Page:Airmobility 1961-1971.pdf/221

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AIRMOBILE DEVELOPMENTS, 1968

205

MAP 8

An Example of Cordon Operations

Airmobile forces often can be best employed with other forces to achieve unique capabilities when a special opportunity presents itself. I have previously described airmobile operations with armor in Binh Dinh Province. The following operation, in which the 101st Airborne Division participated in a combined air-sea-land maneuver, demonstrates again the imaginative use of all Free World capabilities. Helicopters, air-cushion vehicles, swift boats, and armored personnel vehicles were effectively employed in an integrated force.^[1] But Operation VINH LOC was not a mere demon[stration]

↑ The air-cushion vehicles used their unique capability of operating in swampy or very shallow water to patrol otherwise inaccessible areas. Most of the machines saw duty in the Mekong Delta region where they had done a magnificent job. I have not treated them extensively in this study, since they are not really an extension of airmobile operations so much as riverine operations. During the 1950's, the Army experimented with a variety of so-called "ground effects machines." They were more noted for their instability and huge "signature," than their practicality.

[ref3-1] The air-cushion vehicles used their unique capability of operating in swampy or very shallow water to patrol otherwise inaccessible areas. Most of the machines saw duty in the Mekong Delta region where they had done a magnificent job. I have not treated them extensively in this study, since they are not really an extension of airmobile operations so much as riverine operations. During the 1950's, the Army experimented with a variety of so-called "ground effects machines." They were more noted for their instability and huge "signature," than their practicality.

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