Ravens - Covert Forward Air Controllers
Public Domain - A U.S. Air Force Cessna O-1E Bird Dog aircraft (s/n 56-4200) in flight in the vicinity of Saigon, Vietnam, in 1967
Introduction
The Raven Forward Air Controllers, also known as The Ravens, were fighter pilots used as forward air controllers (FACs) in a covert operation in conjunction with the US Central Intelligence Agency in Laos during America's Vietnam War. The Ravens pinpointed targets for most of the air strikes against communist Pathet Lao (PL) and People's Army of Vietnam infiltrators in support of the Laotian Hmong guerrilla army.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_Forward_Air_Controllers
Background
On 23 July 1962, the United States and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam signed the Geneva Accords, guaranteeing the neutrality of the Kingdom of Laos. One of the provisions of the accords called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Laotian soil. North Vietnam had troops still remaining in Laos from the end of the French Indochina War. The United States had a small contingent of advisors, which it withdrew from the country.
The North Vietnamese deliberately ignored the Accords because they were intent on keeping their supply corridor, the Ho Chi Minh trail, to continue their war against South Vietnam. North Vietnam's representatives repeatedly stated they had "no military presence in Laos", even though they had at least 4,000 troops stationed there from the end of the First Indochina War on.
Prince Souvanna Phouma, the Prime Minister of Laos, asked for US help to stop North Vietnamese incursions. To avoid the appearance of unilaterally violating the accords, US President John F. Kennedy directed the United States Air Force (USAF) to initiate covert operations in Laos to help the Lao fight the North Vietnamese communists.
Beginning in April 1966, as part of its effort to better direct air strikes, the USAF installed four tactical air navigation systems in Laos to guide US air strikes. One of these was installed on a mountain top at Lima Site 85, aimed across the border at Hanoi.
The Raven flights were based in five Lao towns: Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Pakse, Savannakhet, and Long Tieng.
Summary
The Raven pilots were bold and brave FAC’s working in unusually dangerous situations.
Without a great forward observer marking potential targets, the followup by bombers and fighters were not very effective.
Books
https://www.amazon.com/Ravens-True-Story-Secret-Vietnam-ebook/dp/B00887PC78
The Ravens: The True Story Of A Secret War In Laos, Vietnam
Articles
Jack Jolis served as a case officer in the CIA, operating the Rascal program out of Lima Site-20 Alternate, or Long Tieng, for much of 1970. These are his recollections, in an interview with British writer, Peter Alan Lloyd - A four part series.
https://www.sofmag.com/the-cias-covert-operations-in-laos-during-the-vietnam-war/
My job was to create and run something which I named the “Rascal” program, which was an idea that had been cooked up by case officers Dick M. and Bob W., but Dick M. had gotten all shot up and was now in a hospital in Japan somewhere and Bob W.’s tour was just coming to an end when I got there, so I was assigned to develop and run what became the Rascal program, something I proceeded to do with the blessing and assistance of Vang Pao’s Chief of Intelligence, (“S-2″), a cherubic-looking and extremely convivial French-speaking Major Hang Sao, and a trusty interpreter/”gofer” that Hang assigned to me, the amiable Corporal Vang Kou.
Rascal consisted of me and Vang recruiting, training, and then, via Air America helicopters and STOL Porter Pilatuses, inserting and eventually extracting 2-4-man teams of Hmongs who would be disguised as innocuous civilians and whose job it was to wander off into the mountainous jungle in north-eastern Laos and find concentrations of North Vietnamese troops.
Once they found those concentrations of NVA, they were to pass through them, but, crucially, leaving behind them, on the ground, radio beacon devices which we had fiendishly crafted to look like indigenous rocks, or twigs, or even leaves, which they would “switch on” and drop off as close to enemy troop concentrations, or supply depots, as they could.
Also, they could drop and jettison these beacons un-switched-on, on the spot, if they thought they were in danger of being detained and searched.
https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/ravens-of-long-tieng-284722/
https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/the-ravens-and-the-secret-air-war-in-laos/2/
http://ravens.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Episode9998.htm
https://sofrep.com/news/st-idaho-vietnam-recon-team-still-mia-47-years/
https://medium.com/truly-adventurous/ho-chi-bear-the-ravens-c40781300d26
Videos
Other Links
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)