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Date Posted: Fri, Jun 26 2009, 7:48:51 PDT
Author: Steve Gattis
Author Host/IP: h186.42.20.98.dynamic.ip.windstream.net / 98.20.42.186
Subject: Re: QCs in VSPA
In reply to: Ed Narwid 's message, "QCs in VSPA" on Thu, Jun 25 2009, 19:32:29 PDT

Hello to all.

The Quan Canh who served in the Republic of South Vietnam are an extremely proud group. Many of their QC brothers were executed after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. Many current members spent years suffering in communist prisons being "re-educated" after the war.

The goals of the QC Association are the same as ours: to preserve their history and brotherhood, with the addition of trying to rescue family and brother QC who are still trapped in Vietnam. Their association is International and draws members to reunions who come from as far away as Australia and Europe.

I am in touch with the QC Association and spent time on the telephone with one of them last night to discuss plans they have for their reunion. They have a link to our web site so that people who find them may also find us.

They invited me, Den Cook and Kailey Wong to attend one of there reunions and they treated us like gold. Many of them had tears in their eyes as they thanked us for fighting for their country. It was my honor to present their association with a certificate from the VSPA attesting to our brotherhood as troops who wore the QC patch, fighting in the same war. When some QC saw us wearing the QC patch in Washington, D.C. for the parade and 2007 reunion, they ran to us to say thank you.

The difference in our associations is one of hertitage. They were at war all of their lives until they were able to leave their country to seek freedom. They still have members who fought with us against the Japanese during WWII. They were dominated by the French, fought with us against the communists,and later had to live in the presence of Russians in some areas after we left our bases like Cam Ranh Bay.

The VSPA, by comparison, is an association of former USAF air policemen, security policemen and Air Force augmentees who served in Vietnam and Thailand between 1958 and 1975. Our charter, bylaws and constitution do not allow membership beyond our own very defined rules of membership which exclude military police from other services and current USAF security forces personnel. That is not to say that we do not respect them or honor them for their service, but rather to preserve our history and brotherhood based upon our common experience without having to explain ourselves or our experience from Tech School, OJT, AZR, Dog School, Safeside, and the unique duties we performed while wearing an air police or security police shield in Vietnam and Thailand.

When we attend reunions, there is never ever a time when we have to explain ourselves or deal with a lack of understanding from other branches of the military, something many of us have experienced in other organizations. As for current security forces personnel, they love us and look upon us as their ancestors. They consistly thank us for what we did and tell us, "Without you, there would be no us." We have a mandate to meet with them and always hold our reunions in conjunction with an active duty security forces squadron. We support them while they are deployed. Their leaders were trained at Lackland and in their first squadrons by some of our members. They know who we are.

Please remember that when you make comments on this public bulletin board, your comments will be retained by Google and other search engines for many years to come. Many people read our bulletin board: students who want to know about the war, family members trying to locate VSPA members who served with their father or grandfather, former AP's & SP's looking for buddies, Air Force brass who want to know about us - including base commanders before we enter their base for a reunion, and honorable QC who consistently thank us for fighting in their country.

My best to all of you.
Steve

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