Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #360… “We talked about it, we never achieved it.”… but first…
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED SIXTY of another look at the air war over North Vietnam fought fifty years ago…
28 FEBRUARY 1967… HEAD LINES and LEADS from The New York Times on a rainy day in the big city…
Page 1: “Johnson Asserts New Blows Seek to Shorten War”…“President Johnson, appearing confident about the war and stoical about his critics said today that he had ordered new types of military action in Vietnam to hasten the end of fighting. He said at a news conference, ‘There is no point in labeling the action a step-up.’ He backed away from calling it more ‘far reaching.’ Expressing confidence that the bombing and shelling of North Vietnam was hurting the Communist side, Mr. Johnson said: ‘I believe that what I am doing–the course open to me now– is best calculated to bring that peace about…I don’t mean that I can do that tomorrow. I don’t think I can. But I don’t see any other alternative there is to provide the maximum deterrent to people who believe aggression pays, with a minimum cost to us–and them.’… To those who would have him take even more military action, such as mining the port of Haiphong, Mr. Johnson said he was only simply doing what he thought best. He knows he could be wrong, he said, and may at times been late in deciding but he has to go with his best judgment. Mining Haiphong has been ruled out for fear of a direct military clash with the Russians.”… Page 1: “Hanoi Scores U.S. Mining as Proof of Peace ‘Hoax'”…The Hanoi radio today denounced the mining of rivers in North Vietnam by United States Navy planes as a new escalation of the war by the United States imperialists. It said that urgent protests had been filed with the International Control Commission…it also said that the mining proved that the United States seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict was a hoax.”…Page 1: “Humphrey Says Vietnam Vote Will Be Turning Point”…”Vice President Hubert Humphrey said today that summer would be the turning point in the war…and…the elections in South Vietnam will be a significant factor in bringing about de-escalation and hopefully movement toward a peaceful settlement. He made his remarks at news conference in Florida at the meeting of the leadership council of the AFL/CIO.”…
Page 1: “Hanoi Delegation Reaches Rangoon”… “A high level North Vietnamese diplomatic mission is in Rangoon, Burma, at a time when UN Secretary U Thant is vacationing in his homeland (Burma), The purpose of the North Vietnamese group is shrouded in secrecy. U Thant declined to comment on the arrival of the North Vietnam delegation. At the same time Arthur J. Goldberg, United States delegate to the U.N. is in Burma on a fact-finding mission in Asia for President Johnson.”… Page 1: “Hoffa Faces Early Jailing As High Court Denies Appeal”...”The Supreme Court cleared the way today for the early imprisonment of James R. Hoffa for refusing to reconsider its decision upholding his eight year sentence for jury tampering. Hoffa is the former head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.”… Page 1: “Draft of Youngest Urged in Study Made by House Panel”… “A special study commission on the draft appointed by the House Armed Services Committee recommended today that the youngest men rather than oldest be inducted first. The panel, headed by General Mark Clark called for continued college deferments except for graduate students in non-critical fields. It rejected outright the idea of using a random selection process or a lottery. thus the stage is set for a Congressional fight in the months ahead. The present law expires 1 July.”… Page 1: “Negro Leader Killed by Blast in Natchez, Mississippi”… “The Treasurer of the NAACP, Wharton Jackson, was killed tonight when an explosion ripped his truck and sent it crashing into a utility pole. The blast was believed to have been set off by a delayed action bomb as Mr. Jackson drove down Minor Street of Natchez, a Stronghold of the KluKluxKlan…”... Page 12: “Air Academy Toll in Scandal is 40”… “…21 more cadets are involved in the inquiry over cheating and honor code violations at the Air Force Academy…13 cadets have been cleared and 40 have resigned. The total number of resignations could reach 60.”…Page 1: “Wholesale price of gasoline is $.25/gallon.”…
28 FEBRUARY 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times: No coverage of air war over North Vietnam. “Vietnam:Air Losses” (Hobson) Three fixed wing aircraft losses in Southeast Asia on 28 February 1967…
(1) CAPTAIN R.C. MAYS was flying an O-1E Bird Dog of the 2oth TASS and 504th TASG out of Danang and forward deployed to a strip at Dong Ha. CAPTAIN MAYS was flying over the DMZ when hit hard by ground fire. He turned south and bailed out, landing in the buffer zone where he was rescued by an Air Force helicopter.
(2) MAJOR J.F. CLAYTON and 1LT K.C. SIMONIN were flying an F-4C of the 558th TFS and 12th TFW out of Cam Ranh Bay and were hit by ground fire on their second attack on a mountain pass road at Ban Kale. They successfully ejected from the battle damaged and faltering aircraft and were rescued by an Air Force HH-3E.
(3) CAPTAIN J.S. WALBRIDGE was flying an F-105D of the 421st TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat on an armed reconnaissance mission and participating in an attack on trucks near the Mugia Pass when hit by ground fire. He was able to clear the target area to the west and was rescued by an Air Force HH-3E, possibly the same helicopter that rescued Clayton and Simonin less than an hour before. oohrah for the HH-3 guys!!!
RIPPLE SALVO… #360… One of the enduring PRINCIPLES OF WAR is UNITY OF COMMAND… In fact, unity of command is an essential principle in any organization. Pulling together versus pulling apart.“Unity of command means that all forces operate under a single commander with the requisite authority to direct all forces employed in pursuit of a common purpose.” Unity of purpose. Unity of effort. Common objectives. Unified action.
SUN TZU: “He whose ranks are united in purpose will be victorious.”
Hear now the 1990 testimony of Secretary of State Dean Rusk on the subject of “unity of command” during the years of Rolling Thunder…and the war in Vietnam… (Dean Rusk: “As I Saw It,” page 453)… I quote…
“In retrospect, one mistake we made was not having a unified command. Our military always talked about unity of command, but we never achieved it. The battle inside South Vietnam was under the command of General Westmoreland, the bombing of North Vietnam was under the command of CINCPAC (commander in chief, Pacific) in Hawaii, and the B-52’s remained under the operational control of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington. In addition, Westmoreland did not have direct command of South Vietnamese or other allied forces such as the South Koreans and the Australians. The Joint Chiefs of Staff gave CINCPAC in Hawaii orders for the war effort, which were in turn relayed to Westmoreland in South Vietnam. I thought intervention of CINCPAC was an unnecessary level of command that fueled bickering over priorities and resources.
“Another unfortunate consequence of split commands was that each headquarters thought it could win the war by itself. CINCPAC thought bombing the hell out of North Vietnam would do it. That psychology didn’t always coordinate with Westmoreland’s needs in South Vietnam. We should have had a single command, so that all allied forces could concentrate on the primary mission of keeping North Vietnam from overrunning South Vietnam by force. I raised this with Bob McNamara, but again, because of other problems with the Joint Chiefs, he didn’t want another.
“Relationships between our military and political commands were cumbersome. On the military side, as noted, the chain of command came from Westmoreland in Saigon back through CINCPAC in Hawaii to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On the political side the ambassador was the president’s in-country representative, responsible for all aspects of the American presence in Vietnam, including the military. The relationship was hard to manage and could only be worked out by the personalities involved…. “
So in 2001, when the United States decided to go to war in Afghanistan, one would suppose the lessons of Vietnam (that led to 58,000 KIA and retreat) concerning “unity of command” would have been foremost in the minds of our leaders… except… Wikipedia, in defining “unity of command” cites the following as an example of what happens when you violate this principle… “When the unity of command principle is violated problems quickly develop. A recent example involves the unprecedented departure of this principle in Afghanistan in 2006 when Combined Forces Command–Afghanistan passed control of the ground fight to the International Security Assistance Force. This caused operations to split between unified commanders in charge of U.S Central Command, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the U.S Special Operations Command, which caused significant operational problems.”…
In 2017 Washington: Our survival as a nation requires unity. Unfortunately, our leader and fellow citizens remain ignorant of, or oblivious to, this paramount principle. Abe Lincoln understood: he warned that a house divided against itself cannot long stand.
CAG’s Quotes for 28 February: Karl Von Clausewitz: “Genius, dear sirs, never acts against the rules.”… Patton: “Put your heart and souls into being expert killers with your weapons.”…
Lest we forget…. Bear
