snowmman

I got my issue. It's the right issue. Article starts on page 21 Get this: Full page, Full Color head, almost front, shot of Ted B. Braden. He has blue eyes. Receding hair line. Ear lobes not detached. Black hair. A faint line of gray showing on top with a widow's peak. Wearing white shirt, buttoned, Black tie, tweed jacket. Nose is largish. I was right about Duncan. Duncan writes the forward to the article. part of Duncan's intro "Braden has a penchant for asking incredible favors of people, whether they be short or long term acquaintances. On what started out to be a normal day at Ramparts' offices, he walked in with a "Dunc, old buddy... " to ask for help. He blithely explained he was looking for a new mercenary group to join, and could I help tide him over?" I will scan all 6 pages as images, But I also want to OCR them into a pdf, so we can search the text easily for words. I'll start that tonight. I'll try posting the pic first, since I know that will generate a lot of discussion. (I actually think Waugh is a better match on the photo, but I think we'll end up agreeing that Braden is not excluded based on the sketch. We'll debate how close he matches. I have no idea what people will say. But he's a lot better match than Duane! Duncan says "Braden is a heavy drinker" So Braden was drinking even in the mid-60s. Duncan says "but it doesn't seem to affect his physical condition and seldom does he ever get drunk enough to lose self-control. When he does, the veneer of civility vanishes, exposing a streak of cruelty and a very unpleasant core." Duncan says "I first met him in Vietnam in February 1965 on Project Delta [Ramparts, February, 1966]. We were planning a prisoner rescue operation utilizing HALO parachuting techniques ...Braden was almost a pioneer of the form and was recruited to help bring at least two Vietnamese to some level of expertise for the mission" I wonder if there really was a prisoner rescue that early? Maybe Duncan didn't want to fully blow the Laos recon stuff yet..it was 1968 and operations were ongoing Duncan says "The similarities between Braden and the arch-prototype of the modern mercenary, Germany's infamous Kongo-Muller, are many. They can laugh about the most gruesome things; both display an obvious machismo syndrome; they share the habit of using their well-manicured hands in little gestures which detract attention from their eyes." Talking about Braden being Mr. Low Pull ..."pulling well below 1000 feet"..(quotes form my prior post)..Duncan says "With no safety restrictions on jumping in Vietnam, he had a ball. Similarly, on operations deep in NLF territory, he wandered away from his team on a t least two occasions, the better to seek trouble. He also shares the cynicism common to the professional soldier in Vietnam. Idealism makes him uncomfortable and like the rest, he gives it lip-service only for public consumption." Duncan says "About the time I left Vietnam, Special Forces loaned Braden to the CIA for their SOG project...Most of these have been remarkable for their lack of success. OP-35 -- "Shining Brass," Braden's group - was more successful. Most of this group's operations are short-range jaunts into Laos and North Vietnam" more later....(plus pic) (edit) Ted mentions the Belgians in his article, and the CIA a bunch.

I did some searching on the 'net. It's actually a common question people have: "how deep" to bury a pet. (some wonder about the legality of it in an urban or suburban area) because a lot of people bury pets. There are a lot of suggestions of "at least 3 feet deep" So I'm thinking your burial was typical, not extraordinary.

skywhuffo says "I am still asking the same question. Can ANYONE show me anything proving DB COOPER ever really existed? It plays like a bigfoot sighting, several people suposedly see it, no clear evidence, and nothing to go on. " I've posted the transcripts from the court case where the insurance company didn't want to pay up for the $200k..there was the whole question of whether the policy covered it or not. In fact, the whole issue of whether "terrorism" acts, are excluded under the "acts of war" exclusion clauses in insurance policies has been the subject of some other court cases. I found some referencing the flight 305 case. I'm not sure if the insurance companies tried to renege on the 9/11 stuff. They probably realized that the public would hang them if they did. I wonder how all the insurance issues played out with respect to 9/11? How would insurance play out if someone drops a nuke? Does it matter if it's dropped by a nation-state, a terrorist, or Snowmman Industries? Maybe I could get some protection money from the insurance companies. ....hmmm Ka-ching, Ka-ching! It's not embezzlement/fraud, if the other party never complains!

Social implications though. Your average fraudster/embezzler is likely to have a reasonably responsible white collar job and the social implications (including shame for his family etc) of being caught are probably much higher than for the average bank robber. Don't see the point? You're saying you think there are fewer fraud/embezzlement crimes because of the social pressure? compared to bank robbery? (edit) I don't have the numbers to compare. Or are you saying the total amount of money involved in fraud/embezzlement in the US, is less than the total amount involved in bank robberies? I think it's just that poorer people do bank robberies: easier to catch/prosecute, so FBI goes after that. Has nothing to do with social benefit.

I have some experience with digging very deep holes by hand. Your 4' "deep" I think is wrong. To cover a plastic box like you say, the hole would have to be the burial depth, plus the size of the box. Assuming a medium size dog, we're talking at least another 12" So that would be a 5' hole. You can't dig a 5' hole, with dimensions maybe 18"x18" or 24"x24" with a shovel. You either need to use a post hole digger, or make the hole big enough to stand in. What were the dimensions of the hole? How did you measure 4'? Was this after the box was removed? if so then only 3' or so of dirt covered the box? That would seem reasonable then, for a burial. Not sure why you're saying it was "deep" Sounds like it wasn't??

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/311046_fbiterror11.html Jo uses emotional language a lot to accuse the FBI of not doing stuff when they should be doing stuff. Read the article above from 2007, and you can see there are boatloads of white-collar fraud, involving millions of dollars, that go uninvestigated because of resource constraints. (edit) Orange1: you can tie this to my thoughts on the average bank robbery. (edit) they show a table of "crime vs. punishment" and if you work out the risk/reward for embezzlement/fraud vs bank robbery, embezzlement/fraud is definitely the better way to go..even if you get caught.

Now if you're burying paper evidence with a dog, it's obviously not for preservation, since the paper will get decomposed. So it's for evidence destruction. Why not just burn the paper ticket? What's the goal for sticking it in the dog orifice and burying it?

I was thinking about this supposed Airline Ticket. We never really sorted out which Ticket it was. Was it one of the copies of the Dan Cooper ticket? Or was it one of the tickets used to get to, or return from, Portland? It sounds to me like there are 3 possible tickets, maybe more if there were connecting flights. Which of the possible tickets, was the Magic Dog Ticket? And: Why keep only one ticket? Jo held the ticket in her hand? Jo: what did it say for the two end points again? Or the date? Why did Duane the Hijacker just keep one of the fistful of probable tickets? (if Duane had gotten himself to WA to do some hijacking) (edit) Found an old article that said "Jo Weber once found an old airline ticket from Portland to Seattle". So it was the Dan Cooper ticket? I'm wondering why Jo noticed "Portland" and "Seattle" and apparently "11/24/71" But didn't notice the name "Dan Cooper" and wonder about it then? Or did it not say "Dan Cooper" but "Duane Weber" Jo never said the date on the ticket???

OMG, could it be??? Snow showing some compassion for Ckret???? 377 whoops. sorry about that guys. I thought we had all the employees firewalled so no posts got thru without going thru the review bot, but Stanley down in cubicle 312 had run his own wire going outside. Problem fixed. Stanley just got a package he couldn't refuse. Won't happen again.

Must be more to his desertion than an extra $800 a month. $800 as a free man vs $1600 as a hunted dishonored fugitive deserter... that doesn't make sense. 377 remember he was a peer of Duncan. I'm wondering if he decided it was just a f*ed situation, and not worth getting killed over. Maybe he just didn't get along with the organizational issues? I bet it was hard for an older guy to deal with...younger guys might have went with the flow more, because they didn't know better, yet? think of Ckret's frustrated middle manager profile. Guy whose superiors wouldn't listen to his point of view on how things should be done? (edit) 377 said 'Might be easier just to buy a "protection" contract from Snowmman Industries.' Brilliant! I'm going to talk to Quade to see I can run some banner ads on DZ.com. Ka-ching!

and then there is this kind: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,247221,00.html 377 remember i "guessed" the first name of Orange1's rigger, when she just provided an initial. Lucky guess by me, I guess. I'm telling you, 3 reserves!

I was wondering if Lew Sanborn knew Ted Braden. good bio on Lew here http://parachutehistory.com/men/sanbornl.html he was discharged from military in 1952 But he was the first HALO instructor for the US Army in 1959. If Ted was jumping in 1961, maybe they crossed paths? Also maybe in the PCA? Lew: First HALO instructor for US Army Nov.-Dec. 1959 Parachutes Incorporated was founded by Lew Sanborn and Jacques Istel in 1957. They started teaching the Army's first official freefall course. 1959 - President and General Manager - Hemet Sport Parachuting Center, Inc CA 1961 - President, Orange Sport Parachuting Center, Orange, MA Lew was also in Thailand in 1969, interestingly (that was after Ted's time.) 1969 - Transition training pilot, Royal Thai Air Police, Thailand. Heli-Porter. Would Ted have been at the worlds in 1962, and run into Lew? Or was US military not there?? Lew was 1962 - official freefall photographer for CBS at the Sixth World Sport Parachuting Championships, Orange, MA Sanborn served on the PCA Board from 1958 to 1965. picture of the 1965 board attached. Raymond Starnes, Mark Baron, Edward Lowder, Lew Sanborn, Leon Potts, Dr. Ed Fitch (edit) Who has the PCA records? I got a feeling Ted B. Braden might have had PCA membership (remember I posted some PCA cards, and when they transitioned to having height/weight/eyes etc in their database..I was wondering how the whole license stuff was processed. 377 commented at the time.

I did briefly look over Hoare stuff...didn't read any in depth Orange1 said "(you can read that to see if the girl you mentioned bears any similarity to orange1 )" Nah, I don't need to read. You know how in every action movie nowadays, like "The Matrix", there's always the woman who outsmarts the guy, kicks his ass, and then saves him once or twice. That's the orange1 profile I'm going off of.

Bruce said "Billy was appreciative to get this information, and said he would send on the news of Ted's passing to his ol' Army mates." No matter the "desertion" issue....Braden did run some recon. And I'm sure those guys feel that if you went out at least once, you deserved some respect. I'm sure they would all share a little sadness at hearing about someone from back then, maybe passing on without some shared comraderie/support over the years, that could have been there for him.

:) I knew you worked on it. I have some good pics (from the web) using it. Maybe will post tonite.

Wait a second...you're saying I don't have the right helmet? I've been looking at the banner ads featured prominently here on the thread, and have not seen any appropriate helmets... Does the dream team have access to helmets that we don't? Is that why Tom figured it out?

I'm waiting on my Ramparts magazine. I should have told them to priority mail it. The mailing cost was just $3, so it must be thru the slower/cheaper book mailing. Oh well. Eventually it will arrive. I thought my extraction from Google books, of that article was good though, in the meantime. How come no comments on the Low Pull stuff. Was everyone that jumped then competing to be "top dog" by playing with low pulls?? (kind of the equivalent to modern day swoop bravado stuff?)

Bruce reported "4. Had a wife in Germany " Bruce: From Stars and Stripes in 1961, we knew Braden had a wife. We knew Braden went to competitions overseas. Was he stationed overseas? (i provided his Co. C unit before) If so, is that were the "Wife in Germany" came from? Was she US citizen? Did she go with him for foreign station? What happened when he went to Vietnam? What happened to her? Do you know her maiden name? Where did you get the Germany info from? (Just running off questions that pop into my head) Good work Bruce. We're going to run you into the ground. Then bury you with plane tickets in your orifices. Just because...it makes sense.

Orange1 thunk: "You don't act like some cliched mystery novel that gets found in the bargain bins." Is there a dime novel where someone buried something with the dead dog? I might be able to find it with more hints. I've never heard of one. I guess there's stories where people bury things with dead humans? Treasures etc. 377 talked about heroin etc with body bags? Maybe Jo smuggled dope in body bags, which made her think the plane ticket in the dog was a reasonable proposition? Jo: did you ever smuggle dope out of Vietnam? I only ask because, in context, it seems like a reasonable proposition. Or maybe you were the pilot? Jo: can you fly a C-123K? I need someone....still.

yeah, a camera. You said to put a camera at the meditation walk. I wanted one that would be ready for anything.

377 asked "Think about it. Jo has a rare and powerful talent. We need to figure out how to harness it." Well, it seems like Barack could use some help with his health care package, selling to the conservatives. Jo could do it! :)

page 16 of "Never Suck A Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI" by Dana Kollmann from http://www.amazon.com/reader/0806528222?%5Fencoding=UTF8&token=ijeibChZ3dqD%20ZAtut08%205M32xXnWlEg9YNaEsLUD7aN3IQ5hsnUbg%3D%3D&query=never%20suck&page=27#reader Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Citadel (February 1, 2007) Language: English ISBN-10: 0806528222 ISBN-13: 978-0806528229

I'm wondering how you can get a whole group of people to agree to the proposal that "all men are created equal"...whoops I mean "it makes sense that Duane may have buried a plane ticket inside a dead dog" Do people bury things with dead dogs a lot? Is it a common crime investigation technique to dig up all recently deceased pets? I'm wondering. If my neighbor buries his dog, should I dig it up in the middle of the night, in case there is some good stuff in the orifices? Is there something good buried in the middle of the meditation walkway in the woods I described? How deep do I need to dig to be sure?

Found an interesting newsletter from 1970 online had an article that reinforces how we aren't really right in our perceptions of ages involved in Vietnam military Fire Base 173 Contents From VOL. III, NO. 19 August 31, 1970 173D AIRBORNE BRIGADE http://gasparotero.com/august31.htm NCO Leaps For Joy LZ ENGLISH- The "First Shirt" of the States Army Parachute Team, The Golden Knights, is now the Sergeant Major of 2d Bn, 503d Inf. CSM John T Hollis, was the top NCO of the Golden Knights from 1959, when the team was formed, until 1963. The team started with 26 senior jumpers that graduated from Special Forces first HALO, High Altitude-Low Opening, class. They were originally called the "Strac Parachute Team." Their purpose was to test and develop Army free fall techniques and equipment. Hollis made his first free fall jump while stationed with the 11th Airborne Division in Japan in 1946. He had been in parachute maintenance and when the opportunity presented itself he "jumped" at the chance. The early problem encountered with the "Knights" were many. Hollis' job was to take a group of experienced jumpers and form a crack performance team. They had problems obtaining support and aircraft that could fly high encough. Still they pressed on. Today you can see the results of Hollis' work, and many like him, in airshows, exhibitions and international competition almost anywhere in the world. " other issues (photos on the pages) http://gasparotero.com/nov91970.htm http://gasparotero.com/sept1470.htm

an ex-GK association photos http://www.goldenknightsaa.com/Scrapbook/59_68.htm Funky canopy shot attached. Who can identify? 2nd photo seems like a bad idea. Landing into a guy with a knife. 3rd Cars apparently are magnets like houses 4th looks interesting