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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (356034)	3/27/2010 4:13:52 AM
From: unclewest	15 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793838

As reported to me, the Montagnard resettlement to the US winds down on March 31. I have been voluntarily involved with the Montagnard resettlement since reading an article in the Greensboro News and Record and walking in to the Greensboro Lutheran family Services Refugee Resettlement Office in 1985 to ask Raleigh Bailey if I could volunteer to help with the Montagnard resettlement I had just read about. That office closed about a week ago. The early arrivals were all members of tribes and villages that fought along side our Special Forces. The preponderance of the rest are the same or tied closely to that effort in one way or another. Most of the men served prison terms of 4-13 years for supporting US Special Forces. I recall the first speech I gave to new arrivals, thanking them for teaching me how to survive in their jungle and assuring them that we would teach them how to survive in our jungle. Many hundreds of Special Forces Veterans and Air Commandos have supported this effort. Many thousands of American civilians have donated time and treasure. When a large wave arrived in 2002-2003, Retired SF LTC Carl Regan and his wife Jeanne spent nearly a year as volunteers in refugee camps in Cambodia identifying SF Veterans and conducting daily English classes. A local group of SF Veterans established the Green Beret warehouse in a donated warehouse building on Patterson St in Greensboro. Retired SF Major John Litton was our secret weapon during the warehouse effort. There is no limit to that man's energy and organisational ability. At all times he could account for every donated knife, fork and sofa. John's daily effort to organize complete household packages based on family composition lists we had been provided inspired all of us to do more. The Special Forces Association Secretary at the time, Jimmy Dean (RIP), pulled in the entire SF community year in and year out. Donations arrived from all over the country. Many SF Veterans drove their donations here including two truckloads from Oregon and Washington State . Many stayed for a few days, some a week or more to work in the warehouse. Those donations completely furnished over 100 apartments and one church. Every arrival received a year round wardrobe. Over 100 Triad Churches reached out to sponsor families and assist in countless other ways. The medical community reached out too. Former Special Forces medics met aircraft and evaluated emergency medical needs. Dr Chris Guest invited us to bring any newly arrived Montagnard needing emergency medical treatment to his Urgent Medical Care Clinic clinic on Pomona Dr in Greensboro for immediate free care. Many other local doctors provided free surgeries. I could never mention every donor and volunteer, but one other stands out. My friend Retired SF Sergeant Major Sam Todaro answered every call for assistance ever put out and he is still as deeply involved in providing assistance to Montagnards as anyone. It has been a rather quiet 25 year effort of incredible will, effort, generosity, outreach and payback of the best kind. FYI some 140 Montagnard youth serve in our armed forces today. Another 100 are college students. The first Montagnard has been accepted for Special Forces training and is currently working to earn his Green Beret. The greatest payback for me are the weekly visits by Greensboro resident Em. Em manned a machinegun, only several yards from me, during the Tank Battle at Ben Het. His brother Krahn, our team interpreter in those fierce fighting days lives in High Point. I feel like we won a little piece of the Montagnards' battle for freedom with every arrival. Karen and I will stay with this for a while longer. We have been and will continue to assist 4 recently arrived families. Many here on SI have assisted too. My grateful thanks and a tip of the Beret to all of you. It has been wonderful. uw