The Ravens: Pilots on the Secret War of Laos

Christopher Robbins (2000) researched the Ravens, the little known group of flyers in the US Air Force. The group were the elites in a way but also the rogues, the men who flew well but wanted no constraints; they wanted their freedom in the skies to outperform or challenge the elements behind engines with wings; they wanted a chance to make a difference in a war that was bogged down in paperwork, men with too much leisure behind the lines and overwhelmed by bureaucracy. And so from a wild group of fliers known as the Butterflies, the Ravens were born, and Robbins whispers their story in The Ravens: Pilots of the Secret War of Laos.

The Ravens got their name from the raven bird, which is a bird of the gods. The exact reason for choosing this symbol for intelligence gathering is not clear yet the birds have figured heavily in many mythologies. In Nordic mythology, two ravens, Huyin (Thought) and Munin (Meaning), perch on the shoulders of Odin, the lord of gods, to whisper in their master's ears the things they have seen while flying to the ends of the earth. Similarly, the Vikings believed that the circling of the great black birds in the sky during battle were the representations of the gods in guise. To many American Indian tribes the raven could will to do anything as it was a source of power; it had created the sun, earth, moon, stars and people of the earth. Indians have admired the bird for its sagacity, recognizing its ruthless opportunism and wily trickery at the same time. Other beliefs about the raven have figured it to be a ominous bird and a harbinger of death. Zoologically it is known to be extremely clever and brave, having high mental development and the ability to convey messages to its fellows. For whatever reason the name was bestowed on the men who flew the hazards of Laos air in secrecy and in daily flights of death, either dropping bombs or napalm or other deathly things, or, dropping out of the skies to their own deaths. Their apt name intermixes mythology with the reality of their death watch in their daily flights to win territory for their allies, principally the Mao (Hmong).

Source with more mythology on the raven

Laos was not part of the war zone for the US or for the communists in North Vietnam, and both groups denied having troops in the off-limit zone ... and yet it was a zone so heavily bombed that eventually press leaks made the Americans aware of "another war theater", and caused more anger and anti-war sentiment during the Vietnam War, seemingly incorrectly named based on the widening theaters of bomb droppings.

"In excess of 6,300,000 tons of bombs rained down on Indochina during the Vietnam War years, more than all the explosives dropped in both the European and Pacific theaters in World War II. Less than a tenth (about 600,000 tons) of the total tonnage dropped in SE Asia fell on North Vietnam" despite that location being enemy headquarters. "The bombing of North Vietnam was mostly concentrated around the area directly above the 17th parallel, where troops and supplies were massed to move south. It is one of the supreme ironies of the war that it was South Vietnam, the allied country being defended, that bore the brunt of the US bombing--a staggering 3,900,000 tons. Laos took second place. More than 1,100,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, with a further 500,000 tons in Northern Laos (which means that a considerably greater tonnage was dropped on Laos than on Germany--which was devastated by 1,360,000 tons in World War II). The 1,600,000 tons of bombs dropped on Laos would have amounted to seventeen tons every square mile--or was equal to six-tenths of a ton of bombs for every man, woman and child."

Caught in the middle of all these bombs dropping, invasion of land, and fighting were the Mao (Hmong). Mao was a derogatory term commonly used for the Hmong until the 1970s when Dr. Yang Dao, the first of his people to earn a PhD, raised awareness that it was in fact a venomous word stemming from Chinese slander. Mao originates from the Chinese miao, meaning "barbarian". And yet the Mao (Hmong) were formidable fighters and fierce opponents; they did not deny the 'complementary' name but returned the complement by calling the Chinese "sons of dogs".

The Hmong were great warriors. They were a Mongolian race originating from China. They were the most mysterious of the 12 principal races of Indochina, and even more so since they had no written language or reliable history. Their histories were enshrouded in storytelling and legend, e.g. they had come out of China on a flying carpet, they originated in a land of eternal snow and arctic nights (Inuit origin?), they become werewolves and weretigers to eat the livers of slain enemies. They were a people who grew opium for medicine, but it was socially acceptable for only the old and infirm to use it. Their medical treatment were based on deep traditions for promoting health and long life, e.g. deer horn in velvet, tiger bone marrow, gall of bear and python, and skin of gaur (wild buffalo). And when the Ravens encountered them and introduced Band Aids to them, the Band Aids took on great reverence as medicine with magical powers which drew out bad phi (energy and/or spirits of their animist world).

The Ravens loved the Hmong and found them hard-working, determined, fearless and loving. When the US signed the Paris Agreement on Vietnam on January 12, 1973, South Vietnam and Cambodia (two countries intimately connected to the treaty and which quickly becames victims of the treaty) were not included in the negotiations. Laos, of course not being acknowledged by the US govt as part of the war, was not present or represented either. Basically the treaty called for a cease-fire but a clear date was unestablished ... and through the "treaty" the US was exonerated from the war, the Ravens were ordered to not drop any more bombs though their dear friends and allies (the Hmong) were being decimated below them in battle and pleading for bomb coverage. The Ravens heartbrokenly returned to the US, where they were hated as symbols of the Vietnam War. They felt their years of battling for the mountain territory of the Hmong among the highlands and the huge plateau of the Field of Jars (named after the 4000 ton jars mysteriously lying on the plateau and which were so heavy a helicopter could not airlift one out) was futile and wasted. Nothing had been gained ... and now everything was being lost by the Hmong.

In terror many Hmong, though drastically decimated in numbers, fled Laos to Thailand where they stayed in refugee camps hoping for patriation to other countries. Eventually 2,000 were scattered in Canada, Australia, Argentina and French Guyana. 6,000 in France. Over 50,000 in the US. This mountain group of people have not assimilated easily in the US where they predominantly were sent to cities to reside. Many brought crossbows, hoes and shaman paraphanalia. They had no language skill or technical skill for coping in a city life. They lived off welfare but had no idea of how to shop, cook or "live" the American way. Their family groups had functioned around clans but with clan dispersal among many nations, depression rates soar. While the American medical system is quick to label the Hmong as dysfunctional, the Hmong are more tolerant of "mental" illness. As animists believing that everything in the world must be in harmony, their dreams tell them they are out of harmony. They have rituals to propitiate spirits, but there are too many alien spirits in the US. Some strange deaths have occurred among the Hmong community, death by nightmare, which the Philippinos have a word for "bangungot", but which Americans shake their head at unaware that in a simpler age people would recognize that the Hmong are dying of broken hearts.