length and breadth of South Vietnam. The key phrase was concealed in a normal daily news broadcast which was repeated several times throughout the day.
In one night, three province governors were assassinated, twenty-three village chiefs, two American Intelligence officers and the commander of the Manh Ho Strong Tiger Ranger Battalion, one of South Vietnam's most effective combat elements.
Ho's losses had been minimal. Seven men and two women killed and four taken prisoner. A very small price to pay for the amount of fear and disruption they had created. To Troung, Ho had said, "We have been lucky that we have not had more casualties, but even if it has cost twenty of our people for everyone we killed it would be cheap at the price. For that which we do is of more value than the lives of two full divisions. It is always much cheaper and quite often much easier to kill the brains of the enemy rather than his limbs. The losses we have inflicted on the enemy will show dividends for a long time. Now, within every echelon of both the civil and military authorities, everyone win walk in constant fear."
Ho was correct in his analysis. Neither the South Vietnamese nor the Americans trusted their closest friends or servants. Changes were made in trusted aides and house staffs. This did nothing to hinder the work of the KSN. To the contrary, it created more openings for Ho's own people to infiltrate.
Colonel Tomlin had all civilian Vietnamese nationals removed from the camp and would have thrown out the ARVIN troops as well if he could have done it without creating a political stink. With the reports of new assassinations coming nearly on the hour he was firmly convinced that he was at the top of Ho's hit list even above the Premier and General Westmoreland. All of his clerks were issued weapons and MPs stood a twenty-four hour guard on him. He had given up the comfort of his own villa in town and moved into the BOQ, the Bachelor Officer's Quarters, where though it was a little less than luxurious, he felt a bit safer with all the other American officers around him.
Tomlin did one thing right during this process, he appealed to the second strongest instinct in man. Greed! Through all of his Intelligence sources he had sent out the word that he would pay for information and pay well. A thousand in gold for each KSN taken dead or alive and, if desired he would arrange for that individual to be granted emigration status, which could take him to the United States. That was a prize which was almost beyond money. For the chance to escape the hell of Vietnam and thirty years of war, there were many who would have turned in their own brothers, fathers, sisters and mothers. It was a desperate ploy on Tomlin's part but he felt that no sacrifice was too great where his own safety was concerned. He managed to get the sanction of the State Department by showing the First Secretary to the Ambassador that his name was also on the list of those to be killed. The First Secretary arranged, through the Ambassador, for State Department approval of the plan. Then he and the Ambassador decided they would be of more value at this sensitive time in history if they both returned to the United States for a time. Tomlin was green with disgust at the way the cowards had run off to save their own hides. Late that night he called the Pentagon to see if a staff job offered to him six months earlier at the Army Security Agency in Maryland was still open. It wasn't. Cursing, he applied a little pressure to get a Huey to go in and pick up the Kamserai chieftain that Romain wanted. It required a quick incursion into Cambodian territory but the Landing Zone was fairly close to the border, which was ill defined at best.
Tomlin would not take chances. If there was the remotest possibility that Romain could get to Ho, then he'd do everything in his power to see that the sergeant had his opportunity.
Casey wondered if Ho had identified him yet. He knew the Vietcong had
In one night, three province governors were assassinated, twenty-three village chiefs, two American Intelligence officers and the commander of the Manh Ho Strong Tiger Ranger Battalion, one of South Vietnam's most effective combat elements.
Ho's losses had been minimal. Seven men and two women killed and four taken prisoner. A very small price to pay for the amount of fear and disruption they had created. To Troung, Ho had said, "We have been lucky that we have not had more casualties, but even if it has cost twenty of our people for everyone we killed it would be cheap at the price. For that which we do is of more value than the lives of two full divisions. It is always much cheaper and quite often much easier to kill the brains of the enemy rather than his limbs. The losses we have inflicted on the enemy will show dividends for a long time. Now, within every echelon of both the civil and military authorities, everyone win walk in constant fear."
Ho was correct in his analysis. Neither the South Vietnamese nor the Americans trusted their closest friends or servants. Changes were made in trusted aides and house staffs. This did nothing to hinder the work of the KSN. To the contrary, it created more openings for Ho's own people to infiltrate.
Colonel Tomlin had all civilian Vietnamese nationals removed from the camp and would have thrown out the ARVIN troops as well if he could have done it without creating a political stink. With the reports of new assassinations coming nearly on the hour he was firmly convinced that he was at the top of Ho's hit list even above the Premier and General Westmoreland. All of his clerks were issued weapons and MPs stood a twenty-four hour guard on him. He had given up the comfort of his own villa in town and moved into the BOQ, the Bachelor Officer's Quarters, where though it was a little less than luxurious, he felt a bit safer with all the other American officers around him.
Tomlin did one thing right during this process, he appealed to the second strongest instinct in man. Greed! Through all of his Intelligence sources he had sent out the word that he would pay for information and pay well. A thousand in gold for each KSN taken dead or alive and, if desired he would arrange for that individual to be granted emigration status, which could take him to the United States. That was a prize which was almost beyond money. For the chance to escape the hell of Vietnam and thirty years of war, there were many who would have turned in their own brothers, fathers, sisters and mothers. It was a desperate ploy on Tomlin's part but he felt that no sacrifice was too great where his own safety was concerned. He managed to get the sanction of the State Department by showing the First Secretary to the Ambassador that his name was also on the list of those to be killed. The First Secretary arranged, through the Ambassador, for State Department approval of the plan. Then he and the Ambassador decided they would be of more value at this sensitive time in history if they both returned to the United States for a time. Tomlin was green with disgust at the way the cowards had run off to save their own hides. Late that night he called the Pentagon to see if a staff job offered to him six months earlier at the Army Security Agency in Maryland was still open. It wasn't. Cursing, he applied a little pressure to get a Huey to go in and pick up the Kamserai chieftain that Romain wanted. It required a quick incursion into Cambodian territory but the Landing Zone was fairly close to the border, which was ill defined at best.
Tomlin would not take chances. If there was the remotest possibility that Romain could get to Ho, then he'd do everything in his power to see that the sergeant had his opportunity.
Casey wondered if Ho had identified him yet. He knew the Vietcong had
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