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[Pitts]burg, the southernmost point in South Vietnam (Ca Mau Peninsula) extends to Savannah.

The country is relatively narrow, to be sure, but the long border between Laos and Cambodia is largely a tortious terrain of jungles and mountains. Even the primitive nomadic tribes, which live in this sparsely populated area, have difficulty in traversing this area once they have left their own little familiar area.

The U.S. forces occupied small dots (not vast areas) on this long expanse. They extended their power by major airmobile sweeps throughout their assigned area of operations, but in no sense did they "hold" the terrain for long periods of time. Many operations inflicted severe damage on the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops, but the tenacious infrastructure of the guerrilla in many areas allowed them to rebuild their strength, sometimes in a matter of months. It was often necessary to go back into an area time and time again to defeat not the same enemy but perhaps the same numbered unit which had regrouped from local recruits and replacements from the north. This was particularly true along the borders of Cambodia and Laos in those provinces where a strong communist infrastructure had existed for more than a decade.

Without the potential for extending our power through the helicopter, we would have been forced into small enclaves which in themselves would be prime targets, such as the French had found themselves in at an earlier time. But, air assault techniques gave the initiative to the Free World Forces along with the elements of surprise and mass. No matter what the frustrations were in fighting in Vietnam, it is safe to say that without the airmobile tactics our so-called "massive presence" in Vietnam to a great extent would have turned into mere pinpoints of static defense.

Operation THAYER I marked the beginning of the series of battles that kept the 1st Cavalry Division in constant operation in the plains of Binh Dinh for many months. The course of this battle followed the enemy as he drifted across 506 Valley into the Crescent Plains and Cay Giep Mountains.

The Division jumped off in the attack on 15 September 1966, with the simultaneous air assault of two brigades. Three battalions were lifted from An Khe and two from Hammond into the mountains of the Kim Son Valley. The five assaulting battalions secured the high ground all the way around the claw-shaped valley and then fought their way down to the valley floor against elements of the