The 1/92nd Field
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All of the CIDG forces were Montagnards except the commanding officer that was Vietnamese. The Vietnamese officer didn't speak English but one of the Montegnards, "Birdman" did, so most of our communications obviously used this low ranking Montagnard as the interpreter. He was a wonderful young man and from him we learned much such as the distain and distrust of the Vietnamese that had always discriminated against the Montagnards. They "hated" the South Vietnamese about as much as they "hated" the North Vietnamese. At the same time they were extremely trustworthy because of their overall distain for all Vietnamese and they were also fierce fighters. it's no wonder that US Special Forces relied on them so much. I learned much from Birdman and came to understand the Montegnard culture as we often shared meals with his family that was also at Ben Het (not uncommon at a Special Forces base from what I understand). I have long since given up hope that he survived the Vietnam War or it's aftermath but he will always be someone, other than my friends in the US military, that I cared about in Vietnam. They were a wonderful culture that really had little hope regardless of who "won" the Vietnam War.
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