OLD SOLDIERS SUPPLY CENTRAL AMERICA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000202200007-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 7, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: May 5, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/07: CIA-RDP90-00552R000202200007-0
Old soldiers supply Centra
Arri~ric~
By ANDERS GYLLENHAAL
aew St 1 writer
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla.
- Harry Aderholt, the brassy
was running an
eneral
,
brigadier g
import shop full of wicker and
vases. Mac McCoskrie, the colonel,
had a failing furniture store down
the street. Doc Fitzpatrick, the
medic, was living idly off his
pension. with an idea.
Then they came up
"We decided we wanted to get
involved In Central America," said
ined
:
.
t Aderholt, who at 65 has ga
it means the private cons anff aske~a~out - and
j. girth but has lost none of his retiring. g
tough-talking style from combat sector is oing to have to pick up enst - an connauuu - 1s
Sys, "We're not afraid to be with it " o mte igence contacts.
triots: The Air Commandos' mission 1s When Con ress was debating
at w' as how the Air Comman more members'pastspeaceable than some in pits the Nicaraguan contras aid pack-
paTh that was voted down two
"H age
-
re
dos were
I" Gen. Aderholt known as 1en weeks ago, the Congressional
ai9
d
born an ry ie' to his riends, is former Arms Control and Foreign Policy
Q}OUp of aging, EFF, antra ntP igence A?efCY sta Arms tnrmwi the Air Cnmman-
reurea ' a
from Florida's member an commandea covert E dos one of a dozen key. private,
air o era ions in ie nam. TWO
supporters of the rebels. ?::
ore ye ago, he says,
found one m he spent a it was a flattering, but over-
week flying with the :Salvadoran <
met
The co an-
assessment
d
.
1n
e
,
-
Air Force to test its readiness. For : dos are. balding - many wear":
far, they say,
their : part, most of his fellow bifocals and most of them are long
thev've shipped "Anc fnt,Qht in two or three
millions of col-
lars in medical wars and a few conflicts in are not all that crisp these days.
supplies, clothes between. At times, transportation has
When Aderholt became presi been limited to Mac McCoskrie'a
El
and food to of Air Commando Association
Aderholt Chevette, lugging and a U-Haul
Salvador and dent
Guatemala$ and - Inc. a little over a year ago, the trailer filled with supplies to
they. hope, to start supplying the ; group was nothing more than a Miami. "And that car wasn't built
Nicaraguan antigovernment con social club for about _1,500 soldiers to do that," conceded the lieuten-
who had served in the defunct ant colonel.
combat unit of the same name.
teas' we attract
Along the way, they' "We were just sitting around ed some worried glances from whiskey," the general, Swindled for $2,000,
Washington, where Congress and said. g In: their enthusiasm, the coat-
the . president are at odds over said' So I told them I'd serve, but,
.-,__ gave ___$2.,__000 , to who a man
Central America and critics are flow-'there and do so eethhing?to get outnamed mandos Ala
troubled by the private flow. told But down.:. in this Gulf Coast: them he was an army captain from
town, inside their tiny, paneled. Supplies to Miami Alabama working to build a
office on motel-lined Miracle- Ihospital in the jungles-of Central
Strip, between walls coated with i These days, six or seven com-J America. It 'turned - out' that
a c^,nptcch_
photos of old' planes a nd " com= " hel=d office. They work. o erg the -? ~'rwho s now in jail, was a
mendations for and their money is gone.
phone, arranging donations of fake,
Soon after they opened three
antibiotics, vitamins, needles, skin
clinics in Guatemala earlier this
ointment, blankets, 'soap, clothes medical supplies - most of
and food to-be sent to Miami. From1 year,
,..which go to refugee Indians left
there, the goods are flown, to, homeless by the conflicts of the
Central America, usually for freei region - ran out.
The bulk of what. they've
shipped to El Salvador and Guate-
mala, with a value they estimated
at about $7 million, has 'been
donated . by the Detroit-based
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/07: CIA-RDP90-00552R000202200007-0
wartime' hero-,
ics, the Air
Commandos
have no such
doubts.
"Our govern-
ment has opted
out, is what it
is,"- said McCos-
krie, 63, who
fought from
and ran the Air McCoskrie'
Force Special
iihl before
Operations tranng scoo
STAT
by one of the countries' airlines.
The members take turns traveling
south, they say, to make sure the
supplies arrive.
"We're not talking about going
out and fighting. That's not for
us," said Aderholt, a short, alter-
nately stern and wise-cracking
man who still wears his graying
hair in a close, military crop.
"We're talking about coming up
with programs that can make a
difference in the way these people
look at their governments."
Not everybody is convinced of
i' the group's modest motives. With
his CIA background, Aderho t 1s
CWtImed