Richard Armitage (politician) - Early Life and Military Career

Early Life and Military Career

Armitage was born in Boston and graduated in 1967 from the United States Naval Academy and was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy. He served on a destroyer stationed off the coast of Vietnam during the Vietnam War before volunteering to serve what would eventually become three combat tours with the riverine/advisory forces for the Republic of Vietnam Navy.

According to Captain Kiem Do, a Republic of Vietnam Navy officer who served with him in Vietnam, Armitage "seemed drawn like a 'moth to flame' to the hotspots of the naval war: bedding down on the ground with Vietnamese commandos, sharing their rations and hot sauce, telling jokes in flawless Vietnamese." Instead of a uniform, Armitage often dressed in native garb, and was nicknamed "Tran Van Phu" by the Vietnamese.

Several associates who fought alongside Armitage and other politicians (including Ted Shackley) have since said publicly that Armitage was associated with the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) highly controversial and clandestine Phoenix Program. Armitage has denied a role in Phoenix and has stated that - at most - CIA officers would occasionally ask him for intelligence reports.

In 1973, Armitage left active duty and joined the office of the U.S. Defense Attache in Saigon. Immediately prior to the fall of Saigon, he organized and led the removal of South Vietnamese naval assets and personnel from the country and out of the hands of the approaching North Vietnamese. Armitage told South Vietnamese naval officers to take their ships to a designated place in the ocean where they would be rescued by U.S. forces and the ships destroyed. When Armitage arrived at the designated location he found over 30,000 South Vietnamese clinging to less than three dozen naval boats without food or water. With transportation options limited for removing the floating city, Armitage, aboard the destroyer USS Kirk, personally decided to lead the flotilla of ships over 1000 miles to Subic Bay, Philippines in 1975 against the wishes of both the Philippine and American governments. Armitage personally arranged for food and water to be delivered by the U.S. Defense Department before negotiating with both governments for permission to dock in Subic Bay.