Mission:

The United States Army Special Forces have five primary missions: unconventional warfare (the original and most important mission of Special Forces), foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, and counter-terrorism. Other duties include combat search and rescue (CSAR), counter-narcotics, counter-proliferation, hostage rescue, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian demining, information operations, peacekeeping, psychological operations, security assistance, and manhunts.Special Forces have the ability to be virtually everywhere at once; this guarantees that they are the first on the ground or already at a crisis location when trouble starts. Continue reading →

Mike Stokes writes via Email:

It’s been 45 years since we were invited to celebrate the lunar new year in Kontum Vietnam. It was not a celebration any of us wish to repeat but it was an event which brought all of us closer together.

None of us will forget what we experienced that February of 1968 and the things we witnessed. Each of us carries a different emotion for what we were asked to do during our tours and I know many still carry deep scars.

My prayer for this New Year is that each of us will be able to separate a little further from trauma and pain. I pray we can each share our experiences of that time with those around us so that can help us unburden.

I thank all of you for your friendship

Mike Stokes

The 75th Ranger Regiment is a lethal, agile and flexible force, capable of executing a myriad of complex, joint special operations missions in support of U. S. policies and objectives. Designed and trained to be the most rapidly deployable unit in the Army capable of conducting operations in all types of terrain and weather using various insertion methods, today’s 75th Ranger Regiment is the Army’s premier raid force. Continue reading →

Capable of infiltrating by land, sea, or air, the Ranger Regiment plans, executes, and commands and controls special operations in support of the nation’s military objectives and global interests across the full spectrum continuum, worldwide. Continue reading →

Fighting for Dignity of Veterans

WHITTIER — When combat medic Jose G. Ramos returned home from the Vietnam War, the decorated Army veteran was wracked with guilt over the men he could not save.

Already smoking pot, he turned to cocaine to keep him awake when the nightmares worsened. Then he started drinking heavily. Ulti­mately, he didn’t care whether he lived or died.

“It’s only been the last six or seven years, I started finally getting my life back,” said Ramos, 64, who has been clean for about 20 years. “I don’t feel old when I look at the mirror; I feel good … I want to live. I couldn’t say that eight or 10 years ago.”

Today, as the founder of the Wel­come Home Vietnam Veterans Day project, Ramos has dedicated his life to ensuring that no veteran feels alone or helpless again.

Ramos has been the driving force in getting cities in Southern California, including Whittier and Los Angeles, to pass resolutions acknowledging the service of Viet­nam veterans by declaring a “Wel­come Home Vietnam Veterans Day.” Continue reading →

Who would have thought of the general public as curators of a major museum collection — curators whose job is to choose objects which will be placed in a collection that will be preserved and interpreted for perpetuity. Continue reading →

Diary Returned to North Vietnamese Soldier’s Family

When Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited Vietnam last summer and returned a soldier’s diary to the Vietnamese government he did it on one condition: that it would be turned over to the dead soldier’s family.  In a September ceremony in Vietnam, Vu Dinh Son was finally given the diary of his father, Vu Dinh Doan, who had left home for the war when Son was just 18 months old.

For more than 40 years, the diary had been in the possession of Vietnam War veteran Robert “Ira” Frazure, who removed it from a dead North Vietnamese soldier while the 7^th Marines were policing the battleground following a fight in Quang Ngai province during Operation Indiana.

The diary was featured in a September episode of the PBS television show History Detectives, in which the show’s investigators solicit assistance from U.S. Defense officials and the government of Vietnam. Continue reading →