A friend once told me about his amazing experience in the Vietnam war. At the end of the war in 1975, he was a Green Beret working for the CIA, and was assigned to ensure the safe departure of the remaining South Vietnamese government officials from Saigon airport as the Viet Cong tanks rolled in. Unable to be airlifted themselves, he and his small team had to escape on foot.
Over the following days, they received instructions to sabotage several strategic targets, which they did.
Their mission over, they were given a rendez-vous point on the coast and told they’d be picked up by a US sub. The time came and went. They were given a new place and time for the pick-up, but that too came and went. This was repeated a third time. Finally, they understood there was no intention of picking them up at all. At this point, they were the only westerners in Vietnam.
They set off to cross Vietnam and Laos on foot, heading for friendly Thailand. They could never be seen, as there was no hope of being unrecognized. They had to live entirely on what food they could forage from the jungle. My friend, now a 6’4” and 250 pounds, emerged from the trek weighing less than 100 lbs.This was told to me many years ago, and I don’t recall how long this ordeal lasted.
He said that when he finally appeared before his astonished superior officer, he understood that the CIA’s intention had always been that the team would be sacrificed, and that their clandestine mission would never be known.