In the one month since taking over its new area of operations along the Cambodian border about 50 miles north and west of Saigon, the 1st Air Cav had killed an estimated 1,100 enemy troops, most of them fully equipped and uniformed soldiers of the North Vietnamese army. Several of the division's landing zones have been subjected to almost nightly attacks. Until the 1st Air Cav began to move in, this had been Charlie's private preserve, full of base camps and training areas complete with classrooms and thousands of bunkers. Thru it run three well-established infiltration routes from Cambodia toward Saigon. These people resent the intrusion of the 1st Air Cav and resist it bitterly.
Ferocious combat occurs every day - and especially every night.
When we reached the revetment where our helicopter was parked, a gang of 10 or 15 GIs, most of them wearing nothing but underwear and sandals, were piling in flares. They worked with a sense of urgency, knowing that the bird had to get on station fast, that delay could bring about a minor disaster. We climbed into the Huey and took our places. In the left seat was the Aircraft Commander, Lt. Thomas C. Mowdy Jr., of Bossier City, La. On his right sat Lt. Jong Molstad, of Los Angeles, a strapping aviator with a mustache and a wide rectangular smile that displayed a battery of shining teeth.