in the ink of this pre-dawn sky.

Each jumper is plunging into the blackness with no reserve parachute and wearing no helmet. Exiting aircraft at 400 feet, parachute canopies will not be fully deployed until they are less than 300 feet above ground. If there is any canopy malfunction, and with no reserve ‘chute, the predictable result will be D.O.A.—Dead On Arrival in the Laotian dirt.

More bizarre details—The aircraft is from United States Air Force Special Operations Squadron, but the jumpers are wearing North Vietnamese Army uniforms, armed with AK-47 rifles (Russian), and two of the men are North Vietnamese.

First man out is Captain Garry Robb, U.S. Army Special Forces. The fourth man is Sergeant First Class Bob Ramsey, also a combat-experienced Green Beret. Number 2 and 3 are Chieu Hoi—North Vietnamese Army defectors who have escaped to South Vietnam and have been running reconnaissance missions with Green Berets against their former comrades. But no man carries any form of identification. This is a highly classified (Top Secret) covert military mission.

What is this strange combination of men, uniforms, equipment, circumstances, and very unorthodox military activity?

This is a reconnaissance (recon) mission to determine whether the multiple radio signals arising from N.E. Laos adjacent to the South Vietnamese border represent North Vietnamese Army (NVA) preparing for a major attack on South Vietnam, or are they electronic decoys to lure B-52 bombers into wasting payloads where there is no enemy.

And why the secrecy? Because neither NVA troops or American soldiers are supposed to be in Laos—according to international agreements created after the dissolution of French Indochina. North and South Vietnam were to be in process of deciding if and how to become united. Laos and Cambodia, which had also been colonies within French Indochina, were to remain neutral and not be involved in the conflicts of the two Vietnams.

North Vietnam soon violated the accords by building a network of roads and sanctuaries into Laos and Cambodia that had become known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This was used by NVA to support the insurgency (Viet Cong) in South Vietnam and to make cross-border assaults followed by rapid retreat to “neutral” sanctuaries.

A Counterinsurgency and Special Activities section in the Department of Defense, with White House approval in 1964, created a Top Secret multi-service military task force as a countermeasure to the rogue activity by the North Vietnamese. This project was named MACV-SOG: Military Assistance Command Vietnam—Studies and Observations Group.

Beginning in 1965, U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) conducted covert missions into Laos and Cambodia to gather intelligence and disrupt activity by conducting raids and ambushes on the Ho Chi Minh trail. Usually, these recon teams consisted of 10 men and were inserted by helicopter.

In the situation necessitating the 1970 mission here described, visual reconnaissance by a low-flying single-engine prop plane Forward Air Controller (FAC) revealed nothing in the area where radio activity in N.E. Laos was being detected. Thus, it became necessary to put “eyes” on the ground. But attempts to insert by helicopters had failed because potential helicopter landing zones (LZ) were being guarded by small teams of NVA.

Thus, a uniquely different tactic was required. An airborne operation is proposed—dropping soldiers in by parachute. Captain Robb, out of MACV-SOG in Da Nang, volunteers to develop an operational plan. For his team, he selects Sergeant Ramsey and two Chieu Hoi, with whom he has prior experience running recon missions cross-border.

A moonless night is a priority. They have 30 days to prepare. The team goes south to Long Thanh, a Special Forces training facility, about one hour southeast of Saigon. The critical element in airborne insertions is the ability of troops to link up once on the ground. An aircraft flying low and slow allows for the best possible grouping of jumpers upon landing. U.S. Army training jumps are from 1250 feet and at no time, ever, from less than 800 feet. The team plans to exit aircraft at 400 feet to minimize dispersal and to minimize time in air during which they may be seen. But even at Long Thanh, a Special Warfare training camp, they are not allowed to jump from less than 800 feet. Here is no record of any parachute jump from 400 feet—with or without survivors.

Because this insert will be in total darkness and linkup must be in absolute silence, the team practices with a small electronic transponder that emits a beam that can be silently detected by a portable AM radio tuned to a specific frequency.

In addition to making multiple night jumps from 800 feet and silently linking up by electronics, they also practice reaction drills in the event of contact with the enemy.

This plan does put the team into hostile territory by static-line parachute jump from dangerously low altitude on this moonless night in September 1970. No reserve ‘chutes and no helmets.

All land safely. Robb and both Chieu Hoi (CH-1 and CH-2) are on an east-facing slope just below a ridgeline. Ramsey is just west of the ridge. Rob buses the transponder. Ramsey and CH-1 silently link up with him on the east side of the ridge. But CH-2 damaged his AM-radio receiver when landing and cannot locate the transponder beam. So, he uses his small URC-10 (pilots’ emergency rescue) radio to contact the C-130 electronic monitor flying overhead—at very high altitude and out of sight. Although he is speaking softly, the other three men hear his voice and quickly find him.

There is as yet no light—visibility is zero. The team sits down in a defensive circle, each man facing outward observing a 90-degree section. They are 45 feet east of the ridgeline, which they now know is a foot trail. They are hidden in 10-foot elephant grass.

As light very gradually begins to slip quietly into the sky, multiple voices and metallic noises (probably cooking equipment) are heard coming from the double canopy area immediately adjacent to the team on their N.E. side. About the same time, they begin to see legs walking southward on the foot trail so close to them. They count at least 100 pairs of legs. Now there is more light, and voices are coming nearer. NVA are beginning to search the area. Perhaps a parachute has been discovered. Robb radios the high-flying C-130, reporting that the team may soon be compromised. The C-130acknowledges.

Very soon a FAC is on station overhead. The team has seen enough and heard enough to estimate that a battalion-size NVA unit is their next-door neighbor, and it is now prudent to make a hasty departure. FAC advises the team that they are surrounded on 3 sides but that 150 feet to their south and east there is a depression in the topographic contour where they could hide and where a helicopter could come in for an emergency extraction.

NVA begin firing random shots in an attempt to lure the intruders into firing back and revealing their position. The team is now running but not shooting. They are racing to reach the depression before NVA might see them.

Surprisingly soon, the UH-1H helicopter arrives. NVA are now firing at the team and at the helicopter. The bird takes multiple hits. Right here, we have a sight for the history books—4 men in NVA uniforms scrambling into a U.S. Army helicopter bearing insignia of the 101st Airborne Aviation Unit!

Once on board, our NVA uniforms fire back at the NVA pursuers. Doorgunner is also firing. As quickly as all are on board, the pilot abruptly lifts off and sharply angles away, heading south and east while rapidly gaining altitude.

No bullets have hit our team. And in spite of multiple bullet holes, the helicopter is flying perfectly and moving out of range of the NVA on the ground.

And now coming into view is a flight of U.S. Air Force gun platforms, F-4 fighter-bombers, and A-1E Skyraider Attack aircraft. They will soon be in assault mode on the NVA stronghold in this denied real estate of Laos.

EPILOGUE:

In addition to all of the unconventional features of this mission, it is also an unqualified success: accurate intelligence has been obtained, no personnel were injured or killed, no assets were lost, and the target was successfully attacked.