If you are a longtime reader, you’ve seen the name Billy Waugh here on Richardcyoung.com before. Waugh was a special forces soldier in Vietnam and a pillar of the American special forces community. Here National Review’s Jay Nordlinger writes of Waugh’s recent passing:
Well, here is something good: “Billy Waugh, 93, ‘Godfather of the Green Berets,’ Is Dead.” I don’t mean it’s good that Mr. Waugh has died! I mean it’s good — very good — that he lived. The subheading of the obit, by Richard Sandomir of the New York Times, reads, “He was a Special Forces soldier during the Vietnam War then worked for the C.I.A., tracking Osama bin Laden in Sudan and fighting in Afghanistan after 9/11.”
After 9/11, Mr. Waugh, who was then 71, lobbied to be sent to Afghanistan.
“Billy got a folding chair and set it up opposite the entrance to my office and told my office manager, ‘I’m going to sit here until Cofer talks to me,’” said Mr. Black, who was director of the C.I.A.’s Counterterrorist Center at the time.
Eventually, they talked. Mr. Waugh was still quite fit, and the next day, Mr. Black agreed to send him to Afghanistan, reasoning that his experience in unconventional warfare might help a young commander there.
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