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Conversion of the 101st to an airmobile configuration had been considered by Department of the Army prior to the deployment of the division (—) in December 1967. However, the continued deficit in aviation assets during the buildup of forces in Vietnam had made such conversion impractical. The deployment of the 1st Brigade of the 101st in 1965 has been covered in an earlier portion of this study. In August 1967, two years and twenty-seven days after the departure of the 1st Brigade, the remainder of the 101st Airborne Division was alerted for deployment to Vietnam from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Originally, the Division was scheduled to be in country on 10 February 1968. However, this movement was subsequently rescheduled for early December 1967.
The culmination of the Division's preparation for deployment was Operation EAGLE THRUST. This lift was keynoted by the departure on 8 December of the Commanding General, Major General Olinto M. Barsanti, in an aircraft piloted by General Howell M. Estes, Jr., Commander of the Military Airlift Command. On 18 December 1967 the last airplane touched down in Vietnam ending the largest and longest military airlift ever attempted into a combat zone. The move had required 369 C-141 Starlifter aircraft missions and 22 C-133 Cargomaster aircraft missions, ultimately airlifting 10,024 troops and over 5,300 tons of the Division's essential equipment.
During the 1968 Tet Offensive, elements of the Division moved to protect the cities of Saigon, Bien Hoa, Song Be, Phan Thiet, and Hue. As mentioned earlier, elements in Saigon had helped secure the American Embassy during the first few hours of that abortive enemy attack. The Division Headquarters moved to the Hue area on 8 March 1968. The 101st would remain in this area for the next few years.
The Screaming Eagles participated in a series of combat operations in the I Corps Tactical Zone to include Operation DELAWARE near the A Shau Valley. Though the 101st was not programmed into the A Shau Valley proper during this operation, it would be back in force several times in the next few months. When the order came to reorganize as an airmobile division, the 101st was involved in Operation NEVADA EAGLE, a large rice-denial effort in the plains south of Hue.
The Division developed a three-phase plan to accomplish the conversion from the airborne to the airmobile configuration. The first phase (1 July to 1 December 1968) would involve the activation and organization of the 160th Aviation Group and a reorganization of the division base. The second phase, which would not be