A Newly Minted Battalion Arrives in Vietnam...

The 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry (5/7th Cav) was one of nine fighting battalions of the 1st Air Cavalry Division, responsible for ridding the Central Highlands and coastal plains of communist forces. The other battalions of the division had already been in Vietnam for just over a year. During the massive military buildup between 1965 and 1967, the 5/7th Cav was formed as a brand-new battalion. Trained at Fort Carson, Colorado, they departed on their historic voyage from a foggy San Francisco Bay on August 2nd, spending eighteen days at sea and enduring a typhoon in the South China Sea before arriving at the Port of Qui Nhon on August 20th 1966. They were immediately transported to Camp Radcliff, the 1st Air Cavalry’s base camp in the heart of the Central Highlands, more commonly referred to as An Khe. They would spend approximately two weeks building their new battalion area and undergo additional training in preparation for their first mission.

Search & Destroy

On September 5th, the intrepid skytroopers were sent into the jungle in pursuit of an invisible enemy. They would not return to base camp until December. After resting for a week or so at An Khe, they would be sent into the field again for the remainder of their tour. Each day was a grueling routine of patrolling through the country’s rice paddies, jungles, and mountain ranges, stopping infrequently to guard a remote outpost or firebase. The skytroopers would be air assaulted into various regions of South Vietnam’s Central Highlands and eastern coastal plains, in the provinces of Binh Dinh, Quang Ngai, and Kon Tum. Their mission was to search for and destroy Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces, as they participated in Operation Thayer, Irving, and Thayer II in 1966. Later in 1967, they would launch Operation Pershing, then be sent high into the mountains of Kon Tum Province to participate in the 4th Infantry Division’s Operation Greeley.