The most warlike tribe was the Sedang. They were the tallest, meanest, and most aggressive. This may or may not be true, but I was told that up until the middle sixties they still had human sacrifices. I wouldn't doubt that after being around these people. They were so tough and hard it was scary. These people truly lived by the law of nature. Only the strong survive. If a baby has a defect, it dies at birth, or it's not going to live very long. Consequently, most of them were in excellent physical shape, very muscular, and built for endurance. Their knowledge of the woods was unrivaled by any American soldier. Face it, when you're born and raised in the jungle you become intimate with its essence. You learn about the sounds of the animals, how to track prey, what to eat, what to avoid. A Bahnar youngster can construct the little booby-traps you set up for people, because they are the same ones he uses to catch animals. By the time a Sedang child is eight years old he knows all the things they teach you in Ranger school about the woods and tracking. All he'd need to do would be learn how to jump from a plane, and he'd be an airborne ranger.
Franklin D. Miller Carolinian
Source
Montagnards, p. 82
- work
- Reflections of a Warrior (1991)
- year
- 1991
- locator
- p. 82
Cite this record
“The most warlike tribe was the Sedang. They were the tallest…” Franklin D. Miller. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-B7E1E8F924. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/b7e1e8f924
More from Franklin D. Miller
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Once, a student asked me what the secret was to being a good combat leader, a man who commands the loyalty and respect of his subordinates. That was a question I'd been formulating the answer to for many years, almost from Day One when I set foot on Vietnamese soil. My answer to him and the class was a simple one which I would repeat many times throughout the years. "If you want a soldier's respect and loyalty, you must demonstrate two things. First, you must show that you know more than the soldier you are leading. Your subordinate must be aware that you have knowledge he does not possess, and that you are trying to teach him. "The second thing you must demonstrate is a genuine concern for his safety and well-being. The concern must be real, because a young soldier can spot a faker a mile away. If your concern for him is genuine- and he knows it- then you can rest assured that he will follow you into the jaws of death."
And so I began in earnest my awkward assimilation into the training environment and the peacetime Army. And after all the trials and tribulations, the blood, sweat, and tears, I'm still in the Army today, twenty-five years and untold heartaches later. Maybe I'll make it a career.