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Forward support in the Ia Drang Valley: a desperate fight in the jungles of Vietnam 40 years ago marked the dawn of the Army's contemporary tactical logistics doctrine
Army Logistician, March-April, 2006 by Steven M. Leonard
Much of what is common practice for logisticians today has roots in the 1960s in the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) and a large clearing at the base of the Chu Pong Massif in the Pleiku Province of South Vietnam. The forward support element concept developed at that time was the forerunner of the forward area support model under the Airland Battle operational concept and eventually evolved into the forward support battalion under the Army of Excellence divisional structure. Today, it continues to exist as the brigade support battalion within the modular force brigade combat team organization. For professional logisticians, recognizing the fundamental principles of our support doctrine is as important as understanding the evolution of that doctrine.
Testing the Airmobile Concept
When President Lyndon B. Johnson announced the deployment of an airmobile division to Vietnam on 28 July 1965, the 1st Cavalry Division (the new airmobile unit) possessed a vision of mobility and lethality that was still in its infancy. The airmobile vision--a revolutionary concept first described by General James M. Gavin in a groundbreaking article, "A Proposal for an Airmobile Style of War," in the November-December 1957 issue of Armor magazine--had evolved around the notion of the helicopter freeing combat forces from the limitations of terrain and significantly accelerating the pace of battle. The employment of airmobility, Gavin believed, would transform the battlefield into a three-dimensional nightmare that would overwhelm enemy commanders.
On 15 February 1963, the Army organized the 11th Air Assault Division at Fort Benning, Georgia, to explore the feasibility of the airmobile concept on the conventional battlefield. Under the command of Brigadier General Harry W.O. Kinnard, the division established a large contingent of aviation assets to maintain mobility and a wide array of artillery to provide a lethal umbrella of fire support. "Experiment, innovate, test, and evaluate" became the division's watchwords, but the one constant throughout the existence of the 11th Air Assault Division was change.
Not surprisingly, the division's maverick approach to change spurred one of the most significant organizational innovations in combat service support history. During one of the division's frequent organizational evolutions, its Division Support Command (DISCOM) began experimenting with tailored support elements capable of providing highly responsive, forward logistics support in the rapidly evolving airmobile environment. The DISCOM Forward Support Element (FSE) possessed true multifunctional support capabilities, with elements drawn from each of the division's four functional logistics battalions: the 15th Medical Battalion, 27th Maintenance Battalion, 15th Supply and Service Battalion, and 15th Transportation Battalion (Aircraft Maintenance).
With a command-selected forward support operations officer in charge, the FSE maintained operational control of a supply platoon, a maintenance detachment, a medical clearing company with medical evacuation capability, and a team from the aviation maintenance battalion. A graves registration section from the supply and service battalion was to be attached to the FSE in combat.
On to Vietnam
Through many months of intense training, preparation, and growing pains, the 11th Air Assault Division thoroughly tested and experimented with Gavin's airmobile vision. On 16 June 1965, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara formally announced the authorization of an airmobile division in the Army's force structure and declared that the 1st Cavalry Division would carry the airmobile concept beyond the test stage. Colonel Timothy W. Brown, who commanded the 3d Brigade during the airmobile division test phase, would lead his brigade into combat when the division deployed to Vietnam.
"I have today ordered to Vietnam the airmobile division." With those simple words, President Johnson announced to the world the deployment for which the division had prepared since its inception. On 16 August, the 1st Cavalry Division set sail from Charleston, South Carolina. That same day, the last elements of the 66th Regiment of the People's Army of Vietnam departed from their base camp along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Thanh Hoa Province in North Vietnam. For the Americans, the journey through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific Ocean would last almost a month; the 800-kilometer foot march through Laos and Cambodia into the central highlands of South Vietnam would take the North Vietnamese regulars 2 months to complete. Destiny would bring these two units together in the valley of the Ia Drang River.
Brown's 3d Brigade, arriving aboard the USNS Maurice Rose, docked in the Vietnamese coastal enclave of Qui Nhon in mid-September. The division cleared a huge expanse of scrub jungle and established a base camp just north of the village of An Khe, 68 kilometers west of Qui Nhon on Colonial Route 19.
