Page:Airmobility 1961-1971.pdf/70

the period of observation. Thus, a system and its associated procedures which was observed one day would not necessarily agree with an observation of the "same" system the following day. To further compound this problem, the testing units had to train concurrently with the testing, so the test findings had to be analyzed as to whether they were the result of unit training problems or actual deficiencies in the system itself.

Throughout the early formation and training period of the 11th Air Assault test units, there was a continuous and intentional cross-feed of people, information, equipment, and ideas between what was going on in Vietnam and what was going on at Fort Benning. Members of the 11th Air Assault paid frequent visits to units in Vietnam for cross-fertilization of ideas, and many of the members of the 11th Air Assault in its latter stages were Vietnam returnees. In addition, the test division had the added mission of forming, training, and equipping a total of six airmobile companies that were sent to Vietnam during the testing period. The airmobile concept was not growing in isolation either in Southeast Asia or the United States.

It was not until three months before the final test, labeled AIR ASSAULT II, that either the division or the air transport brigade existed as essentially anything more than a strong cadre organization. Between 1 July 1964 and 1 September 1964 both units were levied for complete units with aircraft and personnel for shipment overseas. This requirement skimmed off the cream of highly qualified individuals from all units in the division. Temporary duty aircraft and aviators were brought into the testing units during the month of September and continued to join the testing units up to and during the final exercise which took place from 14 October to 12 November 1964.

AIR ASSAULT II involved some 35,000 personnel and covered over four million acres through the Carolinas. The exercise was a controlled field test where a test scenario listed by time certain actions or events that were required to occur. Maximum freedom of player action was permitted with sufficient control to allow adequate observation for those events which were necessary for evaluation. The 82d Airborne Division (augmented) acted as the aggressor force.

As fate would have it, the weather at the beginning of AIR ASSAULT II was incredibly bad. Hurricane Isabell, out in the Atlantic, had low flying scud and rain blanketing out the whole of the eastern seaboard. Ceilings ranged from 50 to 200 feet and visibility was sometimes less than one eighth of a mile. These condi[tions]