One of the CIA’s greatest and most daring covert paramilitary operators, Anthony Poshepny (Tony Poe), was once asked what was the most effective weapon, he ever used in combat against any enemy.
Of all the choices he had used in combat:
M-16 : M-14 : M-1911 : Model 70 Sniper Rifle : Model 12 Rack shotgun
Sandies : B-52's : F4's : F111's : F105's : AC-130U Spectre Gun ship
AK-47 : AK 74 : Dragonov Sniper Rifle :
Bamboo booby traps : or just plain old Hmong tribesmen
HIS IMMEDIATE RESPONSE WAS: "A RADIO". Think about it.
Poe was a young Marine, wounded twice at Iwo Jima, who was so courageous and bold that he was drawn into the CIA when it was first set up. He ran commando missions during the Korean War and in the 1950s worked secret operations in Sumatra, Indonesia, Taiwan, Tibet and southwestern China, for example, spiriting the Dalai Lama to safety from the Chinese Communists. In 1961, he moved into the jungles of Laos, where he spent years training indigenous tribesmen, including the Hmong, in intelligence-gathering and guerrilla warfare. He came to the close attention of Desmond FitzGerald, a senior CIA executive who protected him from bureaucrats until FitzGerald’s own death in 1967.
Poe spent 14 years fighting in the jungles of Southeast Asia, unknown to the press or public but already a legend among Special Forces. He was wounded numerous times, never bothering even to report his injuries. He was shot in the hip, which shattered, and through the stomach by North Vietnamese soldiers while on a mission just a few miles from Hanoi. He escaped, dragging himself for miles through the jungle, using his rifle as a crutch. A few years later, he lost most of the fingers on his left hand from shrapnel. "THE SHADOW" By Dick Carlson and Bill Regardie © 2003.