A Tigerhound Memoir by Jim Gordon INTRODUCTION           DANANG, EARLY 1968           FAC AIRCRAFT           PLEIKU, 1968           COVEY OPS FROM PLEIKU VISUAL RECONNAISSANCE & INTERDICTION           EXTRA PHOTOS           LINKS           FAC PATCHES

My job as an intelligence specialist was to brief our aircrews before their missions, debrief (interrogate) them upon their return, and write up mission reports that became part of the Tigerhound Daily Intelligence Summary message to the various higher headquarters.  I also helped prepare and maintain a situation map, annotated with observations and order of battle information, and made map kits for the aircrews' use.  The briefing included the latest information on enemy defenses, movements or activity as reported by earlier missions, along with anything else we could learn about what was going on in the area.  The pilots' interest in the briefing varied widely, according to temperament and experience.  How useful could the briefing be for someone who knew the area well and understood the imperatives of the enemy's transportation and logistics operation?  How useful were reports of antiaircraft fire, when the guns were infinitely portable and might show up anywhere near the trails?  Nevertheless, we felt the imperative to remind our pilots that the guns were out there, along the lines of the police sergeants reminding the beat officers at the start of a shift to be careful.  Debriefing was often difficult, because after a four-hour mission, the crews wanted to do anything other than hang around the intel office.  Generally they would spill what they'd done and observed as quickly as they could, and our challenge was to tease out the items that they might have forgotten momentarily or even not realized they'd seen, before they dashed out the door headed for bed, a meal, or even a relaxed visit to the sanitary conveniences.

Supporting the Coveys' 24-hour flying schedule with only three intel specialists made life pretty bleak.  Working the midnight-to-eight shift and sleeping in the daytime was a recipe for long-term sleep deprivation, and work was a constant scramble to put together a briefing and map kit, brief a departing crew, debrief a returning crew, write up the results and update the maps, and then repeat the cycle.  Occasionally we'd have to dash out in the jeep to pick up pilots or colleagues from their quarters or drive them back, and meals during the shift were missed (or came out of C-ration cans or freeze-dried "LRRP ration" packets) almost as often as not.  My enduring memories are the gritty feeling of living for weeks on end without sufficient sleep, and of waiting in the small hours of the night for returning crews to land and come in for debriefing.

Our living conditions at Danang were acceptable, far better than the troops in the field, but were anything but luxurious, especially because we belonged to a small tenant squadron on the base.  We were in wooden huts, with showers and toilets nearby, although we did have electricity for lights and minor conveniences.  There was often hot water in the showers, especially if one worked an unusual shift and could shower when most others were working or sleeping.  We each had a bunk and a metal locker, and most of us used electric heating elements in our lockers to keep mildew from ruining everything.  We arranged our lockers to create bunk cubicles, to afford some minimal insulation from noise and light.  The hut also had a small table and a couple of chairs.  The hut area was some distance from the main compound that included the officers' mess, enlisted dining hall, base exchange store, mail room, and the BOQs and barracks for personnel of the fighter wing and the airbase units.  The dirt street in our hut area turned to mud when it rained.