Colonel Cai

**Colonel Cai** is a South Vietnamese Army officer who served during the Vietnam War. He was part of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) Special Forces.

## History

Cai holds the rank of colonel (O-6) in the South Vietnamese army. He is closely involved with military intelligence. U.S. Army Colonel Morgan described Colonel Cai as *"resourceful and intelligent"* and possessing *"a lot of initiative."* He was stationed at a base in Da Nang where he met Colonel Morgan's longtime friend Colonel Kirby. Upon first meeting the newly arrived colonel, Cai expressed his enthusiasm for working with Colonel Kirby. He had heard thorough accounts of Kirby's service performance from Col. Morgan and other personnel. Col. Cai declared that he and Kirby would accomplish many goals in their joint efforts, including building many new strike camps and eliminating scores of VC (Viet Cong). This impressed Col. Kirby, who admired Cai's attitude and determination to defeat the enemy VC.

During that same day of meeting Colonel Kirby, Cai briefed the newly-assigned officer on recently-constructed strike camps in Northern Vietnam. He outlined the specifics of a strike camp designated as Camp A-107. According to Cai's briefing, the camp was intended to be a surprise strike camp for Special Forces. However, the element of surprise had long since been lost. According to Col. Morgan's additional information, the VC was fully aware of the camp's presence and routinely rained harassing mortar-strikes on a weekly basis, ranging from instances of three or four times inside any given week. It was strongly suggested the VC were preparing to launch a full assault on the camp very soon. Col. Cai added that it was highly likely the VC would overrun the camp if the defenses could not receive air support. It was agreed between the three colonels that Kirby would take over the camp operations, replacing the previous Green Beret detachment stationed there. After this agreement, Cai would not see Kirby again for an extended period of time.

The second time Colonel Cai met with colonels Morgan and Kirby, was at a dinner party at a Da Nang restaurant. There they saw the highly attractive Lin, who was meeting her dinner date. As Mike Kirby asked about the young woman, Colonel Cai disclosed several facts. Among those facts was the tragedy of Lin's family being brutally executed by the Viet Cong. This included her father and little brother being put to death. It is not entirely clear as to how Lin escaped the same fate. However, Cai suggests Lin is highly useful to the South Vietnamese government. Her dinner date according to Colonel Cai was a double agent working for both sides of the war, especially for enemy Viet Cong General Phan Son Ti. It seemed Colonel Cai was confident that through Lin, the South Vietnamese government could learn considerable amounts of information about the enemy. Col. Kirby however, was reasonably skeptical of this theory. The conversation was cut short when U.S. soldiers interrupted their dinner to report an urgent update about an impending VC assault on Camp A-107. Sgt. Muldoon who was part of the report, shared with Col. Kirby, a message from Captain MacDaniel, expressing the likelihood of an extremely fierce and bloody battle. This prompted Col. Kirby to excuse himself from the dinner meeting and join the battle at Camp A-107. Col. Morgan assured Cai that there would be another time to arrange a longer meeting with Col. Kirby.

The third meeting occurred once more in Da Nang, some time after the Battle of Camp A-107. There, Cai met once more with Morgan and Kirby and discussed his time spent in Saigon. He informed Col. Kirby of recent developments reported by the Premiere and his staff. According to the meeting, it was reported the Viet Cong had appointed General Phan Son Ti commander of the forces committed to the southern operations. Cai had previously eluded to a plan of apprehending the general. Kirby expressed having captured the general once before but because of lack of substantial evidence, he could not hold the general on any legal counts. Cai's new plan involved using the general's fatal weakness: his mistress. It was revealed the mistress was Lin. Meeting her at a local corner café, Lin shared her family history including the tragedy that befall her father and brother. She learned the individual responsible for the murders was General Ti. She promised to "give" the general to the colonels, providing the men with the name of a location in which to find him. After she left, Colonel Cai disclosed the fact that General Ti had been obsessed with Lin since before the war. Cai also said that he trusted Lin entirely due to her being married to his brother.

## Action

Col. Cai joined Col. Kirby in his new mission to capture General Ti. He survived his first-ever HALO jump, as Col. Morgan disclosed the fact that Cai had never jumped before. He led a small party of mixed volunteers including Montagnards and South Vietnamese commandos in concert with Kirby's own detachment of Green Berets. He loaned two of his Montagnards to aid Sergeant Muldoon's sabotage of an enemy bridge. According to Lin, the general was holding a holiday getaway at an old plantation deep in the jungle. It was to be the site of a date night with Lin as she accompanied the general to the mansion. Meanwhile Cai and Kirby led their forces in neutralizing nearby sentries before infiltrating the mansion itself. Once inside, the team successfully subdued the general. During the process however, Cai found his sister-in-law half-dressed and sharing space in the general's bed, leading Cai to believe she possibly committed adultery. From that point onward, Cai acted extremely cold towards Lin.

The next day, Cai and the team successfully reached their extraction point where they initiated a successful skyhook lift for the general. Once the general was carried off by plane, the team moved towards their own extraction point. While they waited for Sergeant Petersen to return from scouting ahead, Col. Kirby briefly addressed Cai about his attitude towards his sister-in-law, indirectly suggesting that he was solely responsible for her as a member of the same family. Cai tried to deny first believing Lin had betrayed her family and her government but then realized he did believe those things and recognized his mistake. He quickly reconciled with Lin, assuring her that she had nothing to beg forgiveness for. During the waning hour of the mission, Cai and the remaining members of the team witnessed the sudden death of Sgt. Petersen as he fell victim to a punji stick booby trap. Cai comforted his sister-in-law as they beheld the gruesome impalement of Petersen. He then escorted her away from the site.

The mission was successful, however costly. Many Green Berets were killed in the capture of the General and the sabotage of Viet-Cong defenses surrounding the General's location. Colonel Cai and Lin were last seen on a Da Nang airstrip being met by Colonel Morgan who offered them a car driven by Private Reynolds. It is likely Lin was placed in some manner of protected custody while the mission aftermath was being sorted. It is also likely Cai might have attended General Ti's interrogation sessions.

## Trivia

* Col. Cai was portrayed by the late Jack Soo.
* Cai is one of three major colonels that served in the war during the course of the film, the others include U.S. Army Colonels Mike Kirby and Frank Morgan.
* Although he wears a ARVN Special Forces patch, Col. Cai supposedly had little to no parachute training. It could be argued his experience was limited, but U.S. Army Col. Morgan states Col. Cai had "never jumped before." This lack of experience is unlikely of senior officers largely due to the fact that the ARVN Special Forces was first established in 1956. Assuming Colonel Cai possessed over 20 years of service, he should have at least once, undergone parachute training long before the start of the Vietnam War.