The Conversion of the Special Forces

Abstract

Significant material, ideological, and rhetorical relations bound the American government’s military intervention in Vietnam with evangelical and humanitarian missionary projects. None were more involved in the program to “win the hearts and minds” of the Montagnards than the American Special Forces or “Green Beret” as they were popularly known. They too were a kind of missionary to the Montagnards. One officer explained at the time: “We’re really a military version of the Peace Corps. We are social workers with rifles.”1 While the Special Forces were actually quite successful in this project to win the hearts and minds of the Montagnards, their mission seems to have had a profound effect on themselves as well. The men of the Special Forces, in a sense, passed through a “conversion” of their own. Their “hearts and minds” were won by the Montagnards. Trying to win the loyalty of the Montagnards, in the end it is the Special Forces whose loyalty is won. This conversion has become evident in the resettlement of the Dega in North Carolina where retired Special Forces soldiers have worked passionately to promote and defend Montagnard interests.