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To support this effort, a total of 3,755 Army aviation personnel were provided consisting of 780 officers and 2,975 enlisted personnel. This made it possible to place a U.S. Army aviation company or a U.S. Marine Corps aviation squadron in support of each Vietnamese Army division with additional aviation supporting each Corps.

As 1964 came to a close, the U.S. Army support in Vietnam consisted of these major organizations: the 13th Aviation Battalion at Can Tho supported the IV Corps area with three Huey companies and one Birddog platoon; the 145th Aviation Battalion at Saigon supported the III Corps area with two Huey companies and one armed helicopter company; the 52d Aviation Battalion at Pleiku supported I and II Corps areas with two Huey companies, one Birddog platoon and one Caribou platoon; the 14th Aviation Battalion at Nha Trang supported all of South Vietnam and Thailand with one direct support maintenance company, one fixed-wing Otter company, and one Birddog platoon; the 765th Transportation Battalion at Vung Tau supported all four aviation battalions with two direct support maintenance companies, one general support maintenance company, one Caribou company, and one Special Warfare aviation detachment of Mohawks; and, finally, the Special Forces Group was supported with miscellaneous Army aircraft.

Since I discussed earlier the controversial aspects of the Mohawk in its relation to the Army-Air Force roles and missions issues, it is important to review its actual performance in Vietnam in 1962. The six armed Mohawks did a magnificent job and many Army advisors pleaded for more of the same. The missions performed by these aircraft during this period were somewhat tangential to the story of airmobility in the Army. However, this does not take anything away from the individual accomplishments of the Mohawk pilots.

After a storm of controversy in the Pentagon, the 23d Special Warfare Aviation Detachment was deployed to Vietnam in September 1962 for the purpose of providing air surveillance in support of Republic of Vietnam forces. In addition, they were to