South Vietnam - Kit Carson Scouts / Tiger Scouts
Brigadier General Christopher "Kit" Carson [1809-1868] was a famous American frontiersman. Born in Kentucky, Carson spent his childhood on the Missouri Frontier. Kit Carson moved to the Boonslick district of Missouri in 1811, an area he called home for nearly half his life. He led an adventurous life as a Santa Fe Trail teamster, trapper, scout, and Indian fighter. In 1826 Carson emigrated west over the Santa Fe Trail. In the late 1820's he entered the fur trade at Taos, rendezvous and winter headquarters for many independent trappers. They operated over a large arc of territory extending from the headwaters of the Rio Grande and Arkansas River across the deserts to the San Juan, Gila, Salt, and Colorado Rivers. Reopening the old Spanish trails to California, they were among the first Americans to make a lodgment there.
Carson came to Utah in 1832 while trapping for the Rocky Mt. Fur Co. The next few years he became famous as a mountain man, Indian fighter, guide & army officer. The fur trade began to decline in the mid-1830's, and many trappers and traders retired. About 1836 Carson married, in Indian fashion, an Arapaho girl, who died bearing him a daughter. In 1843 he remarried. His bride was Maria Josefa Jaramillo daughter of a prominent and wealthy local family and sister of the wife of Charles Bent. For the next 25 years his diverse activities kept him away for long stretches of time.
Carson served army explorers as guide for several expeditions. In September 1843 Carson, Lt. John C. Fremont & three other men launched an Indian rubber boat (to the west of here), & carried out the first scientific exploration of the Great Salt Lake. Kit Carson carved a cross (still visible) in the rocks on the highest point on the island which the party named "Disappointment," but now bears the name of Fremont Island. Carson guided Frémont's second government exploring expedition(1843-44) over the Sierra Nevada. In 1845, a Fremont party guided by Carson explored central Utah & Great Salt Lake. Their greatest feat was crossing the Great Salt Lake desert en route to California, the trail followed in 1846 by the Donner Party.
Going to California in 1845 with Fremont's third expedition, between then and early 1849 he took an active part in the U.S. conquest of California. Carson helped in the California conquest in 1846 during the Mexican War. In 1853, Carson was appointed as Indian agent in charge of the Ute nation.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, in 1861, Carson resigned as Indian agent and entered a new phase of his multifaceted career. Aiding in organizing the 1st New Mexico Volunteer Infantry, he was commissioned as lieutenant colonel in July and only 2 months later as colonel. For his gallantry in the Battle of Valverde, N. Mex., against a Confederate force from Texas, and for other distinguished service in New Mexico, he won a brevet of brigadier general in January 1866. Under the direction of Gen. James H. Carleton, commander of the Department of New Mexico, Carson conducted highly successful campaigns against the Mescalero Apaches (1862-63); the Navajos (1863-64); and the Kiowas and Comanches (1864-65), in which he fought his last engagement, the Battle of Adobe Walls, Tex.
In the summer of 1866 Carson assumed command of Fort Garland, Colo., taking his family with him, but he had to resign in November 1867 because of ill health. The next spring he again relocated his family, from Taos to Boggsville, Colo. But he died at nearby Fort Lyon (No. 2) in May, shortly after the birth of their seventh child took his wife's life. They were buried there, but the bodies were later moved to Taos. Legendary hero of the "Old West", a contemporary who knew him well once said that he was "first in every quality which constitutes excellence in a mountaineer."
The Kit Carson Scout Program (which for unknown reasons was called the Tiger Scout Program in the 9th Division) was well known in Vietnam. It consisted of hiring Viet Cong or North Vietnamese Army soldiers who had defected (and were known as Hoi Chanhs), and integrating them in U.S. units. These defectors, who invariably were strongly anti-Communist once they had deserted, were used in rifle squads as riflemen or scouts. Their guerrilla skills, their local knowledge, familiarity with the local language, and their ability to communicate with the Vietnamese people made them invaluable. Unfortunately, their command of English was usually very limited, but after some contact with the unit in which they lived and fought, they were able to communicate reasonably well. After having the advantage of good food, good medical care and the superior training of the U.S. units, they made first class soldiers.
In the spring of 1968, the 9th Division was authorized in the neighborhood of 250 Tiger Scouts. In theory, that put about two Tiger Scouts in each rifle platoon, but in practice we did not have as many as authorized. It had been our experience, heretofore, that it was difficult to recruit as many scouts as we were authorized. After assessing the advantages of the program and making a few trial runs, it was determined that the recruiting possibilities were actually quite good, but the program suffered from a combination of lack of attention by lower commanders and a certain subconscious uneasiness at having Communist defectors in frontline units. In any case, we started an organized recruiting campaign and were very rapidly able to have our authorization raised to somewhat over 400 scouts in the division. The direct cost to the U.S. Government was quite low as their pay scale, although attractive in Vietnamese terms, was quite modest.
The increased authorization and recruitment allowed us to put one Tiger Scout in each rifle squad, as well as specialists in intelligence and reconnaissance units and prisoner of war interrogation teams. One very direct bonus from this arrangement was that it automatically increased our rifle strength by ten percent, and counteracted the effect of U.S. soldiers being absent due to rest and recreation, sick call, and wounds. Not only did this device increase our rifle strength, but it had many indirect bonuses alluded to above. It obviously broke down the language barrier to a certain extent as the scouts could talk to prisoners, the local population, or to members of the Vietnamese armed forces. Not only could they converse with these people, but due to their knowledge of the country, they were able to solicit information from them that an American could never obtain in any case. They were also very good scouts-they had an intimate knowledge of Communist tactics and could, as a result, feel out situations by instinct which the inexperienced among the U.S. soldiers had to figure out the hard way.
Interestingly enough, the Tiger Scouts proved to be extremely able and loyal members of the team. Although some of them were discharged due to illness or lack of ability, the number of scouts who deserted or were suspected of rejoining the Communist forces was extremely low, perhaps a handful at most. All in all, this was a most successful program as it not only strengthened our own units, but helped to soften some of the major difficulties inherent in a U.S. unit working in a strange country.
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