"Michael Shirley" wrote
a425couple wrote:
Those that wanted to, yes.
I'd certainly agree with that.
They were sheep dipped, (which means that they were wearing CIA colors
of convenience).
First line has interesting term, second is mostly fine.
Yup. I'd give a lot to know who came up with it. Where I come from,
sheep dipped means that you've walked up a ramp, fell over the edge into a
tank that's over your head so that the solution kills ticks and things.
And
it usually only happens to sheep, so I'm kinda curious myself.

Meaning seems to fit fine IMHO with the term,
'fell over the edge - solution removes bad things' - like
official record of allegiances and chain of command
& responsibilities.

They weren't really out of the Air Force anyway.
Ahhh? Correctness of above depends on reader's interpretation, (and
kinda on how things turn out).
Yup. If you got sheep dipped, you technically resigned from the
service, but you were still there. It's one of those things that came
under the heading of "plausable denial". The idea was that if you were
technically a civilian, the people you were out to screw with, couldn't
come back and claim an act of war. John Foster Dulles, Eisenhower's
Secretary of State came up with it, and his spooky brother, Allen Dulles,
applied it at the CIA.

I totally agree with the "Plausable denial"
that's why - split hairs later.

While I was in the USMC, I got to know well enough a salty, quite
competent SNCO. He once related to me a story of a kinda similar type
thing.
His story as best I can recall with current wording:
"So as the 1960's started I was happy I'd found a good life in the
Corps. Far better than life in my neighborhood (he was Hispanic). I
enjoyed life as a corporal (?) and the Corps felt I was a good leader
and a good trainer. Then an officer I trusted pulled me aside and took
me to hear a person trying to recruit me for something else. It sounded
interesting, but risky to me to get out of the Corps. I asked
questions, but all the officer would say is, "You know the Marines will
alway take care of their own." I took that as good enough
uarantee --!?--
and went for it. I was discharged and my file was closed.
So then I was at this camp trying to do my best to train this rather
strange group.
"The mission/invasion real quickly became a total clusterf-k!
We were so pinned down, couldn't dig foxholes, I just kept my head down
and wiggled my way lower and lower in the sand. Gradually it became
clear that we were not going to get support, and this was not likely to
get better. Seemed like a horrible fate, get killed or captured, and
the record was clear - I'd left the Marines, forgotten loyalty to USA,
and gone and joined a crazy whacko group as a mercinary.
Sounds like Brigade 2506-- the guys who did the Bay Of Pigs
Invasion.
"As the day wore on there was a bit of a lull, I told my people what I
was going to try - and they could stay where they were in 'hull
defilade' in the sand or try it with me. I crawled back down to the
water, then kept going. "I switched to a back float and just kept
slowly kicking. I felt surprised and very happy as I got out
100-200-300 yards. I was mostly out of range and I had not been hit.
Then realized, I had no realistic goal! But it was good to be just
alive and swimming, so just kept going for hours. Comtemplated life
and choices.
Really surprised me when much later I bumped into a ship's small boat.
They had spotted me and decided to check me out. Good guys and I was
saved. I'd made it in good shape out of Cuba's Bay of Pigs.
Yup. They didn't stop there. There was a sort of half assed maritime
war between some odd boats that the CIA bought for the Alpha 66 and
Omega-7 guys, to include the ex-Navy minesweeper, Rex, which had already
seen service
with the CIA during the action in the Dominican Republic. She had
machineguns and 75mm recoiless rifles as armament. Part of the deal over
the Cuban missile crisis was that the naval
actions stopped and that included the covert operation surrounding the Rex
and a half dozen other boats.

Interesting additional info.
Those RRs certainly seem like kinda ideal
weapon for a smaller craft. Light enough weight,
low recoil, heavy hitting power.

"I enlisted back into the Corps. Got fast tracked back to and above my
prior rank. I ain't gonna leave it again!"
Heck, I'll admit I'm not 100% positive about the exact truth positive in
many things. I believed this story then, and now.
But, I'll accept, there is always the possibility this SNCO was just
telling me a 'sea story'. Except he did not start it with the
obligatory "Now this is no ****!"
Comments or other opinions on this are welcomed.
Sounds about right. They sheep dipped a lot of guys for that
operation. The B-26 pilots came out of the Mississippi Air National
Guard, for example.

- I gather that means time "on loan" to the Agency counted - towards
promotions, retirement, etc.?
Yes. They maintain a shadow file-- sort of a parallel DD 201 jacket,
and they keep track of your upward movement even though you're not in the
service anymore.
IMHO, certainly in the end result - yes.
But, pretty sure it was not done concurrently (at timings with 'peers')
and quite possible it was not done immeadiately at 'reentry' - might
have been in stages.
Sort of. Your record stayed on file and was reviewed and updated
periodically. Same deal for Air Force guys who went to work on Air
America's black operations in Laos.

I try not to split hairs, but think the part about
promotions with peers could use some claification.
I think it not done 'with peers' - but caught up/ made 'right'
later.

Consider a promotional board. They are conviened once
or twice a year to select say 1000 of the people in the
zone in that occupational speciality for future promotion.
They make thier decision, goes probably to congress for
approval, then the "promotional list" gets published in
many unclassified ways.
Now consider senario, barely changed from our real world.
A pilot we will call Garyfrancis Unlucky Underpowered,
quits the AF as a Capt. in 1956, and starts working for
a ngo flying high altitude research planes.
Then one unlucky day in 1960 one of these planes
gets wounded by one SAM high over Russia, then
plane and pilot get totally destroyed by another SAM.
Russia complains.
But the cover story can basicly hold, it was a ngo
research plane flown by civilian pilot (sure ex-military,
but plenty of them quit and go fly airlines also) and
some really regretful navigation error occured.
Sorry about that, but it not our military!

The "cover story" however, would totally fold, if the USSR
showed that couple months earlier this Garyfrancis
Underpowered had been promoted to Major USAF!

Thus, I think when/if they want to return to regular
military duty, they brought back,
then are 'fast tracked' through promotions as normal
sequencing allows.

I recall a Staff Sgt (E6), got out for temp. good reasons.
Problem solved/ended/over. Too much time had passed
for him to come back as an E6. Enlisted as E1 (or E2?).
If I recall correctly he spent 6 months as E4, and also
6 months as E5. He was almost right in line with his
former 'peers' when the E7 board met.