Mr. Youa Ying Vang
1st Lt., SGU Veteran
“Intercept enemy information”
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I was able to find a new job within a week and worked for the Americans. I went to work as a core support [for the CIA]. That job was dangerous because it was not one that I had to hold a weapon. We intercepted phone conversations so we knew what the Vietnamese’s next moves were. We had some soldiers who spoke Vietnamese so they would interpret that into English and give it to the Americans and to the General [Vang Pao]. They knew where the Vietnamese were stationed, where they were going, and how many of them were coming. If they were coming for a true battle or if they were just going to bother us. Not only that, but [information about] the American planes getting shot down. There were some that got shot down and we could not find them. If they shot the plane and the pilot came down on a parachute then they knew where to find it. If they killed the pilot and no one parachutes from the plane, then they could not find the plane. If the Vietnamese got our pilot, then when they discussed that we would intercept that information and know that our pilot was alive, dead, or just disappeared. It was a dangerous job.