"whole nine yards"

[Sean Fitzpatrick]

Funny you should ask that. I had just been wondering whether there were only 9 montagnard tribes in I Corps.  A listing of montagnard and other ethnic minorities (http://www.wompom.ca/vietnam/vnethnic24.htm) assigns only 7 tribes to the provinces that made up I CTZ.   However, I'm not sure how complete the list is; for instance, it has no entries for the Rhade and Jarai, major groups of II CTZ.  I will send you this information separately.

The short answer to whether the US needed all tribes is that all nine tribes do not seem to have been involved in the CIDG (Civilian Irregular Defense Group) program run by the US Special Forces.  

In Oct 1964, there were 6 A camps in I CTZ.  Five of them had Vietnamese camp strike forces; one of these also had Bru strikers and a second also had Ta-Oi strikers.  One camp's CSF was entirely Hre--that was Gia Vuc, which was on the border between I CTZ and II CTZ.   (See Table 2, Vietnam Studies: U.S. Army Special Forces, 1961-1971 Vietnam Studies: U.S. Army Special Forces, 1961-1971, CMH Publication 90-23. Department of the Army. Washington, D.C. 1989 (First Printed, 1973) (http://tinyurl.com/yr9x5)).  In addition, the Mobile Strike (Mike) Force in Danang had Rhade and Koho strikers, but they were recruited from II CTZ . 

Seán Fitzpatrick
Baghdad Lutetiaque delendi sunt
http://www.logomachon.blogspot.com/


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Stephen Goranson 
Sent: Saturday, 13 March, 2004 16:35
Subject: Re: "whole nine yards"


Did the US need all nine [Montagnard groups in I Corps area] to be effective?
Do we need to answer that hypothetical?

If one suggests "all nine" must have been used and must be recorded and must be
available before "whole nine," in parallel to "the whole shebang," then:

Does anyone recall "the all shebang"? "All shebang" came before "whole shebang"?

Exactly which machine gun belts were 27 feet?

best,
Stephen Goranson