The 1st Air Cavalry Division arrived in Vietnam aboard military transport ships between July and August 1965. Their mission was to take control of the Central Highlands and coastal plains of II Corps. Upon arrival, the advanced party of 1st Cav soldiers established a new base camp—Camp Radcliff—in the wilderness of the Central Highlands, near the town of An Khe. With over four hundred aircraft, the division pioneered an entirely new concept in warfare known as airmobile, and airmobile infantry soldiers were known as skytroopers.

The airmobile concept was first tested in November, when skytroopers of Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore’s 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry faced thousands of North Vietnamese in the Ia Drang Valley, as depicted in We Were Soldiers.

In August 1966, the newly formed 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry would set sail from San Fransisco to join Moore’s battalion among the airmobile fighting units of the 1st Air Cavalry Division.