Pleiku was in the II Corps zone, home to II Corps Headquarters. Also known as Camp Holloway, it had an airbase nicknamed "the Country Club". This whole area was not just busy, it was hyper-busy! Army Aviation was based here: (both fixed and rotor-wing), security, medivac, maintenance, recon insertion and extraction...just to name a few. In addition to airmobile troops, Pleiku had artillery, some tanks (armor) and the plethora of support troops that the fighting elements needed. This included their own radio and TV station, within its own fenced-off compound. (Armed Forces Vietnam TV/Radio Detachment 3.) Special Forces Detachment C2 was based here officially in November 1964. On 15 Jan 1971, Pleiku reverted to an ARVN Ranger camp. It was an ideal location, in that Laos was very close. The SF missions around and behind the Laotian border included recon, but were no means limited to that. Special Forces personnel officially grew to over 400, becoming one of the largest USSF Command Centers in Vietnam. Within the Special Forces compound, thoroughly fenced off from the rest of the compound and guarded, were other fenced off areas. Walls within walls. Psyops were run out of certain areas within. Special Forces personnel usually stayed amongst their own company, preferring it to the rest of the military "family". (If you do not know SF people and their mindset, it could be (and still is) daunting and somewhat bewildering to the average GI.) Adding to that air of mystery, and fear, were the times fully armed troopers emerged from out of the SF compound and moved through the Pleiku compound. (No-one was allowed to carry arms in the compound, unless you were an MP or going to or from the helipad, on duty.) Anyone, everyone got out of the way of these men without rank insignia or identifying insignia (called "sheep dipped"). Military Police kept them under quiet, wary surveillance...from a respectable distance. They went wherever they were going, did whatever they were there to do (inevitably non-violent, despite the rumors), and returned to the SF camp. Quietly. That, my friends, is the difference between a soldier and a professional (a "warrior"). I have never worn the Green Beret, but I have been very close to many in the Special Forces. I envy them, I feel at home with them. They are the finest, bar none, defenders of our country. God Bless them all.