Chdamn
Dungeon Master
Staff member
2A Bourbon Hound OG
Charter Life Member
Benefactor
Multi-Factor Enabled
One of the places I worked in Southeast Asia was a place called Long Tieng. The Laos wrote it as Long Chieng or Cheng, but it was pronounced by everyone as Long Chen. Go figure. In the flight language we used it was listed as LS-20A—Lima (Laos) Site 20 Alternate—or Alternate for short. There were other sites listed with an “A” behind there number for being an alternate but they were always referred to by their complete number designation such as LS-118A—would be Lima Site 118 Alpha. Only 20 Alternate was ever shortened to just Alternate.
Alternate was located in an oblong valley running roughly East and West long ways. The runway was around 3200 feet above sea level. As you can see in Photo-1 the vegetation-covered limestone karsts at the western end of the runway forced the cargo planes to land from East to West. Takeoffs were from West to East.
The hill to the left was the South side of the runway or South Ridge. The hill to the right was the North side of the runway or Skyline Ridge.
Photo-2 is a wide angle shot taken from the top of the south ridge. Photos-3 & 4 were taken while descending into Alternate from the Northwest after crossing Skyline Ridge. Photo-5 is a better view of the main village on the Southwest end of the runway.
Sometime before I started working at the Alternate the Hmong in the area captured a bear cub that had been badly wounded. He was nursed back to health, but his feet were so badly damaged that he had no claws. Since he could not be released back into the wild he was turned loose in the compound.
Bear behaved like a puppy and soon became an instant star. He quickly developed a huge appetite for sweets and junk food of any kind. The permanent residents quickly learned to place these items where Bear could not get to them.
The air crews rotated usually on a weekly basis and it took a while for the word on Bear to get around. In the meantime Bear assumed the hooch where air crews stayed was his free range to forage. In the middle of the night he would come in and forage around and under sleeping cots for anything edible.
As he got bigger he began overturning occupied sleeping cots in the middle of the night while foraging. Talk about a rude awakening. Then he began chewing on crewmember’s boots at night. It was becoming obvious that Bear was developing a huge “Baby Huey” syndrome. He was getting to where he could no longer be allowed free range to play with the other ducklings. So reluctantly a cage was built for him. Photo-6 is Bear’s cage completed. But still, no one wanted to lock him up. The last straw was when he started chewing on crewmember’s boots while they were still wearing them.
I have been unable to locate my pictures of Bear incarcerated. I was able to download two pictures of an Asiatic black bear posted by someone from an animal sanctuary in Northern Laos. Since Bear was an Asiatic black bear, Photos-7 & 8 both look just like I remember him.
Several of the Hmong acted like bear mahouts and would take turns letting Bear out of his cage several times a day to do his bear business in the woods. Since he liked food and beer he was easy to control.
Bear’s cage was located near a limestone karst past the West end of the runway. No matter how hot it was there was always a breeze by Bear’s cage. On top was the best breeze; note steps on West side of cage. So, after Bear’s incarceration it became a custom, late in the evening when the work was done, for people to gather around Bear’s cage to enjoy a daily debrief—bull session—while nursing an adult beverage. Bear would entertain everyone for an occasional beer.
If the crowd was not too rowdy, a small herd of mouse deer would come out and graze and play in a clearing near the cage. I am still trying to locate these photos. They were only twelve to eighteen inches tall and weighed from two to five pounds. I’m no expert, I have only held one.
At first sight they appeared to have the ability to teleport themselves. In the limited light, you could be watching one and all of a sudden he would disappear and reemerge a few feet away; as if by magic. If you watched very closely, without blinking, you could see they moved very quickly from one spot to the other. The limited light and the natural habit for humans to blink created the optical illusion. Add to that a few adult beverages and you have a mythical animal.
Sometime after Bear’s incarceration, at the start of the next rainy season, due to scheduling and weather I wound being the only pilot remaining over night—RON—at Alternate. After the work was done I was setting at Bear’s cage with several Filipino mechanics and a few Hmong soldiers. We were nursing our adult beverages and having fun trying to carry on a bull session with all the language barriers and dialects while watching Bear trick himself out.
About dark one of the ranking round-eyes at Alternate, Hogg, showed up and wanted me to accompany him up Skyline Ridge to a Hmong officer’s meeting. Every night meeting I had ever attended with any Hmong had turned into a drinking contest. Each Hmong had his own bottle of some kind of alcohol that he had flavored with some kind of root—maybe ginger. It was an insult not to take at least one drink with each Hmong. They did not keep very accurate dance cards—drink cards. Trying to save face, that one drink always turned into several with each Hmong. Since I had to fly the next day, I declined Hogg’s offer.
Hogg went into a long dissertation about this being an official meeting taking place in a new and secret command post and that everyone would be on duty. And, he really wanted me to know where this new command post was hidden in the jungle. This had some appeal, because of the amount of enemy fire as we were now getting, some of it direct artillery. At the end of every dry season and the beginning of the new rainy season the enemy would roll a few artillery pieces, which they usually abandoned during the wet, up close enough to a random friendly outpost to put the landing pads under direct fire. When that happens it will instantly blow a couple of double shots of fear up your skirt, I’m here to tell you.
I had also heard rumors that VP (General Vang Pao) was cracking down on drinking while on duty. Under the present conditions this offer was getting interesting. It would be nice to know where a new command post was located because one never knew when he might be running and seeking a friendly environment. Also I had always wanted to hike up Skyline Ridge. But, could I trust sly dog Hogg?
Then Hogg said, “You know we can’t go until we finish our drinks?”
For some reason, that sold me on trusting him, so I said, “Let me go get my flashlight and I’ll be ready.”
Hogg said, “No need, I have mine and we are just going up, dropping off some paper work, and coming right back down.”
So off we went. We walked West to the end of the clearing where the mouse deer played before turning right (North) on a path leading up hill and into the jungle.
Southeast Asian jungles usually have two canopies. The top canopy is around one hundred to two hundred feet high. The second canopy starts around thirty feet and goes up to around eighty feet. If you are in a spot under the top canopy where the second canopy has been removed you may be able to make out a few images on a moonlit night. However, if you are under both canopies after dark you can’t see bupkis. There is no light for an animal’s night vision to work. A night owl would have to wear headlights to hunt under both canopies at night.
As we hiked up hill we would occasionally come out of the jungle into a small clearing before entering the woods again. These clearings were the results of the slash and burn agriculture the Hmong practiced.
A little over two thirds of the way up, we entered a small clearing with a stream on the uphill side (North). Just after we crossed the stream we reentered the jungle. A few yards farther and we came up on several Hmong standing out side of a hut. We had completed the climb to the command post.
I followed the Hmong inside with Hogg bringing up the rear. Once inside I was surprised the command post was so dimly lit with only one candle. As my eyes began to adjust several more candles were lit. Soon I could see thirty to forty Hmong. We were there to celebrate a Hmong’s birthday party.
I looked at Hogg and all I could say was, “You bastard!” Oh, he thought that was funny.
Alternate was located in an oblong valley running roughly East and West long ways. The runway was around 3200 feet above sea level. As you can see in Photo-1 the vegetation-covered limestone karsts at the western end of the runway forced the cargo planes to land from East to West. Takeoffs were from West to East.
The hill to the left was the South side of the runway or South Ridge. The hill to the right was the North side of the runway or Skyline Ridge.
Photo-2 is a wide angle shot taken from the top of the south ridge. Photos-3 & 4 were taken while descending into Alternate from the Northwest after crossing Skyline Ridge. Photo-5 is a better view of the main village on the Southwest end of the runway.
Sometime before I started working at the Alternate the Hmong in the area captured a bear cub that had been badly wounded. He was nursed back to health, but his feet were so badly damaged that he had no claws. Since he could not be released back into the wild he was turned loose in the compound.
Bear behaved like a puppy and soon became an instant star. He quickly developed a huge appetite for sweets and junk food of any kind. The permanent residents quickly learned to place these items where Bear could not get to them.
The air crews rotated usually on a weekly basis and it took a while for the word on Bear to get around. In the meantime Bear assumed the hooch where air crews stayed was his free range to forage. In the middle of the night he would come in and forage around and under sleeping cots for anything edible.
As he got bigger he began overturning occupied sleeping cots in the middle of the night while foraging. Talk about a rude awakening. Then he began chewing on crewmember’s boots at night. It was becoming obvious that Bear was developing a huge “Baby Huey” syndrome. He was getting to where he could no longer be allowed free range to play with the other ducklings. So reluctantly a cage was built for him. Photo-6 is Bear’s cage completed. But still, no one wanted to lock him up. The last straw was when he started chewing on crewmember’s boots while they were still wearing them.
I have been unable to locate my pictures of Bear incarcerated. I was able to download two pictures of an Asiatic black bear posted by someone from an animal sanctuary in Northern Laos. Since Bear was an Asiatic black bear, Photos-7 & 8 both look just like I remember him.
Several of the Hmong acted like bear mahouts and would take turns letting Bear out of his cage several times a day to do his bear business in the woods. Since he liked food and beer he was easy to control.
Bear’s cage was located near a limestone karst past the West end of the runway. No matter how hot it was there was always a breeze by Bear’s cage. On top was the best breeze; note steps on West side of cage. So, after Bear’s incarceration it became a custom, late in the evening when the work was done, for people to gather around Bear’s cage to enjoy a daily debrief—bull session—while nursing an adult beverage. Bear would entertain everyone for an occasional beer.
If the crowd was not too rowdy, a small herd of mouse deer would come out and graze and play in a clearing near the cage. I am still trying to locate these photos. They were only twelve to eighteen inches tall and weighed from two to five pounds. I’m no expert, I have only held one.
At first sight they appeared to have the ability to teleport themselves. In the limited light, you could be watching one and all of a sudden he would disappear and reemerge a few feet away; as if by magic. If you watched very closely, without blinking, you could see they moved very quickly from one spot to the other. The limited light and the natural habit for humans to blink created the optical illusion. Add to that a few adult beverages and you have a mythical animal.
Sometime after Bear’s incarceration, at the start of the next rainy season, due to scheduling and weather I wound being the only pilot remaining over night—RON—at Alternate. After the work was done I was setting at Bear’s cage with several Filipino mechanics and a few Hmong soldiers. We were nursing our adult beverages and having fun trying to carry on a bull session with all the language barriers and dialects while watching Bear trick himself out.
About dark one of the ranking round-eyes at Alternate, Hogg, showed up and wanted me to accompany him up Skyline Ridge to a Hmong officer’s meeting. Every night meeting I had ever attended with any Hmong had turned into a drinking contest. Each Hmong had his own bottle of some kind of alcohol that he had flavored with some kind of root—maybe ginger. It was an insult not to take at least one drink with each Hmong. They did not keep very accurate dance cards—drink cards. Trying to save face, that one drink always turned into several with each Hmong. Since I had to fly the next day, I declined Hogg’s offer.
Hogg went into a long dissertation about this being an official meeting taking place in a new and secret command post and that everyone would be on duty. And, he really wanted me to know where this new command post was hidden in the jungle. This had some appeal, because of the amount of enemy fire as we were now getting, some of it direct artillery. At the end of every dry season and the beginning of the new rainy season the enemy would roll a few artillery pieces, which they usually abandoned during the wet, up close enough to a random friendly outpost to put the landing pads under direct fire. When that happens it will instantly blow a couple of double shots of fear up your skirt, I’m here to tell you.
I had also heard rumors that VP (General Vang Pao) was cracking down on drinking while on duty. Under the present conditions this offer was getting interesting. It would be nice to know where a new command post was located because one never knew when he might be running and seeking a friendly environment. Also I had always wanted to hike up Skyline Ridge. But, could I trust sly dog Hogg?
Then Hogg said, “You know we can’t go until we finish our drinks?”
For some reason, that sold me on trusting him, so I said, “Let me go get my flashlight and I’ll be ready.”
Hogg said, “No need, I have mine and we are just going up, dropping off some paper work, and coming right back down.”
So off we went. We walked West to the end of the clearing where the mouse deer played before turning right (North) on a path leading up hill and into the jungle.
Southeast Asian jungles usually have two canopies. The top canopy is around one hundred to two hundred feet high. The second canopy starts around thirty feet and goes up to around eighty feet. If you are in a spot under the top canopy where the second canopy has been removed you may be able to make out a few images on a moonlit night. However, if you are under both canopies after dark you can’t see bupkis. There is no light for an animal’s night vision to work. A night owl would have to wear headlights to hunt under both canopies at night.
As we hiked up hill we would occasionally come out of the jungle into a small clearing before entering the woods again. These clearings were the results of the slash and burn agriculture the Hmong practiced.
A little over two thirds of the way up, we entered a small clearing with a stream on the uphill side (North). Just after we crossed the stream we reentered the jungle. A few yards farther and we came up on several Hmong standing out side of a hut. We had completed the climb to the command post.
I followed the Hmong inside with Hogg bringing up the rear. Once inside I was surprised the command post was so dimly lit with only one candle. As my eyes began to adjust several more candles were lit. Soon I could see thirty to forty Hmong. We were there to celebrate a Hmong’s birthday party.
I looked at Hogg and all I could say was, “You bastard!” Oh, he thought that was funny.
