Phantom Warriors, Book 2

Introduction As a matter of historical importance, the 1982 Veterans Day dedication of the Vietnam Memorial was a time of realization, of opening wounds that had scabbed over in time, but now were bleeding profusely. It was also a time intermixed with extreme joy and pride. I distantly recall now a gathering in Washington, D.C., during the dedication of the memorial in November 1982, when a handful of LRRP, LRP, and Rangers, along with author Lee Lanning and publisher Owen Lock, gathered in a hotel hospitality suite to comfort ourselves with men who had common experiences and to seek refuge from the scores of news reporters lurking about looking for stories. In the course of our impromptu meeting we recalled fallen teammates, both American and Vietnamese, and courage and moral resolve under tremendously trying circumstances. We also spoke of the courage and ability of the North Vietnamese Army, Viet Cong, and Warsaw Pact counterparts who faced us, serving as the measure of the danger, daring, and resolve we contested as members of LRRP/Ranger units, lest we be delusional in our chest beating and paint a fantasy picture of extremes that would for the most part be untrue to what really took place. I was grateful for this, for, as a Sicangu Lakota Kit Fox soldier, it had been a long-standing tradition in the Tokala Society to recognize your enemy and his courage as a measure of your own ability and courage. A long-dead Sicangu Tokala elder once said, "If you cannot respect your enemy as your equal, how can you respect yourself?" However, over Jack Daniels, copious rum and Cokes, and sundry drinks, a consensus was reached among us former LRRPs, LRPs and Rangers: we needed a formal organization, an organization capable of representing and substantiating our combined historical experiences. In relation to this organization, a conduit would be needed to give our folks the opportunity to tell their stories, not in the manner of the clinical, official, military unit histories and after-action reports, but more in the form of individual and team oral histories based on accurate recollection of their missions. One of the chief drivers behind all of this was 101st Airborne Division LRRP/Ranger veteran Kenn Miller, whose influence among us grew out of his LRRP experience and his extremely well-received novel based on it, Tiger the LRRP Dog. Inspired by Miller's book and the advice of Owen Lock, Lee Lanning, and some of the boys who were lawyers, we were reminded by those gathered in that hospitality suite that organization and media are and were important in telling our story. Armed with this knowledge, the task was then to "operationalize" an organization and to allow a conduit to develop to debrief our guys and formulate individual and team experiences into accurate stories. Most of us felt an urgent need to organize in order to counter the tales of the wanna-bes, for lack of a better word, and those who are prone to rewrite fact so as to build their social standing within and without the LRRP/Ranger community. We had all watched the Special Forces and SEAL veterans experience the "Rambo phenomenon" as the Vietnam Memorial festivities unfolded around us in 1982; it appeared that every "ragbag" in the world was drawn to the Wall and to the reunions. All of course were the "only survivors" of outrageously improbable missions, and in most cases their descriptions of their exploits outdid the authentic veterans of real missions. Granted, time and the individual's perception of combat often affect the description of actual events but, clearly many of those claiming special warfare experience in Vietnam-as LRRPs/LRPs/Rangers, SEALs, Force Recon and Battalion Recon, Special Forces, Air Commandos, etc.-had penetrated no closer to actual combat than the local surplus store. That said, we must discuss the importance of the evoluLinderer, Gary A. is the author of 'Phantom Warriors, Book 2', published 2001 under ISBN 9780804119405 and ISBN 0804119406.