A Pilot in Civilian Clothes: Lt Col Greg Wilson

Warriors In Their Own Words | First Person War Stories

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Lieutenant Colonel Greg Wilson served in Vietnam & Laos as a Forward Air Controller. As a Forward Air Controller, it was his job to coordinate airstrikes, and ensure that no friendly troops were hit. After less than six months in Vietnam, he joined the classified Steve Canyon Program (Project 404), also known as the Ravens.

Laos was technically neutral during the Vietnam war, and no foreign troops were supposed to be in the country. Nonetheless, the North Vietnamese continued to use Laos in order to import supplies via the Ho Chi Minh trail. Needing to stop the flow of enemy supplies, the USAF began secret airborne operations, targeting enemy vehicles, ground troops, and weapon systems.

The Raven program was eventually developed in order to better execute these operations. Raven pilots wore civilian clothes, and their job was to mark targets with smoke rockets, and direct air strikes onto them.

In this interview, Lt Col Wilson talks about his experience as a FAC and a Raven. He tells this story about first joining the Ravens:

“So, I went out for a flight with one of the Ravens, Erik Erikson, and he was in the backseat…He gave me a set of coordinates. I said, ‘Well, there's got to be something. There's got to be a trick here, because this coordinate is right in the middle of a map. I don't have to piece them together.’ So, I flew to those coordinates, and he said, ‘What do you see down there?’ So, I looked down and I said, ‘Well, it looks like a crashed 0-1.’ He said, ‘You're right. What else do you see down there?’ I said, ‘Well, I can't be sure, but I'd say that it looks like skeletal remains.’ And he said, ‘You're right again. You're his replacement.’

So, that was kind of my wakeup call that they figured I was a rookie. And they also, wanted to let me know that this was the real game, that there was threat here. And that if you were shot down in this environment, you were not going to be captured, you were not going to be a POW, you were going to be a fatality.”

Learn more about Wilson here.

Check out the Documentary.tv YouTube Channel to see incredible stories like this combined with rare, authentic battlefield footage to create riveting film documentaries.

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