Military Intelligence

[KafirChobee]

In my day in the military "MI" was an oxymoron, left over from the Korean conflict and WWII ("the Germans are beaten, and then they attack - ref. "Battle of the Bulge"). But, atleast in Korea (by 1967) there were spies that did give real intelligence - to both sides.

Regardless, from May 67' on the loud speakers on the DMZ from the North began a repetition of "When snow comes Joe comes" (Joe is what we called the commies). Now for those of us that spent time on the D, we pretty much believed them. MI called it psychological warfare - which it was, and it was working (2-5% of infantry personel hid in the ville rather than go to the line, of course most ended up there within a few days - but, it was worth the try). So, the top guys ignored it, 'til ROK (Prez Park) MI said maybe.

In May 67' a quancit hut of 13th Engineers was blown up - killing 7-10 and 15 wounding more. In July a fire fight between 1/17th, 7th MP and guerillas ended with them finding a cashe of rockets, mortars, etc - all above Camp Casey. In Nov. a troop picking up wood was ambushed near the DMZ - 3 purple hearts, one Btonze star. In early Dec. a patrol of the 1/31 (or was it 32nd?) was ambushed and killed - except for a 17 y.o. kid that played dead while one of the Joes cut up his finger to get his ring (think about it - meh).
By then there had been over a thousand "incidents". (btw a ROK cruiser was sunk some time during that time line ... or was it earlier?)

Well, someone decided that maybe it might be a good idea to increase the number of GI's on the ROK - so to the chagrin of those derosing versus terminating service - everyone stays. The US ROK army went from 60K (30K today) to 100,000 in a matter of weeks.

In January 68', Tet went off with a major bang. In Korea, the Pueblo was stolen - because we had absolutely zero air support. So, did the increase in troops deter an invasion? Or, was it a diversion to turn our MI away from 'nam?

Thing is, Military Intelligence is still an oxymoron. Only now we think spys in the sky are.