National Archives and Records Administration

A-1-5 1st Air Cavalry, Binh Tuy Province
ARC Identifier 34265 / Local Identifier 111-LC-56667 1971

Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. U.S. Army Audiovisual Center. (ca. 1974 - 05/15/1984). Silent. This short film is about one phase of a brigade wide sweep search of Unidentified Radios Stations (URS) monitored in the AO of the Fifth Brigade, 1st Air Cavalry. A-company of the First Battalion was responsible for patrolling a four square kilometer area approximately 20 kilometers S-SW of the city Tan Linh, and 41 kilometers SSE of a larger city, Vo Dat, all in Binh Tuy Province. The footage covers four days of the mission during which time no contact was made with the enemy, and no recent signs of enemy activity were discovered. The mission was cancelled at the end of this time. Log day. Captain Eugene J. White of Springfield, VA, A-1/5 commander is seen briefing his platoon leaders and NCOs in preparation for the patrol. Mail call, water, supplies are secured for the patrol. Logging continued. A scout dog, Casey, is brought in. Casey is handled by PFC Joe Ertel of Gary, Indiana. Casey is on his third "tour" in Vietnam. A company's LZ lies approximately 500 meters from its patrol area, so the company must move out, separately by platoon, before setting up for the night. This roll ends as the second platoon, the Command Platoon, moves out. The method of this sweep consists of setting up temporary FOB sites (Field Observation Base) from which "Poppies" are dispached. These are squad size patrols that search the immediate area around the FOB. This roll is of such a poppy. Another poppy. The trail appears heavily, although not recently, used. An automatic ambush is set up. Back at the FOB site the men rest between poppies, read their mail still fresh from yesterday's log, eat chow, and then go out on another. Walking point for the 2nd platoon is SP4 John Zalot, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Casey sniffed out some old NVA bunkers at an abandoned enemy base camp. We see a demonstration of Casey's bunker searching technique, and then the first platoon puts the torch to the vacated hooches. After 3 days and another log day. First bird to arrive brings Lt. Col. Bill Burkhardt, 1/5 Commander, to the field where he confers with Capt. White and explains the details of A company's new mission. Subsequent birds bring food, water, mail, and supplies. The company logged, it embarks on a Combat Assault. We see the men board the helicopters, and their arrival at their new AO.

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews