The Secret Team

RflctnOfU said:
...My mom's dad was 'Air Force' back in the time of WW2, although he did let it be known to her later in his life that he was a CIA asset, and his airforce career was cover.

Kris
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I have to wonder now how common this is. My father escaped an abusive home situation by becoming a fighter pilot (hmm, no control issues there); he would have been 18 in 1942. After the war he left the service and my parents married (my mother was a WAVE doing I-do-not-know-what but at least sometimes serving as a courier).

After going to college (which is when I entered the picture, in 1950) and receiving a math degree, he returned to service as a reserve officer on active duty. There was no explanation for this, and it remained an issue until he retired in about 1970. He claimed that he was discriminated against with respect to promotion because he was a reservist.

I have no idea what the 5 years were about between when my parents were married and when I was born. They apparently lived on a closed military base in Arizona, and they had a cat. That's what I know. The book talks about people leaving the service after WWII and going to work for the agency, and then being called back to active duty in their reserve grades. Apart from working for the agency, that is exactly what he did. The fact that he spent much of his career after that doing classified surveillance work could be pure coincidence.

He was assigned to Chanute Field in Illinois for a couple of years, where I have no idea what he did other than fly and work in the base weather station. Then we moved to Washington state for a year at McChord AFB, a base that would appear to have intelligence connections. I know nothing explicitly about what he was doing there, but perhaps he was training in some way for the next assignment, which was surveillance of the sort mentioned in passing in the book (I learned this 25 years later). The last three months of that preparation were in Palm Beach, Florida, where he trained on the aircraft he would be using. We lived in a motel on Singer Island for three months, and that is all I know.

After that assignment the Air Force sent him back to school for a master's degree in meteorology (he was always in "weather"), and then he went on to doing 4 years of classified "meteorological research." Again, I have no idea what he did other than "flying and weather" and by the end of that I was in high school.

He was a stauch anti-communist, which is another clue. It was extreme, almost comical. Now I wonder if it was a role he was playing. Something happened, however, in his later years -- he came to see what was actually going on in Viet Nam, or so he said. Whatever it was, it shook him to his foundations. He died some years later, at 58.

Reading the book hasn't really clarified things for me. Instead, it has offered me "alternative" readings of what was going on when I was growing up. My father was an "absent father," both emotionally and physically. He didn't talk about his earlier life, he preferred the officer's club to being home, and he spent long periods away from home on "temporary duty" (which we knew as "TDY"), something else mentioned in the book as a way of staffing CIA projects. We didn't know what he was doing, and I guess we don't really know where he actually was.

I had assumed that this all had to do with his home life, which was dreadful from what others have told me. Now I have even more possible interpretations for what may have happened, and no way to tell if any of them are true.

Does any of this ring a bell for anyone else?
 
Megan
Does any of this ring a bell for anyone else?
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Yes. My second husband (Ex2), to whom I was married for twenty years, was a Chief in the Air Force. The last 15 or so years of his career were spent flying out of McChord in Washington state and Andrews in Maryland near DC, including flying the President. He was always going on missions which he could not tell me about--where he was going--who he was flying--when he would be back.

After we were divorced for several years and I had some perspective on being associated with the military for so many years, the picture I had formed of it all came into clearer focus. At the time he would give me hints and suggestions about what was really going on--how the media would report one thing but in reality something additional was almost always happening. These little pieces of info fit together with what I have learned from SOTT, The Secret Team, and other observations over the years and all confirm what we know to be true--"the world is not what it appears to be" and "the Matrix has you.

The icing on the cake, so to speak, was when, a few years after we were divorced, a stereotypical, (you don't need to make this stuff up!) Creepy government agent in a bad brown suit, dark sunglasses, and black, unmarked Crown Vic, appeared at my isolated country house, without an appointment, at a time coinciding when I return home from work to asked me questions about Ex2 to "renew his high level security clearance." He said "we always like to talk to the ex-spouses to get any additional (the real dirt) information on our members." He asked me why we divorced. I told him nothing but the truth which was that Ex2 was excellent at his work and devoted to his career, which left little to give to a marriage . I refrained from mentioning that he was also a serial adulterer, who once 25 years ago, left a restaurant cook job on his last day with a letter of recommendation in one hand and a bag of expensive kitchen knives he was stealing from them in the other.
I figure he and the Air Force were a perfect match.
shellycheval
 
So many stories don't check out, when you look closely.

To me it was "normal" to have a father that was often gone (thankfully) and whose work I knew almost nothing about. I saw the planes he flew, and that must have seemed like enough to me at the time. What was there to compare with?

I eventually came to suspect, many years ago, that he was also, as you say, a "serial adulterer," but I no longer remember why. It may have been something my mother said before she died, reinforced by his remarrying six months after her death (to someone he had known for years that managed property he owned in another state).

The 'intelligence' angle, though, is a surprise. One of a series it seems.
 
Me too. Over the years this forum has often helped me to bring details of my own life into perspective, so here some of what I've put together. I come from a family (or what passes as such) which has been seriously dysfunctional for as far back as I know in generations. Links to the .mil and .gov world abound in that family and beyond:


* An uncle of my maternal grandmother was pilot during WW1, he didn't return from a bombing raid to England
* My maternal grandfather, assistant prof of chemistry, was drafted into the war efforts of WW2. After the war he couldn't find work because of that. He got a job in Argentina due to his professional contacts and worked making explosives for the military there. On insistence of my grandmother they returned during the 1950s because of reasons unknown to me and about which she'd was evasive when I asked her once. They had everything there and it made no sense (to me) to return to an impoverished post-war Europe.
* The eldest brother of my mother was an engineer. One of the projects he worked in involved making guidance systems for ICBMs during the 1980s. He worked all of his professional life for a company which is best known worldwide for its AA cannons.
* The whole family of my father was forced into exile when the dictatorship propped up there by the CIA was toppled, because of their involvement with that regime.
* A paternal-side cousin lives in the US outside DC, he (officially) works as a wedding photographer. I found a website where he describes himself as a "consultant for the US DoS" or something to that effect. Since then and having found out other unsavory details I've broken off contact with him.
* My stepfather, an engineer in the maps business, had professional relations with the .mil world of several countries all his life. He was vetted by the junta in .CL for a position as uni professor and was assigned the rank of colonel despite being civilian and a foreigner. He was rumored to be "CIA" in the neighborhood - despite his junta loyalty and very conservative views he still managed to be best friends with the head of the local chapter of the illegal and "non-existent" communist party (what normally meant several years of relegation to a camp in the desert). The stepfather disappeared for weeks several times and it would later come out he'd been to Miami on business which he never spoke about. Outwardly he was a respectable member of the community who'd kiss the bishops ring when he'd meet him on the street, in "real life" he was a sneaky piece of work: I surprised him once celebrating a party at home with some faculty members and students half their age, probably an alternative way for untalented girls to improve their grades at uni (sarcasm); he had several traffic "accidents" which involved driving over drunkards - the first time he went to police and they told him more or less "no problem", so after that he didn't bother, and eventually the right side of his VW van became really dented. He'd use faculty equipment and resources for semi-illegal projects which made him and some associates bags of cash (which was of course not declared for tax). I once saw him kicking a shoe-polishing boy my age (then 8-9) in the face because he wasn't happy enough with the job - the boy fell over and slid backwards on the floor for about a meter; He bought an apartment from an elderly couple and all the window frames and doors of that apartment had to be replaced. Later the neighborhood boys told me that the place had been destroyed by soldiers when they arrested the son of that couple who had been the head of the students union at the uni where my stepfather worked - the soldiers beat him to death at the local garrison, whose commander in turn was a buddy of my stepfather.
* I went for one year to a nun's school for girls, whose director was a friend of my stepfather (I was one of perhaps a dozen of boys in that school). Among my neighborhood buddies there were persistent rumors of a bordello for rich people manned with girls recruited from that school. I always discounted that as innuendo from envious people, but today I'd be far more inclined to believe that after all what has transcended about the PTB.
* I went to school in another town, so a lady represented my parents before school (signed for my absences and such). She was married to a young officer of the garrison in that city. Many years later I was told that he was the head or a higher-up of the military intel for the south of the country.
* One of the girls from school who'd play "bottle-turning" with us had older brothers who'd go "hunting commies" (peasants). From what she casually related, they'd line the "commies" up besides a big river which passed through the area and shoot them so the bodies fell into the water and disappeared.
* The father of a school buddy of mine was involved - in my understanding with govt approval - in the large-scale transportation of drugs
* At my first job the security chief of the company was a retired AF Colonel. He tried unsuccessfully to recruit me to snitch on colleagues suspected (rightly) of attempting to organize a union. As an "incentive" he'd tell me of his adventures flying a military-owned airplane packed with drugs north and returning same airplane loaded with cash and receiving a big cut for his services.


There is more but that should make the point. It is possible that everybody has such connections in their family and immediate social group and it would be just a matter of opening their eyes a bit and see things - the military is pervasively present in society. Thanks Megan and shellycheval for starting this.


And now I'll go and read Prouty.
 
It's been a few years since I read the Secret Team (as well as other writings by Col. Prouty) and I still remember being amazed at a number of things he said that, in retrospect, fit right into place with my military experience. Although I'm not the best at organizing my thoughts, I'll give it a go for anyone who might be interested.

I spent nine years in the Army, most of which were with Army Special Forces during the 1960s. The year I spent in Vietnam, I was assigned to a special group whose mission, among other things, was to physically gather intelligence, not only in enemy territory but across borders where we officially weren't allowed to operate (think Mel Gibson's famous line in the movie Air America, and I paraphrase here: "We don't exist"). A team always went in "sterile", that is with no personal I.D.s, and no country-of-origin markings on clothing or equipment. Any US weapons carried had the markings and serial numbers machined off. It was understood that anyone who got captured by the VC would not be recognized by the US Government. A lot of our clothing and equipment was not standard government issue and actually came from non-US sources. Many team members carried AK-47s.

Although I wasn't personally privy to our operational chain-of-command which I think was unclear to most of us, I've noticed in retrospect, other indications that we were probably engaged in classified CIA operations as opposed conventional military ones. In addition to the facts in the above paragraph, one of these indications would be the presence of mysterious NCOs who came and went and who always seemed to be able to magically get things done outside of official channels. (Most of our activities were run by NCOs instead of officers as is usual in conventional military.) Another indication might be the seemingly friendly relations with Air America and other ostensibly "civilian" organization personnel when they were encountered. Yet another would be the talk one is exposed to when socializing with one's peers which often involved heavy consumption of alcohol. And alcohol does tend to impair judgment and loosen lips. Just for the record and contrary to the popular media image, I saw absolutely no drugs among members of our group in Vietnam but heavy drinking was indeed the norm for many. And, yes, I recognize that this "letting off steam" thing could be tied in with psychopathy, but then that's another subject.

Back in the 60's, Special Operations was a relatively new thing in the US military and as far as I know virtually unknown to the general public. Today its mentioned with regularity in the media and seems to be involved in most if not all of this country's war-waging around the globe. In other words, it seems that The Secret Team's "fun and games" might still be going on today stronger than ever.
 
[quote author=KitKit]
[...] In other words, it seems that The Secret Team's "fun and games" might still be going on today stronger than ever.
[/quote]

Yes indeed, as well as utilizing privately incorporated assets, with the addition of created, owned and operated fundamentalist terrorist bogeyman, supported by a massive propaganda organs that steams the globe, adding measures of psychological warfare, electronic warfare, likely chemical/biological warfare at some level - all giving weight to the created illusions of "evil" that these very real "fun and games" people produce in effort to keep the fear value at peeks. Whatever the level, a lot of innocent people are being murdered, disposed of and plotted against by these covert games, which never seems to abate.
 
I haven't read through this entire topic recently, and I might be repeating, but the way Prouty wrote about the CIA and its evolution struck me. It left me with the impression of a bunch of "portals," operating under an unseen influence. Even when the human leaders are replaced or die, the evolution and expansion go on.

This thing (which involves more than just US intelligence, obviously) came together so fast that it is hard to believe that it could exist, and that is part of the problem of seeing it. And yet it is not hard to see that our "elected leaders" aren't really in control either. I think the author described what he had seen in terms that he could understand, but I doubt that he saw the full implications.
 
I think that regardless of whether *any* of us can see "the full implications," the implications boggle the mind when you read Prouty's nuts & bolts descriptions of how things as basic as funding and hardware-acquisition work -- that he describes what we think of as "recent" communications technology that was mature 50+ years ago -- how "policy changes" that come out of a few unelected minds and go into something as esoteric as a military manual go on to change all our lives. It's a must-read, for sure, that will help to inform anyone's thinking about so many world events.
 
PopHistorian said:
I think that regardless of whether *any* of us can see "the full implications," the implications boggle the mind when you read Prouty's nuts & bolts descriptions of how things as basic as funding and hardware-acquisition work -- that he describes what we think of as "recent" communications technology that was mature 50+ years ago -- how "policy changes" that come out of a few unelected minds and go into something as esoteric as a military manual go on to change all our lives. It's a must-read, for sure, that will help to inform anyone's thinking about so many world events.
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Yes. I can't make sense of his book without bringing in the hyperdimensional element. Perhaps that is why it is "safe" to publish it now. It reads like nonsense, without the key.
 
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