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[Viet]namese Army regiments broke contact and disappeared into the jungle. Little was known about the enemy's direction of movement except to speculate that they had gone west toward the Cambodian border. The 1st Brigade of the 1st Cavalry was given the mission of organizing a systematic search for the elusive enemy.

It was apparent that the Pleime Camp had been hit—and hit hard—by the enemy and it seemed inconceivable to the Air Cavalry Squadron that thousands of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers could completely disappear. On 1 November, Captain William P. Gillette, the Air Cavalry Squadron intelligence officer, spotted some unusual activity just eight kilometers west of the Pleime Camp and the Squadron was quick to capitalize on this information. Before the day was over, the Cavalry Squadron had committed most of its rifle and gunship platoons into the skirmish that developed. They killed 78 of the enemy and captured 57 prisoners, all of whom were regular North Vietnamese soldiers carrying identity cards issued in Hanoi. During the encounter the squadron lost five troopers killed and another seventeen wounded. It was evident that the Cavalry had uncovered a major enemy hos[pital]