Table of Contents

Foreword, by Max Cleland	IX
Preface	XI
Introduction	XIII
Abbreviations	XVII
Part I: Along the Way
Chapter 1: No Ticket Home	1
Chapter 2: Uncommon Warriors	9
Chapter 3: The Team and Tri Trung Dung	21
Chapter 4: Ghosts and Guardians on Buddha Hill	33
Chapter 5: Angels in Camouflage	47
Chapter 6: In the Hands of the Unseen	61
Chapter 7: Are We Who We Were?	85
Chapter 8: The Beast	97
Chapter 9: Flight into Darkness	105
Chapter 10: Powder-Blue Surprise	135
Chapter 11: Friendly Fire	147
Chapter 12: Water, Water Everywhere	169
Chapter 13: Life Spared	195
Chapter 14: Take Them Alive	201
Part II: The Rescue
Chapter 15: A Promise Made	215
Chapter 16: Gathering the Team	227
Chapter 17: Going "Out There"	239
Chapter 18: Go Find Them	253
Chapter 19: No Joy	263
Chapter 20: We're Going Back	277
Chapter 21: On the Rocks	283
Chapter 22: Ice Cream and Little People	303
Chapter 23: One More Time	311
Chapter 24: A Promise Fulfilled	331
Epilogue	349
Team Listing	355

Excerpts:

FOREWORD

THIS IS A REAL STORY. It is told by a real soldier about one of the most incredible moments in the Vietnam War. It is a story of the energetic innocence of youth, the craving to be a patriot, the anguish of war fought on the other side of the world. Yet, even in the despair amongst demons of horrific proportions, heroes were bred. On one mission of mercy to save others, Tom Ross shows us what it means to be a positive American. He makes us all proud. He doesn’t ask that you understand all the real pain of triumph and fear that he experienced. He only hopes that you won’t forget what happened, or the men and women to whom it happened. Tom Ross’s Privileges of War makes me glad to have served in Vietnam and proud to be an American.

Max Cleland
CPT U.S. Army, Ret.
Author, Strong at the Broken Places
Former U.S. Senator (1997–2003)

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PREFACE

MORE THAN FORTY years have passed since I left the compound of Special Forces Detachment A-502 in the Republic of South Vietnam. After nearly a year of service with the team, I returned to the United States, where I was released from active military service. Within days of returning to my Northwest Florida home, I drafted the outline and the first few pages of this book, immediately titled Privileges of War.

My goal was to tell the stories of some remarkable occurrences that I witnessed while serving in Vietnam. In telling those stories, I was forced to tell my own. None of my actions were beyond the training or scope of what was expected from any other Special Forces officer. However, as my tour of duty unfolded, I was privileged to meet and work with Americans who did far more than they were asked or required to do.

Occasionally, names and call signs have been changed by request or simply because they were never known or have been erased by the passage of time. While the names and faces of some individuals encountered in Southeast Asia have become difficult to recall or even forgotten, the experience of serving with them and the inspiration of their deeds will remain with me forever.