Thus, a truly international conglomerate of soldiers and sailors launched the combined operation against Doan-10 on 22 June 1969. One of this officers very first acts was to remove French officers from the Vietnamese Navy and Marine Corps Headquarters. Collection Number: HDCL/34 (Formerly COLL/353). In September 1966, Captain Phan was removed from his post, and command of the Navy passed to Lieutenant General Cao Van Vien of the Vietnamese Army. Second, there was (and to a degree there continues to be) a profound reluctance on the part of Vietnamese ground force commanders to commit their troops to the aggressive river bank patrols essential to the effectiveness and safety of naval operations on narrow and restricted waterways. Here are the Named Campaigns: 1) Vietnam Advisory Campaign - 15 March 1962 - 7 March 1965 2) Vietnam Defense Campaign - 8 March - 24 December 1965 3) Vietnamese Counteroffensive - 25 December 1965 - 30 June 1966 4) Vietnamese Counteroffensive Phase II - 1 July 1966 - 31 May 1967 PC 04 and LSM 405 immediately began a run to the beach, but at a range of about 500 yards encountered small arms and automatic weapons fire. As planning progressed, the concept gradually evolved to provide a floating base, with accommodations for a full Army brigade and associated Navy support elements. After 30 years and learning the computer and finding VetFriends, I went to my first reunion of the USS Navasota AO-106. The American boat captain would be the last to leave, and control and ownership of the boat would remain with the U. S. as long as he was aboard. The latter unit formed the naval component of the joint Army-Navy Mobile Riverine Force. Advisors reported that even these statistics did not reflect the true situation, since units were frequently only "administratively employed. At the beginning of the "American period, the Vietnamese Navy had a fleet of over 100 modified landing craft, two LSMs, two PCEs, and three MSCs, almost all of which had originally been transferred to the French through the American naval aid program during the Indochina War. Vast numbers of people live on or near the rivers, canals, and seacoasts. Digital Proceedings content made possible by a gift from CAPT Roger Ekman, USN (Ret.). The Junk Force was seriously undermanned, with some Coastal Groups reduced to little more than 50 per cent of authorized strength. In January 1964, a team of eight naval officers, headed by Captain Phillip H. Bucklew, met in Saigon to study the infiltration problem. In September, Operation Chuong Duong struck at the same area, and in October the first of a series of operations called Wolf Pack lashed out at Doan-10. They eat with them. The Coastal Surveillance Force (it had moved its headquarters to Cam Ranh Bay in July 1967) employed 1051 officers and men, exclusive of those attached to Seventh Fleet units temporarily assigned to the task force. The Naval Advisory Group reported that "there were cases of failures to carry out orders and missed commitments, but not as many as might have been predicted.. The Marlins were phased out of service by 1967. The minimum requirement established was that pilot programs be underway and materials stockpiled to complete construction with the arrival of the first dependents at the ACTOV bases. With relatively few exceptions, our sailors, Amend and Vietnamese, accepted the challenge and perform well in the months following the implementation the plan. On 21 February 1965, the Commander of the U. S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam requested the Commander-in-Chief Pacific and the Commander-in-Chief Pacific Fleet to send representatives to Saigon to plan a combined U. S.-Vietnamese Navy patrol effort. By the spring of 1970, the personnel strength of Naval Forces, Vietnam had declined by almost 25 per cent since the start of the ACTOV program, and it was projected that by the following August another 25 per cent or more would possibly go home. The second aim was to "pacify" certain vital trans-Delta waterways,7 and the third was "to stir up the enemy and keep him off-balance" by Market Time raider incursions into the rivers of the Ca Mau peninsula. Pacification programs took hold, abandoned hamlets were resettled, and the economy improved. In the absence of ground forces, the enemy could employ a further application of the strategy of sanctuary, for our boats could pursue" only to the maximum effective range of their installed weapons. In the fall of 1968 our naval advisory effort in Vietnam was entering its nineteenth year. From an operation which at one time was thought to have been assigned to the Vietnamese Navy because no Vietnamese Army officer in his right mind could be found to accept it, the Rung Sat Special Zone by early 1970 had become a model for what could be made of a seemingly hopeless situation, given leadership, singleness of purpose, and a spark of imagination. Lieutenant Commander Thoai, apparently to effect the further destruction of the trawler, ordered both units to proceed into the harbor. of the Army Pamphlet 672-3. While some additional men were absorbed by the training program and by the Sea Forces, many names simply appeared on a padded payroll, or belonged to a disproportionately growing shore establishment. The operation achieved immediate and striking success in its objective of easing pressure on the Long Tau shipping channel. The Special Forces company commander displayed great reluctance to use his men to assist in moving the remaining cache material to the beach and refused to order an end to the looting of medical supplies, which took place on a large scale. Many of those ships were tired relics of our great merchant fleet of World War II, soon to be consigned to the scrap heap. These in turn were tied in with the U. S. Task Force 115 operations through the various Coastal Surveillance Centers. Stripped of its top leadership, and its remaining officers in a state of high excitement and confusion, the Vietnamese Navy careened along an uncertain path. Many long-standing deficiencies were corrected and the worst of the factionalism rapidly disappeared. Under the terms of the Geneva agreement, a military demarcation line was established near the seventeenth parallel in Vietnam. Genesis of the U. S. Navys Role in the War. On 2 March 1968, in recognition of the increasing importance the northern group was assuming, the commander of the Clearwater task force moved his headquarters to Cua Viet. Harkins became the senior U.S. military commander in South Vietnam and responsible for U.S. military policy, operations and assistance there. The Roman Catholic Church advised its adherents to abandon ancestral homes and fields and seek sanctuary in the South. On 7 August, a Joint Resolution of the Congress affirmed that the United States would continue to support the Republic of Vietnam and "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States. By the end of the year, the U. S. military strength in Vietnam numbered about 23,000 officers and men. Martin P5 Marlin seaplanes, operating from tenders, and Lockheed P2V Neptunes flying from Tan Son Nhut and later from Cam Ranh Bay, carried out patrol missions across the river entrances south from Vung Tau to An Thoi. The NavForV program did not stop with the construction of shelters. Vietnamese flags fluttered from the tops of tall cay go poles in each hamlet, and from crude flagstaffs on virtually all water craft, and from the fronts of most of the peoples hootches or shelters. As the U.S. military presence in South Vietnam grew, MACV quickly outgrew the Pasteur Street quarters and expanded into a proliferating number of buildings throughout downtown Saigon. SEALS were used on special warfare and intelligence missions. Particularly in the years following 1964, enormous sums of money and huge quantities of material and equipment were transferred. A year later there were virtually no U. S. Navy combat craft in Vietnam With wholly American crews. As in the past, we will honour those who served in the RCN, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the Canadian Merchant Navy during the Second World War's Battle of the Atlantic, as well as the Korean War. On 15 May 1964, the Navy Section became the Naval Advisory Group when the Military Assistance Advisory Group was merged into the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. Naval Forces, Vietnam Monthly Historical Summary for July 1969 Accession Number: ADA953992 Title: U.S. They were given hot meals, small gifts, and services which ran the gamut from sampan motor repair to the grinding of woodcutters axes on a wheel specially acquired for that purpose in Nha Trang, and shipped to Sea Float by CTF 115. Naval Advisory Group Vietnam Patch. The period after World War II saw a number of associated Marine Corps formed in the republics of China, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. Under the original concept, the LSD and LST were to anchor off the mouths of the major rivers in the Delta and serve as operational bases, each supporting 30 PBRs. [10]:397[11]:48 U.S. air support operations into Cambodia continued under USSAG/7th AF until August 1973. Lockheed P3A Orions from Sangley Point in the Philippines patrolled north of Vung Tau to the seventeenth parallel. The June attacks in the Long Tau made it imperative that effective and decisive action be taken against Doan-10. Size: 3 1/2" x 4 1/4" SKU# P303. Three were destroyed, and the fourth was forced to turn back before she entered the "contiguous" zone. Until March 1965 and the beginning of direct U. S. participation in the Vietnam War, the Navy served in an advisory capacity. The advisory effort, meanwhile, grew rapidly. To carry out the politically necessary task of Vietnamizing the naval war, it was estimated that the Vietnamese Navy would require an additional ten thousand men on top of the seventeen and a half thousand it then had. By the spring of 1970 it was believed that appropriated funds could be found to finance 10,500 of these. The arrival in March of elements of the second River Assault Squadron, RAS 11, permitted the deployment of the first units of RAS 9 to other parts of the Delta. The Great Green Fleet of the Delta, the brave PBRs, the Swift boats, and the Brown Water sailor himself will one day soon belong to the past. This undoubtedly irritated those Vietnamese officers who felt their functions were being usurped by the Americans. The objective of the raiders was "to stir up the enemy and keep him off-balance," but other dividends were soon realized in terms of enemy equipment destroyed, and in the increased commitments he was forced to make in defense of his well entrenched position in the Nam Can. There was always the danger that one of his attacks might succeed in sinking a large ship in the deep water channel, thereby disrupting the flow of supplies to Saigon. The increase in Vietnamese naval manpower, a modest sign of change at best, is a typical example of the handicaps suffered by the program. Under Vietnamese protection this war-ravaged region might be coaxed back to life. Near the firing line, supply operations had to be carried out in the shortest possible time. In all, more than 800,000 people are thought to have fled the North, while less than 100,000, including Viet Minh troops, opted to make the journey in the opposite direction. In the same month the Vietnamese Navy was finally persuaded to absorb the Junk Force into the regular Navy, a move long urged by advisors as one which might lead to increasing the effectiveness of coastal patrols. [11]:52 The DAO was activated on 28 January 1973 with United States Army Major General John E. Murray, formerly MACV director of logistics, as the Defense Attach and United States Air Force Brigadier General Ralph J. Maglione, formerly the MACV J-1 (Director for Manpower and Personnel), as deputy Defense Attach. The people came from all over the Delta to harvest the wood and fish of the area. It pointed out, however, the essential futility of a sea quarantine in the absence of an accompanying effort to block inland infiltration routes. Cang, who had been promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral in the interim, was relieved of his command, as were the mutineers pending completion of an investigation of the affair. Training activities ashore suffered from a lack of facilities and a lack of instructors. It was the opinion of the conference that "the best tactic to interdict coastal traffic infiltration would be to assist and inspire the Vietnamese Navy to increase the quality and quantity of its searches., With regard to the second category of infiltration, it was recommended that a conventional patrol be established by U. S. Navy ships and aircraft. In June the first operational test of the offshore support ship concept was initiated when the USS Tortuga (BD-26), which had arrived in May, anchored near the mouths of the Co Chien and Bassac Rivers. 7 In this sense "pacify" means: establishing control over the people who live on the banks, ending Viet Cong tax extortion, denying the waterways to enemy use, while at the same time, restoring the use of the waterways to friendly civilian and military use. The Vietnamese leadership, on which the ultimate success of the plan rested, was already heavily burdened. Designated as Task Force Oregon, it included the 196th Infantry Brigade; the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division at Chu Lai Base Area; and the 1st Brigade, 10lst Airborne Division. "[8]:270, The air-conditioned structure of two-story prefabricated buildings, a little more than a third the size of its Washington namesake, included twelve acres of enclosed office space. "U. S. Merchant Shipping and Vietnam, by Lane C. Kendall in Naval Review 1968. [3]:278 Lieutenant General Paul D. Harkins, the Deputy Commander in Chief, U.S. Army, Pacific, who, as the commander-designate for the task force headquarters (HQ) in the event of operations in Southeast Asia, had participated in the planning for such operations, was appointed commander and promoted to general. This in turn committed Hanoi to a sharp expansion of its infiltration effort. In essence, the early planning envisioned a highly mobile force of river assault craft and embarked troops capable of sustained search and destroy missions in the Delta. They agreed that a study should be conducted on the subject. Teachers were found and hired. Lieutenant Commander Thoai then arranged for a company of Vietnamese troops from the 23rd Division at nearby Tuy Hoa to be lifted into the area by the Vietnamese Navy's Landing Ship, LSM 405. It was the Admirals view at the time that "Vietnamese Navy participation is the key to the success of this operation. To underscore the importance of the cooperative aspects of the venture, a Vietnamese naval officer was assigned as second in command of the MATSB. In September 1965, Rear Admiral Ward raised the question of naval command relationships in Vietnam with CNO and with General Westmoreland. PRICE The Bucklew Report was critical of the sea patrol then in effect, and recommended augmenting it with U. S. forces. Operation Search Turn was launched on 2 November 1968 and succeeded in establishing the first of the interdiction barriers, on the Rach Gia Long Xuyen and Ca San Canals in the upper Mekong Delta. Area clearance and mopping-up operations continued until 24 February, plagued as before by continued foot dragging and intransigence. U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) was a joint-service command of the United States Department of Defense. MACV was first implemented to assist the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) Vietnam, controlling every advisory and assistance effort in Vietnam. At this time a message was received, its origin unclear, which postponed the scheduled landing. (5) That ComNavForV be responsible to ComUSMACV for logistic support of all naval forces, including III MAF in I Corps. The Commander of the task force could say with obvious pride that "Commanders involved in this unique operation felt that they had succeeded in gaining the most difficult of all military advantages in this warsurprise.. [9]:18, The DAO was established as a subsidiary command of MACV and remained under the command of commander of MACV until the deactivation of MACV on 27 March 1973. Vessels in the contiguous zone, extending 12 miles from the coast, suspected as infiltrators were also made subject to search and seizure. The Commander-in-Chief Pacific Fleet, common superior of Commander Seventh Fleet and Chief, Naval Advisory Group, determined which units would be assigned. The military decisions that were taken at this time were not, nor could they be, based solely on our operational experience in the war. Rear Admiral Lorenzo S. Sabin, U. S. Navy, Commander Amphibious Group Western Pacific, was assigned responsibility for aiding the exodus from the North. It was assumed that infiltration into South Vietnam by sea fell into two categories: (1) coastwise junk traffic mingling with the more than 50,000 registered civilian craft which plied the coastal waters of South Vietnam; and (2) vessels of trawler size or larger which approached the coast on a generally perpendicular line. The EOD and UDT teams were often used interchangeably to destroy the enemy's fortifications. At first, the Annex was composed of two PCFs, and LSIL, and the Vietnamese hospital ship. Broad areas of the banks were soon taken over by the drying catch. With an initial authorized strength of 216 men (113 Army), MACV was envisaged as a temporary HQ that would be withdrawn once the Viet Cong insurgency was brought under control. The situation inside South Vietnam was becoming critical, and a rapid buildup of our military strength seemed imperative to keep the Government from going under. The force levels decided upon in September 1965 were later increased, and thus it may be assumed they were not in themselves sufficient. [9] Establishment [ edit] The conference requested by General Westmoreland met on 3 March 1965, and in the following week the basic concepts of the combined patrol operation were worked out. A Naval Advisory Group was established and the Commanding General, 2nd Air Division, became MACV's Air Force component commander. The advisory role was taking second priority and receiving less command attention than the growing direct involvement of U. S. fighting units. Vigorous efforts had been made, beginning in 1966, to clear the area of the enemy to prevent the ambushing and mining of the ships in transit. In March 1965, Westmoreland began a search for a new location large enough to accommodate the entire headquarters. Search Turn was followed, on 16 November, by Operation Foul Deck (later renamed Tran Hung Dao), which placed naval patrols on the Rach Giang Thanh and Vinh Te Canal at the Cambodian border itself, and by Operation Giant Slingshot on 6 December, which extended the barrier patrols to the Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay Rivers on either side of the notorious Parrots Beak. In October 1968, U. S. Navy Swift boats began regular raids into the rivers of the Nam Can, threatening the enemy's "sovereignty" in an area he had come to call his own. As 1963 drew to a close there were 742 U. S. Navy officers and men in Vietnam. MAJ, USAF. [2]:59. Dept. With Navy strength burgeoning and diversifying, the need for a formal Navy command structure was evident. Ships were loaned to CFF 115 by the Seventh Fleet. Many came from the enemy controlled region of the Nam Can. To improve co-ordination and management of communications-electronics assets, the brigade commander served as the U.S. Army, Vietnam, staff adviser on all matters pertaining to Army communications-electronics. Wet-rice farming, the principal agricultural activity, requires an intricate system of irrigation dikes and canals. However, the increasing demands of the war required a distinct operational rather than an advisory headquarters for naval units. Two corps-level HQs were established in 1965-66, Task Force Alpha (soon to become I Field Force, Vietnam) for U.S. forces in the II Corps Tactical Zone and II Field Force, Vietnam, for U.S. Army forces in the III Corps Tactical Zone. The roaring current provided the best defenses from swimmer attack, and on nearby shore areas an array of electronic sensors was emplaced to provide early warning of enemy movement. "Market Time in the Gulf of Thailand, by Captain James A. Hodgman, U. S. Coast Guard, in Naval Review 1968. Meanwhile, to the despair of U. S. Navy advisors, the Vietnamese River Assault Groups frequently found themselves involved in logistic support and static defense roles assigned them by ARVN ground commanders. Why had not the Bucklew Reports recommendations concerning a mobile patrol force along the Cambodian border been implemented? 2 The Stevie Line is the geographic division in the Gulf of Thailand between Vietnam and Cambodia. The effect of the U. S. naval advisory effort on the relatively static insurgency of the preceding five years was minimal. At this time Admiral Ward was both CNAG and CTF 115. The third and perhaps most important task was to develop and recommend a plan which, if approved, would make it possible to accelerate the scheduled turnover of U. S. Navy equipment to the Vietnamese. If more time should become available, the acceleration could be slowed and the training cycles could be lengthened. During my time with the Naval Advisory Group Vietnam I was assigned to Vietnamese Navy Units at Saigon, Moc Hoa, Cal Lanh and Dong Tam. Tests were completed on a 36-foot river patrol craft (RPC), and 34 of them were ordered. The addition of 17 more craft in October brought the force very close to its authorized allowance of 182 boats. They are attached to nearly every Vietnamese naval unit. By end of year, 254 Sailors were assigned to MACV and NAG. Most of its people were removed to a site roughly ten miles to the north which was named "New Nam Can to distinguish it from the old district capital. $9.99; $9.99; Publisher Description. Shortly before the referendum, Diem informed the U. S. Government that he had decided to ask the French to withdraw the Expeditionary Force by March 1956, explaining that he considered the continued presence of French troops in the south to be "one of the principal Communist assets.. He found himself the victim of a mutiny on 8 April 1965, when his Force Commanders and other senior officers rose against him, charging him with graft in the operation of a fleet of coastal freighters, which had been seized by the Government at the time of the 1963 coup. Administrative procedures were antiquated and incredibly complex. Command then passed to the Commander USSAG/Seventh Air Force at Nakhon Phanom. The enormity of this undertaking could not be measured solely in terms of the numbers of the Vietnamese naval personnel it would be necessary to recruit and train. NAVAL ADVISORY GROUP VIETNAM Air Force Units Army Units Coast Guard Units Marine Corps Units Navy Units Become a VetFriends Member Site Map Search Veterans & Personnel Photos, Humor, Stories & More Military Records & Resources Reunions, Parades, & Events Online Catalog About VetFriends My Profile MetLife Veteran Insurance Discounts Contact Us The two Vietnamese RAIDS promptly began operations on the Giant Slingshot barrier. If the war, or domestic political considerations, made it necessary to turn over less American equipment fractional Vietnamese crews could be collected from our boats and brought together to form crews for a lesser number of boats. What could not be moved in was often manufactured in concealed munitions factories by using scrap and dud rounds which were in plentiful supply. The Trn Hng o site subsequently became the headquarters of Republic of Korea armed forces in Vietnam. In 1955 after the French defeat in Indochina the Navy Section became part of the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam. Following the closure of MACV and the establishment of the DAO, the MACV Headquarters became the DAO Compound. PCF PRU RAC RAG . Beyond the contiguous zone, vessels thought to be of South Vietnamese registry, could be searched. The Ammis were fitted out at Nha Be. As a result, the 1st Logistics Command was established. Late in February 1962, similar operations began in the Gulf of Thailand, between Phu Quoc Island and the Ca Mau Peninsula, with U. S. Navy destroyer escorts participating. By the fall of 1968, on the eve of the introduction of the U. S. naval command's Accelerated Turnover (ACTOV) Program, the personnel strength of the Vietnamese Navy was more than 17,500. Overall Market Time operations were controlled from the Surveillance Operations Center located at the Naval Advisory Group Headquarters in Saigon. It spread its roots through virtually every sector of Vietnamese society. Find Naval Advisory Group Vietnam, HQ, Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) unit information, patches, operation history, veteran photos and more on TogetherWeServed.com. As a result, on 1 April 1966, Naval Forces, Vietnam, was established to control the Navy's units in the II, III and IV Corps Tactical Zones. If the Vietnamese Navy were to continue effective operations in the area after the withdrawal of the U. S. Navy, some sort of an operational and support base would be required. On 16 April he relinquished his duties as CTF 115 to Captain Clifford L. Stewart, U. S. Navy, the new Commander of the Coastal Surveillance Force. Young trees are cut into long, straight poles, stripped of their bark, and sold for construction purposes. It is a tribute to the splendid morale of our sailors, and their sense of sharing in what was in many ways a unique drama, that many volunteered to stay on and finish their tours at Cua Viet. Many of these vessels, of course, have been, and are being, transferred from our inventory to that of the Vietnamese Navy through the ACTOV program. The building was designed and constructed under the supervision of the U.S. Navy Officer in Charge of Construction RVN. U.S. Navy advisors helped transform the Vietnam Navy from a small collection of landing craft and minesweepers to the world's fifth largest navy - a modern service of 42,000 sailors and 1,500 surface vessels capable of fighting not only on the rivers of Vietnam but also far out to sea. Over all hung the specter of the French defeat, "in the streets of Paris rather than on the battlefields of Indochina.. Young officers and petty officers were assigned staggering responsibilities in this war and they shouldered them well. In 1955 after the French defeat in Indochina the Navy Section became part of the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam. There was a need for "an accelerated progress in improving Vietnamese capabilities in order that U. S. forces could, in fact, be withdrawn in significant numbers. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Secretary was further quoted as saying that "our orientation seems to have been more on operations than on assisting the South Vietnamese to acquire the means to defend themselves. While this may not have been intended as criticism of the past conduct of the war, it was unmistakable direction as to where future priorities were to be placed. After Dien Bien Phu there was simply no French stomach left to continue the struggle, and, on 20 July 1954, a cease-fire agreement was signed at Geneva. Dense foliage and thick swamps make detection of soldiers from the air and pursuit on the ground extremely difficult. It is a fair question to ask ourselves why, after such a great and prolonged effort, we had not succeeded in accomplishing more. An industrious woodcutter and his family can earn a very decent living by Vietnamese standards from their labors in the forests of Nam Can. In May 1962 it moved to 137 Pasteur Street (.mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}104658.25N 1064135.94E / 10.7828472N 106.6933167E / 10.7828472; 106.6933167 (pre-1967 MACV, Saigon)) in central Saigon. The most economical and direct routes for supplying the Viet Cong were sea routes. Further, the Vietnamese Navy was commanded by a French officer, and most other important posts and commands were held by Frenchmen. One of the hidden, but nevertheless real costs of the war lies in the Fleet ships that, because our resources were diverted elsewhere, were not built as replacements for those long overdue for honorable retirement. Most Navy officers interpreted this as a serious loss of face for the Vietnamese Navy, but a few actually thought that it might be a blessing in disguise, since the Navy would at last have a voice at meetings of the Joint General Staff. There was a general reluctance within the Sea Forces to maintain active patrols. On their return from market they brought potable water, rice, cloth, beer, and other staples. The NAVFORV and Naval Advisory Group records fall into several main series. In May 1961, President Kennedy announced an expansion of the Military Assistance Program for Vietnam, including large increases in the paramilitary Junk Force, which had been operating some 80 sailing junks on patrols near the seventeenth parallel, since about I960. NAG - Naval Advisory Group. With little modification, these early recommendations shaped the broad direction of our naval program in Vietnam for the next fourteen years. Under the combined leadership of Vice Admiral Zumwalt and Commodore Chon a tremendous momentum had been built up. Almost immediately the Annex began to outstrip the main complex itself in the number of visitors it attracted. The motivation of the men concerned was expected to be high. I was part of a two-man team that consisted of a LCDR and me.