lao-ocean-girl

I was online tonight, looking for some examples of good travel blogs, to get me in the mood of doing my own when I’m in Panama.  I endedup on Vagabonding.com and a travelogue entry concerning Laos caught my eye.  I thought of Glyn and Kiran, who were meeting up again in Thailand for a day or so.  Glyn had already visited Laos, and Kiran is heading there now.  Most of the information in this entry was already know to me, but I thought people would be interested to know the following facts during the Vietnam War.

The Secret War
The war in Laos was so secret that the country’s name was never included in any of the original US records; it was referred to as "the other theater".

Neutral Laos was off limits according to the Geneva agreement. As a workaround, the US sent CIA agents and soldiers in under the guise of civilians; the air raid missions were fought by men in cutoff shorts and cowboy hats.

The Vietnamese didn’t bother to disguise their soldiers.

Staggering Statistics
The USA conducted over 10,000 missions during the nine-year war and dropped over 1,000,000 bombs. This equated to one ton of explosives dropped for every man, woman, and child living in Laos at the time.

Costly Devastation
The secret war in Laos remains the most costly operation ever conducted by the USA. US taxpayers funded the nine-year war at a cost of $2 million per day!

I was online tonight, looking for some examples of good travel blogs, to get me in the mood of doing my own when I’m in Panama.  I endedup on Vagabonding.com and a travelogue entry concerning Laos caught my eye.  I thought of Glyn and Kiran, who were meeting up again in Thailand for a day or so.  Glyn had already visited Laos, and Kiran is heading there now.  Most of the information in this entry was already know to me, but I thought people would be interested to know the following facts during the Vietnam War.

The Secret War
The war in Laos was so secret that the country’s name was never included in any of the original US records; it was referred to as "the other theater".

Neutral Laos was off limits according to the Geneva agreement. As a workaround, the US sent CIA agents and soldiers in under the guise of civilians; the air raid missions were fought by men in cutoff shorts and cowboy hats.

The Vietnamese didn’t bother to disguise their soldiers.

Staggering Statistics
The USA conducted over 10,000 missions during the nine-year war and dropped over 1,000,000 bombs. This equated to one ton of explosives dropped for every man, woman, and child living in Laos at the time.

Costly Devastation
The secret war in Laos remains the most costly operation ever conducted by the USA. US taxpayers funded the nine-year war at a cost of $2 million per day!