European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 12, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse                              Bomb craters pock Mark area around North Vietnam River Bridge destroyed by jets. Of air strike North Vietnam \ " " " the 7th Fleet picking air targets in North Vietnam involves complicated three Way communications Between command Headquarters and the Pentagon. Thailand of we a 4 it to j i Tel 1 Iii a a a Honolulu Washington the 7th air Force command South Vietnam commander in chief Pacific Pacific air Force  the joint chiefs of staff thursday october 12, 1967 the stars and stripes by George Mcarthur a staff writer e the Small hours each morning the ruffled tapping of teletype machines in Carrier ready rooms and air Force operation shacks signals the beginning of another Day s bombing raids on North Vietnam. Operations officers at bases in thai land and Vietnam and aboard the giant carriers in the Tonkin Gulf get the Tele Printer frag orders outlining the Day s missions. While pilots still sleep their namesake assigned the planes Are designated types of bombs and rockets to be us dare noted. On a Busy Day the frag order will outline the work of perhaps 800 individual flights. The frag order mean ing a break Down of activities some times is in general terms. For big mis Sions it contains minute  air commanders in Vietnam have wide latitude to assign targets in relatively non sensitive areas of North Viet Nam. But for the big targets the Fra orders filter All the Way Down from the secret War rooms in Washington where decisions Are made by the joint chiefs of staff with president Johnson look ing Over their shoulders. The filtering process is Long and frustrating. The 7th air Force commander in Vietnam it. Gen. William Momyer while noting there Are off limits targets a hich could be hit said i look at my Job Here As taking what is Given to me and done the Best i can with  Momyer s comments reflect the Dis Pute now raging Over the assignment of targets in North Vietnam and the restrictions on air Power. At the com Mand level in Vietnam officers almost universally feel they should have More Freedom in selecting targets. Many targets have been hit Only once when the Airpower planners would like to hit them repeatedly. Airpower plan ners also say it sometimes takes frustratingly Long to Clear some targets like the Hanoi Haiphong rail line in addition to wanting permission for follow up raids the fliers still have some prime unit targets on their  among these Are the Mig airfields at Phuc yen and Gia  yen is now the main Mig base in North Vietnam and the area also shelters the russian chinese North Viet namese air defense Center. Gia Lam Isth main civil Airport for Hanoi in addition to being a Mig base and Airfield comparable to Saigon s jammed Tan son Nhut. He port facilities at Cam Pha have been hit Only once and this is North Vietnam s third biggest port and the Center from which Coal about North Vietnam s Only Export is shipped to the communist bloc. The second biggest port of Hon Gai has never had its Dock facilities hit although warplanes have struck nearby installations. The Buffer zone near the chinese Bor Der about 25 Miles wide is rarely penetrated despite such Well publicized Raidsal one recently which dropped a Bridge Only seven Miles from the  s port facilities of course Are the biggest untouched Plum. An within the Haiphong Hanoi areas Are some big storage dumps equally untouched. In recent weeks american plan shave ranged up and Down the two main rail lines which radiate Northeast an Northwest from Hanoi to the Border of communist China. The targets on these major Supply arteries have been mainly Bridges rail Yards and rail sidings Many of them attacked for the first time and some close to the chinese  closest so far was the strike against the Bridge seven Miles from the Borderland less than one minute away As the Jet  january through july this year . Fighter bombers have averaged 13,-000 sorties individual plane strikes per month Over the North. Three quarters of these sorties were against roads rail lines trucks the lines of communications and the supplies moving on them. Officials estimated 1,900 fixed target have been attacked including Bridges troop Barracks Oil storage tanks and Power plants. Page 11