On an operation which we ran in the Ben Het area we got into some real deep shit. We ended up in a clearing and in a "wagon wheel" type defensive position with me in the middle. We really had stirred up a hornet's nest. When I got back to Kontum the FAC told me there were over 200 bodies in the open and as many coming up the ridge for us. I knew where the troops had come from. There was a village just over the ridge from us. I told the Covey rider and said they needed to take out the lvillage, which they did a good job of.
I remember when we were being extracted I was grabbing the little people by the pistol belt anf collar and literally throwing them into the chopper. I'm surprised I didn't throw some in one door and out the other.
A few days later one of my little people came and said he had to go home to attend a funeral. I said to go ahead and arranged leave for him. After he had left my interpretor informed me he was from the village we had trashed. He was going home to check on his family. I figured that was the last I would see of him -- understandably. I was surprised to see him return in a few days. Nobody ever mentioned the incident and he remained a loyal troop.
This operation may have prevented a major offensive on Pleiku. We wandered into something major. I was debriefed by the 4th ID CO and G2 and upon my intel and recommendation an arc light was diverted to this target. There were still secondaries a week later and the 4th ID ran a successful sweep of the area and even recovered the body of a chinese advisor whom my men had seen. If we could have recovered him it would have been a trip to CCK for me and beaucoup "P" for the little people.
