ITA: I also did a google search. Found this on a forum from 2003. Is this Ginnette's father? It explains what a military dowser does....if there actually is such a thing. I'm gonna write my brother and ask him. He was in Nam for 18 months.
"Louis Matacia is a well known dowser and treasure hunter. I met him in person last year and have also discussed him within these forums. I have copies of the material from the armed services and his presentation to them. Don't know if any of those past threads are around, they usually just end up with people telling me I'm a nut anyway, so that's why I don't discuss dowsing here.
In the USA, Louis J Matacia is a surveyor who has studied dowsing for years. During the Vietnam War he was commissioned to teach dowsing skills to US Marines so that they could avoid booby traps, navigate safely through jungles and learn the whereabouts of the enemy. Soldiers reported that using the L-rod in this way saved many lives. Louis is particularly interested in the challenge of the search. Using his dowsing together with a range of scientific devices he has located lost pipes, oil, wells, caves and buried treasures. That information is from
this source (
http://www.americaninsurancedepot.com/help/dowsing.htm) "