I recently watched a documentary which suggested that Bustos didn't betray Che's whereabouts, and I was wondering if this was the case?

Solid

Solid - A deserter and a prisoner were interrogated and their testimony provided info on Guevara's location and situation. Further analysis left little doubt that the bad guys were going to try a break-out manuveur.

Since it was Bolivia why was it 8th and not 7th SFG(A)who went after Che.

Who commanded the team that trained Manchego Number 2? .

How long was the training course?

Why was the training team heavier on commo talent than demo talent.

The deserter was Mace (sp?)?
He's mentioned in Che's diaries, I'll try to find the name. Again, this is all off of a documentary, so I'm not sure of my information.

Solid

At the time wasn't the 8th based out of Panama and had SA as its AO? That period of SF history escapes me at the moment.

You mean the teams don't always take more commo guys? :D

goat,
You started this, get in here.

You are right about it being 8th's A/O.


It was lead by Major Ralph "Pappy" Shelton. Maj Shelton had been in Laos, Japan, Korea, Germany and the Dominican Republic as well as Panama. During his 20 year career he had been awarded the Silver Star for heroism and the Purple Heart with an Oak Leaf Cluster.

Major Shelton was the one who developed the training course.
It was 19 weeks long -
6 weeks of Basic Infantry Training then 3 of Advanced Infantry Training
3 weeks of Basic Unit Training followed by 5 of Advanced Unit Training
Ending with a two week training exercise.


I'm going to leave it up to you guys to decide why commo skills might be more important on that particular op than combat engineer skills.

there were 2 communication guys, and 4 radio operators

In Killing Pablo (by Mark Bowden), a lot of emphasis is placed on the work of radio operators in intercepting and triangulating the position of radio communications.
I have NO idea if this was necessary when hunting Che et al., but I figured it might be applicable and therefore worth mentioning.

Or, a more simple explanation- the groups needed to stay in contact when in the bush, and therefore needed more expert commo guys to keep them hooked up. Or more commo men to train up the indigenous forces while others go out with combat patrols?

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the jungle is possibly the worst place to try establishing commo from, maybe this is a reason for having more commos down there?

Just tossing ideas out there...

Solid

I think you might be on to something there. If the jungle hampers communication than more rto's might be needed to set up a relay system in order for the most forward positions to 'bounce back' commo to HQ?

Now CRad, you know good and well that O4 didn't write that training plan. Team Sergeants write training plans, SGMs review training plans, and O4s sign off on training plans.:D

Commo in the jungle is usually difficult due to the terrain; mountians tend to make FM commo very difficult since FM is line of sight and mountains interfere with that. Long haul HF shots become difficult when a "take off" angle is needed to make the long shot. For commo under 300 miles a Near Verticle Incidence Skywave (NVIS) antenna can be used or you can simply make one with an inverted-V and a counterpoise.

Just guessing here, but they probably also set up some type of Base Station in country for the patrols to talk to. Message traffic was routed from that Base at the FOB/ AOB and then sent on to higher in Panama. They may have also split the team and needed more commo guys to cover the different "slices" that went out.

Commo back then was made using a hand-cranked generator, but I'm told that's what the XO/ CO were for. :D

The worst place that I've ever heard of making commo was the desert with rocky terrain. Something about the minerals in the rocks creating "dead zones." Usually, the drier the soil, the harder it is to make commo.

I didn't say he wrote I said he developed it. ;)

My guess is the Tm Sgt, SGM Oliverio Gomez, wrote that up after talking to his team and asking what they it would take to get the job done.

Does anybody know how major a role Che played during the Bay of Pigs and why?

How about during the Missile Crisis?


Does anybody know who he secretly met with during his trip to address the UN?

Nobody likes my questions?

Still digging.

EG did not play a major fighting role at Playa Giron, though he was wounded by an accidental gun discharge. Politically, he did precipitate the invasion by 1) creating so many exiles (eg Felix Rodriguez who had a grudge) 2) openly embracing the USSR and China 3) Nationalizing U.S. businesses (without compensation) 4) the implicit threat of exporting revolution to South America. He later sent a message to JFK regarding bay of pigs, thanking him for strengthening the revolution.

Secret meeting? I'd guess Malcolm X.