With a solution in sight for the language problem, the Rustics concentrated on learning their new AO, or area of operations. In the beginning, none of the Rustics knew what was beyond “the fence,” as the border was called. Normally, the FAC’s AO was small and limited to wherever the unit they were supporting deployed its troops. The FAC was always in radio contact with his base radio station.
In Cambodia, the AO was the entire country, although most of the heavy fighting was to take place in the central region. Except for the OV-10 HF radio, the FAC was out of radio contact with any ground station in Vietnam. He could talk only to Cambodian Army Units and other aircraft. This was eventually solved by construction of a radio relay station on Nui Ba Den mountain and use of high altitude command and control aircraft. (See Chapter 6.)
The Rustics’ first maps1 of Cambodia were out-of-date French maps that had been scaled to 1:50,000 and overprinted with the American grid coordinate system and legends written in English. In addition to the map inaccuracies, the physical appearance of Cambodia changed markedly due to the seasonal flooding that came with the monsoons. Sometimes, there didn’t seem to be much relationship between what the pilot could see from his plane and what was printed on the map.
Cambodia is about the size of the state of Missouri2 and the Rustics covered it all. The southwestern border of Cambodia is the Gulf of Thailand where Cambodia had its only seaport, Kompong Som. Thailand borders the west and northwest while Laos borders the north. The east and south are bordered by South Vietnam.
Cambodia, including portions of South Vietnam and Thailand.
The two dominating features of Cambodia are the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap. The Mekong is the ninth longest river in the world and larger than any river in the United States. It originates in Tibet and flows south through China, Burma, and Laos to Cambodia. At Phnom Penh, it splits into two branches that both flow to the Mekong delta region in South Vietnam and empty into the South China Sea. The Mekong delta actually extends into Cambodia and the sediment deposited during the wet season flooding contributes to the fertility of the central region. The Mekong is navigable by ocean vessels at least as far as Phnom Penh. During the Sihanouk regime the South Vietnamese considered Cambodia to be an enemy country and did not allow ocean traffic to pass on the Mekong through South Vietnam.
The Tonle Sap, which translates as “Great Lake,” is a large lake occupying the west-central portion of the country. It is connected to the Mekong at Phnom Penh by a 62 mile (100 kilometer) river that flows south in the dry season, but reverses and flows north in the wet season. The Tonle Sap spawned numerous small channels and rivers, some navigable by small boats.
Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, and the Mekong River. Photo courtesy of Richard Roberds.
The Mekong and the Tonle Sap made aerial navigation reasonably easy, at least in daylight. If the FAC could climb high enough to see either one, he could tell where he was and point the aircraft to where he wanted to go. This form of navigation was called “pilotage,” and it went all the way back to the Wright Brothers. It still worked.
Low mountains, with a few peaks rising to 5,000 feet, dominate the southwestern part of the country. The highway from Phnom Penh to Kompong Som passes through the Pich Nil Pass at an altitude of about 3,000 feet.
In the north, there are a few mountains (2,000 feet) near the border with Thailand. South of these mountains are the world-famous temples of Angkor, Cambodia’s cultural treasure.
The northeast is mostly plains that become the Eastern Highlands, a remote region of small, but heavily forested mountains and high plateaus. The east, up to the border with Vietnam, is flat and was dominated by rubber plantations.
The central region, where most of Cambodia’s population lived, is an area of very fertile and productive farm land. The area produced rice, maize, palm oil, sugar and all varieties of tropical fruit and vegetables. The lakes, rivers, and streams were full of fish and even during bad crop seasons, Cambodia could produce more food than the population could consume. The richest area was a triangle with Kompong Thom at the northern tip, Kompong Cham in the east and Skoun in the west. Although the Rustics ranged over the entire country, this was their primary area of operation.
Angkor Wat, the largest and best known of the temples in the Angkor complex. Doug Aitken collection.
Cambodia has two monsoon seasons, which strongly influence the Cambodian lifestyle. From November to May, the cool northeastern monsoon blows but brings little rain. This was the dry season. From June to October, the southwestern monsoon brings heavy rains and strong winds. This was the wet season and featured thunderstorms and general flooding of the countryside. The Mekong was swollen and overflowing; the river to the Tonle Sap reversed its course and the Tonle Sap itself increased in size significantly. These seasons affected everything, including military operations. During the dry season, movement was relatively easy. In the wet season, travel was difficult except on the major highways. Small boats replaced the bicycles used in the dry season.
Regardless of the season, Cambodia is hot and humid all year around. Average daily temperatures in Phnom Penh are 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Celsius).
Typical Cambodian pagoda. Doug Aitken collection.
From the air, some Cambodian villages looked like they might have been transplanted from the United States. Up to that point, the Rustics’ experience with Asian villages came from Vietnam. Most Vietnamese villages looked like someone had dumped a bunch of shacks into a clearing in the jungle. There was no order and nothing resembling streets. The shacks looked like they were all attached to one another and maybe on top of one another.
Cambodian villages, on the other hand, tended to be laid out symmetrically with wide streets and what appeared to be single-family dwellings with lawns and the occasional driveway. Each village had a central market square with a pagoda at one end. The dominant religion of Cambodia was Buddhism, and Cambodian pagodas were elaborate affairs with steeples and colorful spires. Somewhere in each village was a building with an adjoining soccer field that could have been a school.
Cambodia’s road system was good for peacetime transportation, but totally inadequate for military operations, particularly during the wet season. It was too easy to block or destroy a road and deny it to vehicle traffic. As an example, Route 4 from the seaport, Kompong Som, was regularly shut down by the Khmer Rouge at the Pich Nil Pass. The Cambodian Army with the help of the Rustics could open it, but they couldn’t keep it open. Phnom Penh was effectively cut off from its only seaport.
Pochentong Airport, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Doug Aitken collection.
Cambodia had a railroad that connected Kompong Som, Phnom Penh, and Battambang, but none of the Rustics ever saw a train on it. The rumor was that the Khmer Rouge had destroyed all the locomotives.
There were only two airports in the country with hard surface runways. The main one was Pochentong Airport at Phnom Penh, which was both the country’s international airport and the primary base for its air force. The other one was at Battambang in the west near the Thailand border. It was used primarily by the Cambodian Air Force for training and was not the scene of intense action as far as the Rustics were concerned. There were some other unpaved airfields at some of the larger cities, but their security was always questionable and they were never used by the Rustics.
Once the Rustics mastered the geography and had visited all corners of the country, they began to develop an appreciation for the Cambodian culture and the beauty of Cambodia itself.