Word: cavalrymen
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...first task was to open Route 9, which had been in enemy hands since last August. Its overall goal: to create a ground supply line to Khe Sanh and to destroy the enemy around the Marine camp. To do the job, Tolson had 19,000 of his own Air Cavalrymen with their nearly 300 helicopters and 148 heliborne artillery pieces, plus 10,000 U.S. Marines and three battalions of the South Vietnamese army...
While the Air Cavalrymen leapfrogged ahead to seize high ground and set up artillery protection, the Marines marched on either side of Route 9 and straight down the potholed road itself, clearing mines and repairing bridges. Accompanied by M48 tanks and truckloads of ammunition, rations and bridge girders, they marched toward Khe Sanh. Overhead, five-string formations of Huey helicopters carried the Air Cavalrymen, giant Chinook choppers hauled slings of artillery, and flying cranes brought in bulldozers...
First Blood. When the lead units of Pegasus were within a mile of Khe Sanh's perimeter, they halted to let the Air Cav's rocket-firing helicopters pound away at North Vietnamese gunners still dug into surrounding hills. Once the guns were silenced, Air Cavalrymen were lifted in to seize the high ground around the base. But the Marines inside Khe Sanh drew first blood in that mission. Breaking out of their own perimeter for the first time since the siege began, they stormed and took Hill 471, two miles from their base...
...National Police armed with burp guns and long metal rods. The policemen question and search the villagers, poke the ground with their rods in search of holes hiding Viet Cong or arms. They usually flush out both, and load them into the Chinook. With that, the police and the Cavalrymen withdraw. Usually within two hours the village is alone and tranquil again-minus its Viet Cong...
...fight in Binh Dinh. Since few any longer do, the division is using its airpower to harass the Viet Cong in other novel ways. One is Operation Snatch, which is employed whenever a roving Air Cav chopper spots a suspiciously large group of people in the countryside. The Cavalrymen immediately dive down to pick up a few suspects for questioning, a tactic that discourages the Viet Cong from moving around amid the protective coloration of groups of harvesters or peasants on their way to market...