“You’re going to TFA, Task Force Alpha, at Nakhon Phanom in Thailand,” said the Air Force Personnel Center in September 1972.
I don’t want to tell the story of the Vietnam War; it’s old news. As are Iraq, Afghanistan, and similar combat areas of the last thirty-plus years. But for me and my contemporaries, at least those who are still with us, the Vietnam era was a huge deal.
That war had not been going well by the late Sixties. The idea of some kind of electronic barrier to stop the North Vietnamese from over-running the South was imagined fairly early on. When the bombing of North Vietnam was halted in 1968 to encourage the North Vietnamese to come to the bargaining table, Igloo White came to the fore.
A highly classified and technical computer system, Igloo White was deployed in late 1967 in an effort to stop or at least hinder the movement of North Vietnam troops into South Vietnam through Laos and the Ho Chi Minh Trail (the Trail). It had three elements:
1 Sensors — dropped by aircraft or implanted by hand along the Trail
2 Relay aircraft — to pick up and relay the sensor signals to the -
3 Infiltration Surveillance Center (ISC) — received and analyzed those signals. That was Task Force Alpha (TFA), my new assignment!
For background and more specifics, click Igloo White.
TFA was a modern 200,000 sq ft building, the largest in Southeast Asia at the time. Because everything there was so highly classified, guards were everywhere. Plus, the complex was surrounded by double-wall steel revetments filled with earth. They were similar to but larger than the revetments that protect aircraft in combat areas.
Because TFA had two IBM 360–65 computers, the building was air-conditioned and had raised flooring. You’ve seen those floors often now, a metal grid with tiles that can be raised to manage the computer cabling connected to those big computers and all the related equipment. (As I mentioned in my story, Burn Detail, we also stored large bags of classified paperwork under those floors.)
As a 24-hour operation, TFA had people coming and going at all hours, most of us on ten-hour shifts. But hey, the folks in Saigon worked twelve hours a day, so who could complain? I worked both day and night shifts during my time there.
My first job at TFA was Tacair Target Analyst, meaning finding targets for fighter aircraft to bomb. My teammates and I identified targets, for example, a truck park or transshipment point. We used several sources of information but always started with aerial photography. Often that included photography taken by the U-2 and DC-130 folks from my previous assignment!
Stereoscopes, special glasses that enabled us to see in 3D, helped us find potential targets under the thick jungle canopy.
“What on earth is a stereoscope?” friends always ask.
“Didn’t you ever use those devices they had at the library in the old days? You’d put a picture, New York City maybe, into this device. It had a separate lens for each eye. You could see clearly the features of the buildings, bushes, traffic, and everything in three dimensions. Same concept. Or maybe you’re too young?” I had to laugh as I said that!
After finding a truck park or a cache of supplies among the trees, we’d figure out the coordinates for use on the flyers’ maps. That was my favorite part of the process, challenging and interesting.
Next, we looked for more information on the site, for example, special classified data, pilot reports, refugee sightings, etc. Then, we’d assign a value to each target based on the quality of the information and the importance to the overall war effort.
Finally, we forwarded the whole package to 7th Air Force in Saigon, the overall headquarters for Air Force units in the Vietnam conflict. Specialists there created the daily fragmentary order, ‘frag,’ the air tasking order sent to all flying units listing the sorties to be flown each day.
It’s always good to see the results of your work, isn’t it? We usually got reports on the results when our targets were attacked, so could often include any significant details in future target writeups.
Now, a few of the memorable events from my TFA days.
Visiting the FACs
One bright morning, Capt. E, our boss, said, “Mona, you know we send one of our targets folks to Danang each month to talk to the FACs (forward air controllers) about the targets, right?”
“Yes, I remember Steve went last month, and Mark went before that, right after I got here.”
“Well, with your arrival, we now have three women and three men in Targets. It’s kind of a burden for those three guys to go so often. So I’d like to send a woman. It’s just a one-day trip, and you’d fly. So what do you say? Are you ready to go?”
Good heavens! What a surprise! I knew that Glo and Gail, the other two women who’d been in Targets before I’d arrived, had wanted to go but were never allowed to. I sure wasn’t about to ruin it for them or future women!
“Sure, if it’s my turn, of course, I’ll go.”
But Lt Col B, our boss’s boss, reminded him that whenever a new guy went, they’d also send one of the previous guys along to show him the ropes.
“Now, with Mona, since the new guy is a gal, we’d have to send one of the men along. And you know how their wives in the States would feel. You know what would happen!”
Can you imagine how completely disgusted and insulted I was? And Glo and Gail, too? We lost a career opportunity, a chance to enhance our skills. Maybe some guys were ‘loose,’ but don’t judge us by those standards!
While I was at TFA, they never did send a woman.
A New Job — A Computer!
After several months in Targeting, I was transferred to the Plot Room, the heart of TFA, as a Ground Surveillance Monitor. Each of us had a desktop IBM 2250s graphics workstation connected to the mainframe (more wires under the floor!).
Those were not like today’s computers, just peripherals. So I couldn’t have googled anything even if Google had existed back then. (And no, that’s not me in this picture. I never had a ponytail!)
The downloaded sensor signals appeared on our screens. We used light pens to trace signal strings on the screen to identify likely movement on the Trail. Then just ‘click’! The recommendation for immediate targeting was automatically sent upstairs to a group of more senior intelligence and operations specialists. They reviewed the proposed target and, if appropriate, called in an immediate strike from specially assigned aircraft in that area. I never got to see those teams in operation since we were too busy downstairs.
My friend Steffi, from my days at McCoy AFB, had cross-trained to intelligence and was then assigned to NKP and TFA. She was also a GSM. In the little free time we had, it was great to have a good friend to compare notes on uniforms, jobs, snakes, and guys!
The Aderholt Trail
“What about snakes? I know people walk at night with flashlights. I was told that’s to be able to see any snakes on the road.” Steffi was worried when she first arrived.
“True, you have to look out for snakes and remember, there are cobras here.”
“We use the Aderholt Trail, a paved path from the base library to TFA,” I recommended.
Named for General H. Aderholt, a former commander of NKP’s 56 Special Operations Wing and a prominent figure in Air Force Special Operations, it was shorter than walking on the road to TFA and was popular with us TFA folks. The only hazard was those snakes!
I had often walked out there for the night shift. I knew that if I saw a snake on the trail, I would immediately turn back. The moon was usually bright, so I could see the trail well enough to manage without a little flashlight. I decided to walk really loudly, hoping to scare any potential snake away before I saw it. Our uniform oxfords, ‘grannies,’ were very sturdy and made a great sound if you really whammed down on the heel as you walked. I never saw a snake on the Trail, and neither did Steffi.
The Candle Party
On the afternoon of Friday, Nov 20, 1970, word came for a party at the Candle hootch. The Candles of the 606th Special Operations Squadron (SOS) flew older C-123 aircraft, mostly at night, to drop bombs and also flares to light up areas of conflict, hence the call sign Candle. A party at their hootch was very unusual because they always flew at night. Several of us women and guys from TFA and other units who were not working that night joined the Candles for the party.
Chatter at the party that night was aimed at figuring out what was going on. Supposedly the entire frag (listing of all combat flights) had been canceled for that night! How very unusual, how unexpected! I remember mutterings about what might be going on, including talk of some strange A-1 drivers (pilots) being seen on the flight line that day.
We found out the next day what was important enough to cancel the whole frag: the Son Tay raid, an effort to free American POWs in North Vietnam. Unfortunately, it was not successful, The prisoners had been moved away from Son Tay. However. we learned later that the POWs in Hanoi were heartened when they learned of the raid, knowing that their Country had not forgotten them!
A Nightingale Incident
One evening, I was home at the hootch when the sound of gunfire erupted. A lot of gunfire. Then, from the wooden walkway outside the hootch, the sound of running and glass breaking scared all of us gals. Peeking out carefully, we saw a security police officer running down the walkway and, with the butt of his gun, knocking out the lights outside of our doors! What’s going on?
Soon, things calmed down. It was a false alarm. There was no shooting, thank goodness. But due to the war, that possibility was always at the back of all our minds. What was all that?
I don’t think I told you that we had a small Special Forces unit, Heavy Hook, at a secluded edge of NKP. They were a very hush-hush bunch, but that night, one of them got a little lively. He set off a nightingale device, a tool used in their combat actions. It’s a screened box implanted with cherry bombs and delayed-action firecrackers. They could be set off to mimic a firefight. Normally they were dropped in enemy territory to confuse things. I never heard, but I imagine the soldier who set it off at NKP was in very hot water.
Our New Year’s Eve Alert
A few weeks later, on New Year’s Eve 1970, NKP was alerted to a probable North Vietnamese Army (NVN) sapper attack, a small operation, common in South Vietnam but very unusual in Thailand. Due to this threat, all parties were banned, whether at the various clubs or at hootches.
A lot of unhappy folks complained about having to work that evening, but I was not one of them. At TFA, we’d had the choice of Christmas or New Year’s off. I chose Christmas, so I was to work on New Year’s Eve anyway. Luck was with us, no attack.
The next morning as I walked down the hall, I ran into our division chief, Lt Col B, and an NCO from our office.
“Did you sleep alone last night?” Lt. Col B said to me in a sneering tone right in front of the enlisted man.
I was shocked and disgusted not only at such a personal implication but also at his sneering tone and look.
“No. Kathy (my roommate) was home.” My response was automatic and immediate. And I walked away from them.
I complained to our next higher boss, the colonel. But he either did not take me seriously or did not want to get involved or damage Lt Col B’s reputation and future in the Air Force. He implied that to pursue the matter would be a highly dangerous act of character assassination.
So, like any good girl would do in those days, I just let it go.
Today, if the colonel had done nothing, I would have raised the issue with his boss, and both of them would have been in big trouble.
Baseball Caps
Life at NKP and TFA was not all danger or inappropriate comments. Uniform issues also showed that we women still had a long way to go in the military.
Aren’t baseball caps almost a required item for most guys, just as they have been for years? The military is no different.
At NKP, as a most bases, each unit had its own color baseball cap with the unit name in front and the guy’s name embroidered on the back. Red, light blue, green, yellow — many different caps!
The TFA guys wore black hats with white embroidery. My favorite was the chaplains’ cap — white, no surprise. And I loved their jeep with its license plate reading ‘God Squad.’ Everyone had seen the Sixties TV show, ‘The Mod Squad.’
We women, unfortunately, didn’t have any uniforms or hats comparable to the fatigues or flightsuits worn by most of the men with their baseball hats.
Finally, the Air Force approved a new, more casual uniform for us gals. A dark blue cotton wrap-around skirt. A light blue, open-collar blouse with roll-up sleeves. And tennis shoes, black or blue! Wow, what a joy. Even better, wearing a hat was OPTIONAL! How many of our hats had been purloined at the O Club or dining hall by guys wanting a souvenir. (Of what, I always wondered …)
“There is no hat option at NKP,” said the base commander (I won’t mention his name.)
Were the guys, the huge majority on base, whining and sniveling, “It’s not fair that we have to wear hats if those girls don’t have to?” I really don’t know, but if so, the colonel caved!
That was then, of course. Today we’d probably have complained and been heard by the higher-ups. Ah, the ‘good’ old days …
Then, Lieutenant Jeanne M. came up with a wonderful idea. “Why can’t we gals get baseball hats? All the guys wear them all the time. Couldn’t we?”
A very loud ‘YES!’ from every one of us.
Scotty, my hootch neighbor, then added another great idea.
“And why shouldn’t we have pink? We are not a separate squadron, but we live in a separate hootch. Pink!”
We all marched down to Armajit’s, the Thai tailor shop, and came home with our baseball caps in a lovely light pink shade, our names and units embroidered in white.
What do you think the base commander said? Not a single word!
Many things really were a challenge in the old days for women. What a different world today is for women compared to back then!
TFA was a unique unit and an unusual assignment. I wish I had learned more about it then, but almost everything was too highly classified. We were all so busy with our own small part of the operation that we just did not have time or the appropriate clearance to learn about everything.
About halfway through my tour, TFA wanted to move a few people to other bases in Thailand and get their inbounds. The TFA rotation cycle always had a large number of people arriving in September and then leaving the next September. The big influx of newbies, just as the most experienced people left, was a major problem.
I volunteered to move; a good idea, as it turned out. I was transferred to Udorn RTAFB, a short Klong ride elsewhere in Thailand.