Chapter XII: Flexible Response

In May 1965 President Johnson committed Regular Army combat units to South Vietnam to halt North Vietnamese incursions and suppress National Liberation Front insurgents. The 173d Airborne Brigade from Okinawa was the Army's first combined arms unit to arrive in Southeast Asia. In July the 2d Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, and the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, also deployed from the United States. The brigade from the 101st was originally planned to replace the 173d Airborne Brigade but, with the need for additional combat units, both brigades remained in Vietnam. Two months later the 1st Cavalry Division, recently reorganized as an airmobile unit, reported in country, and the remainder of the 1st Infantry Division arrived in October.2

ed five infantry, two mechanized infantry, and two armor battalions. With the change in assignment from NATO reinforcement to counterinsurgency in Vietnam, the division was restructured. Honest Johns and Davy Crocketts disappeared while requirements for infantry rose. As no pool of unassigned maneuver battalions existed, two infantry battalions from the 2d Brigade, 5th Infantry Division, at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, were relieved and assigned to "The Big Red One." The 1st Division also reorganized two of its mechanized infantry battalions as standard infantry, bringing the number of infantry battalions in the division to nine.3

The commander of the 1st Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. Jonathan O. Seaman, wanted to take a tank battalion to Vietnam, but General Harold K. Johnson, Chief of Staff since July 1964, overruled him. Tanks were too vulnerable to mines, and no major enemy armor threat existed. Furthermore, Johnson thought that the tempo of the battlefield might be slowed by the limitations of the tank, whose presence might foster a conventional war mentality rather than the light, fast-moving, unconventional approach needed. General William C. Westmoreland, commander of U.S. Army, Vietnam, agreed, reporting that few places existed in Vietnam where tanks could be employed. Johnson, however, granted Seaman permission to take the reconnaissance squadron's M48A3 tanks to test the effectiveness of armor units.4

The decision to commit divisions and separate brigades to Vietnam triggered a debate within the administration about the means of expanding the Army to maintain the strategic force. Proposals ranged from calling up the reserves to increasing the draft. On 28 July, however, President Johnson rejected use of the reserves and announced that the Army would base its expansion on volunteers and draftees. Shortly thereafter, Secretary of Defense McNamara disclosed that one infantry division and three infantry brigades would be added to the Regular Army in fiscal year 1966 (between 1 July 1965 and 30 June 1966).5

Expansion of the Army began in September 1965, when the First U.S. Army organized the 196th Infantry Brigade. The 2d Brigade, 5th Infantry Division, less its personnel, moved to Fort Carson, Colorado, where it was refilled, and the remaining men at Fort Devens became the cadre for the 196th Infantry Brigade. The 196th eventually consisted of three infantry battalions and the brigade base, a reconnaissance troop, an engineer company, a support battalion, and a field artillery battalion. Recruits were assigned to the brigade under a "train and retain" program, which lessened the impact of limited mobilization on the training base.6

The brigade's infantry battalions used a new light structure designed for counterinsurgency warfare. Each battalion consisted of a headquarters and headquarters company, three rifle companies, and a combat support company. The latter organization, similar to that in the airmobile infantry battalion, had mortar, reconnaissance, and antitank platoons. These light battalions fielded about half the number of vehicles assigned to a standard infantry battalion, and the riflemen carried M14 rifles.7

The Fifth U.S. Army activated the 9th Infantry Division, the second unit in the expansion program, at Fort Riley, Kansas, on 1 February 1966, also employing the "train and retain" concept. Filled in three increments, the division included one mechanized infantry battalion and eight infantry battalions. By the end of July the division had graduated the last cycle of basic trainees, and it was expected to be combat ready by the end of the year.8

While organizing the 9th Infantry Division, the Army decided to use it as a part of the Mobile Afloat (Riverine) Force in Vietnam. Brig. Gen. William E. DePuy, who was serving on Westmoreland's staff, had developed the idea of a joint Army-Navy force for use in Vietnam's Mekong River Delta. Army units were to include a brigade-size element that would live and move on ships and work with two brigade-size shore contingents. Learning of the riverine mission, Maj. Gen. George S. Eckhardt, the 9th Division's commander, requested permission to mechanize one infantry battalion, which would allow him to have one brigade (three infantry battalions) aboard naval ships and two brigades (one mechanized infantry and two infantry battalions each) operating from land bases. The Army Staff in Washington agreed, and Eckhardt organized the second mechanized infantry battalion in October. To take advantage of the dry season in Vietnam, the division began departing Fort Riley at the end of 1966 and by February 1967 elements of the "Old Reliables" took part in the first U.S. Army-Navy riverine operation of the war.9

Shortly thereafter, the Army's buildup plan went awry. Army Chief of Staff General Johnson had requested his staff to consider forming a divisional-type brigade (i.e., without the supporting units common to a separate brigade) to replace the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, which was programmed for deployment to Vietnam in early 1966. Resources scheduled for one of the remaining brigade authorizations could then be used for the Hawaiian unit. Another proposal, calling for organizing both the remaining brigades in McNamara's expansion program in Hawaii, was presented to the Army Staff. However, the Army had activated the 199th Infantry Brigade at Fort Benning, Georgia, on 1 June 1966 in response to a request from Westmoreland for a brigade to protect the Long Binh-Saigon area. Units in Europe were tasked to furnish the cadre for the brigade, which fielded three light infantry battalions. In less than six months it deployed to Vietnam.10

Having authority to organize only one more brigade, the Army activated the 11th Infantry Brigade, a pre-World War II element of the 6th Infantry Division, in Hawaii on 1 July 1966. Behind the selection of the 11th was the assumption that the 6th would be the next division to be activated. The 11th consisted of three infantry battalions, a support battalion, a reconnaissance troop, and a military police company. Because of a shortage of personnel and equipment, the brigade lacked its field artillery battalion, engineer company, and signal platoon authorized for an independent brigade. But despite their absence, training began and the missing units were eventually organized. Rather than remaining in Hawaii as planned, the 11th Infantry Brigade deployed to South Vietnam in December 1967 in answer to an ever-growing need for forces there.11

As the Army's involvement in Southeast Asia deepened, more units moved to Vietnam. As noted, the 25th Infantry Division was alerted for deployment in December 1965, and at that time General Johnson, Army chief of staff, directed that two new infantry battalions be added to it. However, almost immediately after their organization began, the battalions were inactivated and replaced with two existing battalions from Alaska, a means of speeding the departure of the division. When the division deployed in the spring of 1966 it fielded one mecha-

The 4th Infantry Division, the last Regular Army infantry division available in the United States in 1965 for service in Vietnam, experienced similar turbulence. The Sixth U.S. Army relieved one tank battalion from the division, equipped the other with M48 tanks, reorganized one mechanized infantry battalion as standard infantry, and added two more infantry battalions, giving the division the same maneuver mix (1-1-8) as the 25th Infantry Division. Shortly after the 4th completed its reorganization in November 1965, the division received 6,000 recruits to bring all units up to full strength. From June through August 1966 the 4th also assisted forty-seven nondivisional units in preparing for duty in Vietnam and helped activate the training center at Fort Lewis, Washington. Nevertheless, the "Ivy Division" deployed to Vietnam between August and October 1966.13

As the conflict in Vietnam intensified, Westmoreland requested additional infantry for the 173d Airborne Brigade and the 1st Cavalry Division. When the 173d Airborne Brigade arrived in Vietnam, it had only two airborne battalions and was augmented with an Australian battalion, while the 1st Cavalry Division had only eight airmobile infantry battalions, which left one of its brigades short a

maneuver element. After considerable deliberation, the Continental Army Command activated one airborne battalion and one airmobile battalion, using personnel drawn from the 101st Airborne Division and the 5th Infantry Division. Both battalions deployed to Vietnam in the summer of 1966 to join the 173d Airborne Brigade and the 1st Cavalry Division, respectively. 14

With the departure of units for Vietnam, the reserves took on a more significant role. The nation needed a reserve contingent that could report to mobilization stations on a seven-day notice. The Army, therefore, created the Selected Reserve Force in the Army National Guard that included three infantry divisions and six infantry brigades, one of which was mechanized. To assure the force's equitable geographical distribution so that one section of the nation would not be asked to bear the burden of a partial mobilization, each division consisted of the division base and one brigade in one state, while the other two brigades were divisional units from adjacent states (Table 26). The Army selected the 28th, 38th, and 47th Infantry Divisions for the force. For the separate brigades, the states organized three new units, and again their geographic distribution played a role. Elements from the 36th, 41st, and 49th Infantry Divisions were withdrawn to form the 36th, 41st, and 49th Infantry Brigades. The divisions themselves remained active, but each lacked a brigade. The force's other three brigades were the 29th, 67th, and 69th Infantry Brigades, which had been organized earlier.15

To improve the readiness of the Selected Reserve Force, the Army authorized its units to be fully manned, increased their number of drill days, and raised their priority for receiving new equipment. Because of shortages in personnel and equipment, McNamara achieved a long-standing controversial goal of the Defense Department, a reduction of the reserve troop basis. Those reserve units that were

Unit	State
28th Infantry Division	Pennsylvania
3d Brigade, 28th Infantry Division	Pennsylvania
3d Brigade, 29th Infantry Division	Maryland
3d Brigade, 37th Infantry Division	Ohio
38th Infantry Division	Indiana
76th Brigade, 38th Infantry Division	Indiana
2d Brigade, 46th Infantry Division	Michigan
3d Brigade, 33d Infantry Division	Illinois
47th Infantry Division	Minnesota
2d Brigade, 47th Infantry Division	Minnesota
1st Brigade, 32d Infantry Division	Wisconsin
3d Brigade, 45th Infantry Division	Oklahoma
29th Infantry Brigade	Hawaii and California
36th Infantry Brigade	Texas
41st Infantry Brigade	Washington and Oregon
49th Infantry Brigade	California
67th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized)	Iowa and Nebraska
69th Infantry Brigade	Kansas and Missouri

judged unnecessary and others that were undermanned and underequipped could now be deleted with minimum controversy and their assets used to field contingency forces. Among the units inactivated were the last six combat divisions in the Army Reservethe 63d, 77th, 81st, 83d, 90th, and 102d Infantry Divisions-and the 79th, 94th, and 96th Command Headquarters (Division). The 103d Command Headquarters (Division) was converted to a support brigade headquarters.16

In the spring of 1965 the Army also responded to a crisis in the Caribbean area. To help restore political stability and protect United States citizens and property, President Johnson sent the 82d Airborne Division and other forces to the Dominican Republic. Subsequently, the Inter-American Peace Force was organized there, and by the autumn the only United States combat force left was one brigade of three battalions from the 82d Division. The Joint Chiefs of Staff asked that the brigade be returned to the United States so that the 82d could resume its place in the strategic force as a full-strength unit. In response, the Army selected the 196th Infantry Brigade to replace the divisional brigade in June 1966. But by the time the 196th had completed its training, stability had returned to the Dominican Republic, and the president withdrew all United States forces from the country. 17

After July 1966 no further increase took place in the number of divisions and brigades until the spring of 1967. In March of that year, responding to Westmoreland's request for additional forces, the Army Staff considered organizing either an infantry or a mechanized infantry brigade for service along the demilitarized zone between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The original request called for a mechanized infantry brigade with personnel drawn mostly from the 1st and 2d Armored Divisions at Fort Hood. Before the unit could be activated, Westmoreland decided that he needed a standard separate infantry brigade. On 10 May the 198th Infantry Brigade was activated using personnel from the 1st and 2d Armored Divisions. Two days later, at the insistence of General Ralph E. Haines, Vice Chief of Staff and former commander of the 1st Armored Division, the brigade's three infantry battalions and artillery battalion were inactivated and replaced with units taken from regiments assigned to the 1st and 2d Armored Divisions. In turn, new battalions from those regiments were activated to replace the units taken from the two divisions.19

Westmoreland's plan to use the 198th along the demilitarized zone between the two Vietnams went astray. Unable to wait for the brigade to arrive, he established a blocking force in April 1967 with units already in the theater. Designated "Task Force Oregon,"20 it included the 196th Infantry Brigade; the 3d Brigade, 25th Infantry Division; and the1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division.21

In August 1967 a complex organizational exchange took place in Vietnam due in large part to the awkward location of units in relation to their parent divisions. Both the 4th and the 25th Infantry Divisions had "orphan" brigades that operated outside their parent division's areas. To correct the problem, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, and the brigade's non-color-bearing elements were transferred (less personnel and equipment) from Tay Ninh to Task Force Oregon at Chu Lai; Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, and its non-color-bearing units (less personnel and equipment) concurrently joined the 25th Infantry Division at Tay Ninh. The color-bearing units (infantry and artillery battalions) attached to the brigades were relieved from the divisions in place and reassigned. These administrative actions gave the commander of the 25th Infantry Division operational control of his 3d Brigade for the first time in Vietnam. The 3d Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, however, remained under the operational control of Task Force Oregon.22

Soon after forming Task Force Oregon, Westmoreland decided to replace it with a division. For the unit's designation, he selected the Americal Division because it was to be organized under circumstances similar to those in which that division first had been formed during World War II with National Guard units from Task Force 6814 in New Caledonia. Westmoreland had originally planned to assign the 11th and 198th Infantry Brigades, then preparing to deploy, and the 196th Infantry Brigade, already in Vietnam, to the division. The Army Staff agreed but insisted that the unit's official designation be the 23d Infantry Division rather than "Americal" (the Americal Division had been redesignated as the 23d Infantry Division in 1954). On 25 September 1967 the division was activated to control the 196th Infantry Brigade; the 1st Brigade, 10 1st Airborne Division; and the 3d Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. The division base was to be activated as requirements were identified.23

To strengthen the forces in Vietnam, Westmoreland had requested the remainder of the 101st Airborne Division by February 1968. Because of ominous intelligence reports about the enemy's activities, Westmoreland pressured Washington to advance the division's arrival date. Thus, by 13 December 1967, following the longest troop movement by air in history, the "Screaming Eagles" arrived in Vietnam. The division fielded ten airborne infantry battalions, the three that had deployed with the 1st Brigade in 1965 and the seven that arrived in 1967.25

To replace the 101st Airborne Division and the 11th Infantry Brigade in the Army strategic contingency forces, the Army activated the 6th Infantry Division, with nine infantry battalions, on 24 November 1967. Initially all units of the division were to be organized at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, but U.S. Army, Pacific, requested that one brigade be transferred to Hawaii to take over the property and nondeployable personnel of the 11th Infantry Brigade. Accordingly, the 6th Infantry Division was split between Fort Campbell (the division base and two brigades) and Schofield Barracks (one brigade), Hawaii.26

With the attachment of the 11th Infantry Brigade, originally a component of the 6th Infantry Division, to the 23d Infantry Division in Vietnam, a new designation was needed for the 6th Infantry Division's third brigade headquarters. The staff, in an unprecedented move, decided to use the designation 4th Brigade, 6th Infantry Division, until the 11th could be returned to the division.

January 1968 turned into a month of crises for the nation. On 23 January, after a series of incidents in Korea, the North Koreans seized the intelligence ship Pueblo in the Sea of Japan and incarcerated the crew. This resulted in the strengthening of United States air and naval forces there and the authorization of hazardous duty pay for elements of the 2d Infantry Division in Korea. Shortly thereafter the North Vietnamese began their expected offensive during the Tet holiday in Vietnam, shocking both Westmoreland and the nation with its intensity. President Johnson ordered additional forces to Vietnam, including the 3d Brigade (three airborne infantry battalions) of the 82d Airborne Division and a Marine Corps unit. Those units arrived in February, and eventually the 82d's 3d Brigade, organized as a separate brigade, became a part of the standing forces in Vietnam.27

Because of other contingency plans the Marine unit had to return to the United States, and Westmoreland asked for a mechanized infantry brigade to replace it. Army Chief of Staff Johnson approved the 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division, as the replacement. The unit, reorganized as a separate brigade fielding one battalion each of infantry, mechanized infantry, and armor, arrived in Vietnam in July 1968 and was the last large Army unit to be sent to Southeast Asia (Table 27).28

The seizure of the Pueblo, the Tet offensive, and the need to maintain the strategic force prompted the president to call a limited number of National Guard and Army Reserve units to active duty in the spring of 1968. The call included two brigades from the National Guard, the 29th Infantry Brigade (Hawaii), which reported to Schofield Barracks on 13 May, and the 69th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) (Kansas), which took up station at Fort Carson. To ease the burden of mobilization, the brigades acquired elements not previously associated with them. The 29th got the 100th Battalion, 442d Infantry, from the Army Reserve, and the 69th included the 2d Battalion, 133d Infantry, from the Iowa National Guard.29

Unit	Date Arrived in Vietnam
1st Cavalry Division	September 1965
1st Infantry Division	October 1965
2d Brigade*	July 1965
4th Infantry Division	October 1965
2d Brigade*	August 1966
1st Brigade, 5th Infantry	Division June 1968
9th Infantry Division	December 1966
2d Brigade*	January 1967
23d Infantry Division	September 1967
11th Infantry Brigade*	December 1967
196th Infantry Brigade*	August 1966
198th Infantry Brigade*	October 1967
25th Infantry Division	April 1966
2d Brigade*	January 1966
3d Brigade*	December 1965
3d Brigade, 82d Airborne Division	February 1968
10 1st Airborne Division	December 1967
1st Brigade*	July 1965
173d Airborne Brigade	May 1965
199th Infantry Brigade	December 1966

Airmobility gave commanders the ability to concentrate men and their firepower on the Vietnamese battlefield quickly, and the Army planned to organize a second airmobile division as early as 1966. These plans foundered until 1968 because of the aviation needs of other combat units in Vietnam and the general shortage of aviation equipment. But after the 101st Airborne Division arrived in Southeast Asia, U.S. Army, Vietnam, began a phased reorganization of the division into an airmobile configuration, which took over a year to complete.30

When the 101st was reorganized as an airmobile unit, confusion and contention reigned over its designation. Instructions from Washington renamed the division the 101st Infantry Division (Airmobile) because the designation was thought to accurately describe its mission. Officers in Vietnam opposed the change, and after much discussion the Army Staff sent new instructions redesignating both the 101st Airborne Division and the 1st Cavalry Division as "air cavalry." In July 1968 Westmoreland replaced Harold K. Johnson as Army Chief of Staff, and Westmoreland directed that the divisions retain their historic designations.32

Ever conscious of ways to save personnel, U.S. Army, Vietnam, requested permission in September 1968 to reorganize the 23d Infantry Division (the Americal) along the lines of other infantry divisions to save over 500 personnel spaces. The request proposed that the 11th, 196th, and 198th Infantry Brigades be redesignated as the 1st, 2d, and 3d Brigades, 23d Infantry Division, and that a complete division base be organized. Westmoreland, as chief of staff, approved the reorganization of the division but not the numerical redesignation of the brigades. He directed that the brigades be attached rather than assigned as organic elements of the division. His reasons for retaining the separate brigade designations included the complexity of the units' histories and the desire not to change the designations of units serving in Vietnam. On 15 February 1969, the 23d was thus reorganized with a division base resembling that in other infantry divisions, except for the attached brigade headquarters and the omission of the organic cavalry squadron. The 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry, an element of the 1st Armored Division, had been serving with the "Americal" because General Haines, the former 1st Armored Division commander, had wanted the squadron to represent "Old Ironsides" in Vietnam. The staff chose not to tamper with this arrangement.33

To increase firepower, some divisions and brigades received an additional battalion or battalions of infantry without upsetting their structure. As noted above, the 1st Cavalry Division and the 173d Airborne Brigade each had an additional infantry battalion assigned in 1966. The following year the 173d was assigned a fourth infantry battalion, and after the 1968 Tet offensive the 9th Infantry Division and the 11th, 198th, and 199th Infantry Brigades each gained an additional infantry battalion. At the peak of the buildup the combined arms teams in Vietnam fielded eighty-three infantry and armor battalions.34

Divisions and brigades deployed to Vietnam with infantry, light infantry, airborne infantry, and airmobile infantry battalions but, responding to the demands of the conflict, U.S. Army, Vietnam, reorganized most of them under modified light infantry tables of organization. Each of these battalions consisted of a headquarters and headquarters company, four rifle companies, and a combat support

Combat brought about several changes in the infantryman's weapons. The light M16 rifle became the standard individual weapon, and a one-man light antitank weapon (LAW) often replaced the heavy and awkward 90-mm. recoilless rifle. Because of the nature of the fighting, heavier infantry weapons, such as the ENTAC, 4.2-inch mortar, and 106-mm. recoilless rifle, saw little service. When used, both the 81-mm. and 4.2-inch mortars were usually "slaved" to fire direction centers at American fire bases. Units did not suffer a loss of effective firepower because their mobility allowed them to concentrate their remaining weapons, while improved field radio communications aided in putting tremendous amounts of supporting fire at their disposal. Given organic, attached, and supporting aviation and signal units, all divisions and brigades had extensive airmobile and communications capabilities.36

Although only one armor company, equipped with 90-mm. self-propelled antitank guns, assigned to a brigade and three divisional armor battalions, equipped with M48A3 tanks, served in Vietnam, divisions and brigades there had considerable armor. Each divisional reconnaissance squadron, except for the two in the airmobile divisions, had tanks and reconnaissance vehicles. The latter carried additional machine guns and gun shields, permitting the reconnaissance squadrons to function as armor. Also, the eight mechanized infantry battalions in Vietnam frequently performed as light armor units, using modified armored personnel carriers. By 1969 some reconnaissance and mechanized infantry units employed Sheridans, the M551 armored reconnaissance assault vehicles, in place of the light tank and armored personnel carriers. The Sheridan filled the need for a light tracked vehicle with greater firepower than the M113 armored personnel carrier.37

Artillery, the third combat arm assigned to divisions and brigades, also underwent modifications in Vietnam. In the two airmobile divisions, a 155-mm. howitzer battalion was permanently attached after the 1st Cavalry Division demonstrated that the heavy howitzer could be moved by helicopter. Because of the large operational areas of divisions and separate brigades, their direct support artillery battalions often had four firing batteries, which were created in various ways. In the 173d Airborne Brigade, a fourth battery was authorized; in the 23d Infantry Division, each direct support battalion consisted of two five-gun and two four-gun batteries; and in the 1st Infantry Division, one or two 4.2-inch mortar platoons were attached to direct support artillery battalions as Batteries D and E.38

By mid-1969 the seven divisions and four separate brigades in Vietnam reached their final configuration (Table 28). The ROAD building-block concept worked well, particularly in a war that was fought by brigades with divisions serving in a corps-like role. The Army, however, had difficulty meeting the demands of commanders for more tactical maneuver units because there was no pool of separate battalions to draw upon when needed for additional support.

Division/Brigade	Battalions
Division/Brigade	Inf	Mech Inf	Mod lnf	Armor	Total
1st Cavalry Division			9		9
1st Infantry Division		2	7		9
4th Infantry Division		1	8	1	10
1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division		1	1	1	3
9th Infantry Division	2	1	7		10
23d Infantry Division			11		11
25th Infantry Division		3	6	1	10
1st Brigade, 82d Airborne Division			3		3
101st Airborne Division			10		10
173d Airborne Brigade			4	*	4
199th Infantry Brigade			4		4
Total	2	8	70	3	83

The Army directed its major effort in the mid- and late- 1960s toward Vietnam, and divisions and brigades in other commands supported that endeavor. All active duty divisions and brigades in the United States furnished units or men for service in Vietnam, and as a result most fell below combat-ready status. Ultimately the maneuver element mix in the 1st and 2d Armored Divisions was reduced to four tank and four mechanized infantry battalions, which was considerably below the prototype of six tank and five infantry battalions. To maintain them as fully manned armored divisions, the Army designated one mechanized infantry and two armor battalions from the National Guard as "round-out" units for each. Round-out units maintained a close association with their designated divisions, even taking annual field training with them, but were not on active federal service.39

Although the Army did not withdraw any divisions from Europe for service in Vietnam, US. Army, Europe, also contributed to the combat effort. As already noted, the cadre for the 199th Infantry Brigade had come from Europe. Beginning in February 1966 the Army levied the command in Europe for officers and enlisted personnel with specific skills, particularly junior grade and noncommissioned officers. Within a year 1,800 soldiers a month were departing for duty in Vietnam to meet the levy. This drain on the European forces severely affected unit leadership and the readiness of the remaining forces.40

In the armored and mechanized infantry divisions designed to fight in Europe, aviation battalions were eliminated after a study on the use of aircraft rationalized that heavy divisions did not need extensive air lines of communications. Fifty-seven helicopters remained in each division, spread throughout the reconnaissance squadron, maintenance battalion, division artillery, and division and brigade headquarters companies. The operation of the divisional airfield passed to a new transportation detachment attached to the supply and transport battalion. Although not stated, the forty aircraft removed from each armored and mechanized infantry division were needed in Vietnam.41

Notwithstanding personnel and equipment problems in Europe, divisions still had to be prepared to counter Soviet mechanized forces, primarily through increased firepower. In the 3d, 8th, and 24th Infantry Divisions an armor battalion replaced a mechanized infantry battalion in 1966. (Armor battalions required fewer people than mechanized infantry battalions but had more firepower.) The change gave the divisions a maneuver mix of four armor and six mechanized infantry battalions. In those battalions, as well as in the reconnaissance squadron and the artillery battalions, an air defense section that used the new shoulder-fired, low-altitude, Redeye guided missile was introduced. In the artillery of both the armored and mechanized infantry divisions, self-propelled 155-mm. howitzers replaced 105-mm. pieces because the larger howitzers could fire both conventional and nuclear warheads and had a longer range. The capability of firing nuclear rounds from conventional artillery tubes also eliminated the need for the jeep-mounted Davy Crocketts.42

Although the military and political leadership still perceived a Soviet threat in Western Europe, the first reduction in the number of Army divisions stationed in Europe since the beginning of NATO took place during the Vietnam conflict. The desire of the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the United States to realign their balance of payments precipitated the reduction. By mutual agreement one division (less one brigade) and some smaller units in Germany were to return to the United States but were to remain under the operational control of the commander in Europe and return periodically to Germany for training exercises. The divisional brigade that remained in Germany was to be replaced by one from the United States during each training exercise. The staff named the plan REFORGER, "Return of Forces to Germany." During the first half of 1968 the 24th Infantry Division, without its 3d Brigade, moved to Fort Riley.43

The following December the Department of Defense announced that the first REFORCER exercise would take place in early 1969 but, to prevent personnel turbulence, no rotation of brigades would occur. Since the Warsaw Pact countries had invaded Czechoslovakia the previous August, the timing of the exercise, between 5 January and 23 March 1969, demonstrated to NATO that the United States would honor its commitments.44

which supported the Infantry School, was inactivated at Fort Benning to provide personnel for expanding the Army in Vietnam. In a personnel-saving action, the Combat Developments Command's 194th Armored Brigade at Fort Ord was replaced by a battalion-size combat team and reorganized at Fort Knox to support the Armor School in place of the 16th Armor Group. Under the new configuration the brigade included one mechanized infantry and two armored battalions. The 171st and 172d Infantry Brigades in Alaska each lost their aviation company, and in the 193d Infantry Brigade in the Canal Zone, the airborne battalion was replaced with a standard infantry battalion. (Table 29 shows the composition of divisions and brigades outside Vietnam in 1969.)45

In 1968 Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford decided to reduce forces in the continental United States to four divisions because the budget did not permit filling and maintaining five divisions. He directed the inactivation of the 6th Infantry Division, the activation of a brigade to replace the 82d's 3d Brigade in Vietnam, and higher manning levels for the 69th Infantry Brigade attached to the 5th Infantry Division at Fort Carson and the 29th Infantry Brigade at Schofield Barracks. The 6th Division was inactivated on 25 July 1968, and the rest of Clifford's proposals were accomplished by early 1969.46

Four weeks after the 6th Infantry Division was inactivated, the Vice Chief of Staff, General Bruce Palmer, Jr., considered reactivating the division in response to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact armies. Lacking men to organize the unit, the staff considered the division's reactivation a "show the flag" action. The plan was eventually dropped because it was an empty gesture. Thus, the strategic reserve forces in the United States stood at four divisions in September 1968 and remained at that level until the close of the Vietnam era.47

During the 1960s the Department of Defense continued to scrutinize the reserve forces and to question the number of divisions and brigades as well as the redundancy of maintaining two reserve components, the National Guard and the Army Reserve. In 1967 Secretary of Defense McNamara decided that 15 combat divisions in the Army National Guard were unnecessary and cut the number to 8 divisions (1 mechanized infantry, 2 armored, and 5 infantry), but increased the number of brigades from 7 to 18 (1 airborne, 1 armored, 2 mechanized infantry, and 14 infantry). The loss of the divisions did not set well with the states. Their objections included the inadequate maneuver element mix for those that remained and the end to the practice of rotating divisional commands among the states that supported them. Under the proposal, the remaining division commanders were to reside in the state of the division base. No reduction, however, in total Army National Guard strength was to take place, which convinced the governors to accept the plan.48

Unit	Location	Inf	Mech Inf	Abn lnf	Armor	Total
1st Armored Division	Fort Hood, Tex.		4		4	8
2d Armored Division	Fort Hood, Tex.		4		4	8
2d Infantry Division	Korea	5	2		2	9
3d Armored Division	Germany		5		6	11
3d Infantry Division	Germany		6		4	10
4th Armored Division	Germany		5		6	11
5th Infantry Division	Fort Carson, l Colo.		8		2	10
7th Infantry Division	Korea	5	2		2	9
8th Infantry Division	Germany		6		4	10
24th Infantry Division	Fort Riley,2 Kans.		6		3	9
82d Airborne Division	Fort Bragg,3 N.C.			9		9
29th Infantry Brigade	Hawaii	3				3
171st Infantry Brigade	Alaska		2			2
172d Infantry Brigade	Alaska		2			2
193d Infantry Brigade	Canal Zone	3				3
194th Armored Brigade	Fort Knox, Ky.	1			2	3
	TOTAL	17	52	9	39	117

Unit	Location
26th Infantry Division	Massachusetts and Connecticut
28th Infantry Division	Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia
30th Armored Division	Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee
30th Infantry Division (M)*	North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia
38th Infantry Division	Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio
42d Infantry Division	New York and Pennsylvania
47th Infantry Division	Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota
50th Armored Division	New Jersey, New York, and Vermont
29th Infantry Brigade	Hawaii and California
32d Infantry Brigade	Wisconsin
33d Infantry Brigade	Illinois
36th Infantry Brigade	Texas
39th Infantry Brigade	Arkansas
40th Armored Brigade	California
40th Infantry Brigade	California
41st Infantry Brigade	Oregon
45th Infantry Brigade	Oklahoma
49th Infantry Brigade	California
53d Infantry Brigade	Florida
67th Infantry Brigade (M)*	Nebraska
69th Infantry Brigade	Kansas
71st Airborne Brigade	Texas
72d Infantry Brigade (M)*	Texas
81st Infantry Brigade	Washington
92d Infantry Brigade	Puerto Rico
256th Infantry Brigade	Louisiana

ed of the maneuver elements, an artillery battalion, an engineer company, a medical company, a forward support maintenance company, and an administrative section. The remainder of each division was located in the state with the division base. Infantry divisions had ten maneuver battalions, as did the mechanized infantry divisions, except the 47th, which had eleven. The 30th and 50th Armored Divisions had ten and eleven maneuver battalions, respectively. A single state maintained each of the eighteen separate brigades, except for the 29th (Hawaii), which had elements in the continental United States.49

opposition saved the 157th (Pennsylvania), 187th (Massachusetts), and 205th (Minnesota and Iowa) Infantry Brigades. All their expensive armor and mechanized infantry battalions, however, were eliminated, leaving each brigade with only three standard infantry battalions. In the western part of the country, the poorly manned 191st Infantry Brigade fell out of the force, with its headquarters being inactivated in February 1968 at Helena, Montana. The following June an armor battalion was restored to the 157th Infantry Brigade to increase its capabilities.50

Concurrent with reorganizing the reserves, Secretary of the Army Stanley Resor authorized a new Selected Reserve Force in 1967 to lessen the heavy burden of the accelerated training program. All units in the original force retained their equipment but lost their priority for new equipment. The new "selected reserve" force, designed specifically to reinforce the Army in Southeast Asia, consisted of the 26th and 42d Infantry Divisions and the 39th, 40th, 157th, and 256th Infantry Brigades. But two years later the secretary abolished the force, seeking to bring all National Guard and Army Reserve units to the same readiness level.51

The Defense Department did not question the number of training divisions in the Army Reserve, but they were reorganized to conform to Regular Army training centers. In 1966 the Continental Army Command developed new tables of organization that eliminated regiments in training divisions and replaced them with brigades (Chart 41). The division fielded two basic combat training brigades, each consisting of four battalions with five training companies each; an advanced individual training brigade, three battalions with three to six companies or batteries of field artillery, armor, infantry, and engineers each; and a combat support training brigade, two battalions of five companies each, and a committee directorate. All basic training instructors were concentrated in a committee group. Along with the division headquarters and headquarters company, the division had support and special training companies and a noncommissioned officer/drill sergeant academy. These changes enhanced the training division's ability for self-sustainment in both reserve and active duty status, but it could not train as many men under the new structure. All thirteen divisions were organized under the new tables by 1968.52

On 8 June 1969, President Richard Nixon announced that 25,000 men would be withdrawn from Vietnam as part of a "Vietnamization" effort, which involved transferring increased responsibility for conducting all aspects of the war to the Republic of Vietnam. An underlying cause was the disillusionment of the American people with a war that seemed permanently stalemated. Popular sentiment favored the return of U.S. forces from Vietnam and a retrenchment of U.S. involvement in world affairs, particularly in Asia.53

The incremental redeployments from Vietnam between 1969 and 1972 caused considerable confusion, but less than in previous conflicts where demobilization had to be accomplished rapidly. Shortly after the withdrawal began, Acting Secretary of the Army Thaddeus R. Beal announced a reduction in total Army forces for economic reasons. One result was the immediate inactivation of the 9th Infantry Division, except for its brigade in Vietnam. To replace the 29th Infantry Brigade in Hawaii, which was to be released from federal service along with other reserve units in December 1969, the US. Army, Pacific, activated the 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, on 6 December and returned the 29th Infantry Brigade to state control on 13 December. When disclosing the formation of the new brigade, Secretary of Defense Clifford stressed that the 25th Infantry Division was not returning from Vietnam, explaining that the designation was selected only as a tribute to the division's service in Vietnam. Nevertheless, the announcement caused some rumors that the 25th would soon be home.55

Meanwhile, in September 1969 President Nixon announced another troop withdrawal. The only large unit in that increment was the 3d Brigade, 82d Airborne Division, which returned to Fort Bragg in December to replace the division's 4th Brigade. As noted, the Army released the reserve units in December, including the 69th Infantry Brigade. To maintain a full division at Fort Carson, the Fifth U.S. Army activated the 4th Brigade, 5th Infantry Division, a Regular Army unit.56

A pattern of redeployment soon emerged.57 As one group of units left Vietnam the president announced another reduction. Under redeployment policies, selected units ceased to receive replacements sixty days before leaving the command; their equipment was turned in for storage or redistribution; and personnel were generally reassigned elsewhere in Vietnam. Usually each returning unit had only a small detachment to safeguard its colors or flags and essential records. Few soldiers had opportunity to participate in any welcome-home ceremonies. Unneeded company size or smaller units were inactivated in Vietnam, while battalion-size and larger units, including divisions and brigades, returned to the United States for retention or inactivation. The Army generally followed these policies over the next two and one-half years as divisions and brigades left Vietnam (Table 31).58

To accommodate some redeploying units, the Army rearranged the location of divisional designations in the Regular Army. In 1970 the 1st Infantry Division replaced the 24th Infantry Division at Fort Riley and in Germany, and the 4th Infantry Division succeeded the 5th Infantry Division at Fort Carson. The 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, replaced the 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, in Hawaii. The 1st and 4th Infantry Divisions simultaneously became mechanized infantry units, adapting to a NATO reinforcement role. In the 1st, the maneuver elements consisted of 4 armor and 6 mechanized infantry battalions, while the 4th included 1 infantry, 2 armor, and 7 mechanized infantry battalions.59

Another complex exchange of divisions took place in 1971 when the 1st Cavalry Division returned to the United States. At that time the Army planned to test a new air cavalry combat brigade in conjunction with airmobile and armor units. The staff had programmed the 1st Armored Division at Fort Hood as the test unit, but when the 1st Cavalry Division returned from Southeast Asia it replaced the armored division, which was to be inactivated. Protests by former members of "Old Ironsides" against taking the unit designation out of the active force led Westmoreland, now Army chief of staff, to retain the division on the active rolls by transferring it to Germany where it replaced the 4th Armored Division. The 1st Cavalry Division, less its 3d Brigade, which remained in Vietnam, was reorganized at Fort Hood.60

The 173d Airborne Brigade posed a problem for redeployment planners because it had been the first large unit sent to Vietnam. They wanted to retain it in the force, but the brigade was no longer needed in Okinawa as negotiations were under way to return the island to Japan. Westmoreland decided to station the brigade at Fort Campbell until the 101st Airborne Division returned and to use the unit or some of its elements later to reorganize the 101st. The 173d

Unit	Date Redeployed
Unit	Date Redeployed	Remarks
1st Cavalry Division (less 3d Brigade)	April 1971	Replaced the 1st Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas
3d Brigade	June 1972	Replaced the 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division
1st Infantry Division	April 1970	Replaced the 24th Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas, and in Germany
4th Infantry Division (less 3d Brigade)	December 1970	Replaced the 5th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado
3d Brigade	April 1970	Replaced the 4th Brigade, 5th Infantry Division, at Fort Carson, Colorado
1 st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division	August 1971	Inactivated
9th Infantry Division (less 3d Brigade)	July 1969	Inactivated
3d Brigade	October 1970	Inactivated
23d Infantry Division	November 1971	Inactivated
11th Infantry Brigade	November 1971	Inactivated
198th Infantry Brigade	November 1971	Inactivated
25th Infantry Division (less 2d Brigade)	December 1970	1st Brigade replaced the 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; concurrently division headquarters and 3d Brigade reduced to zero strength
2d Brigade	April 1971	Reduced to zero strength
3d Brigade, 82d Airborne Division	December 1969	Replaced the 4th Brigade, 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina
101st Airborne Division (less 1st, 2d, and 3d Brigades)	March 1972	Returned to Fort Campbell, Kentucky
1st Brigade	January 1972	Returned to Fort Campbell, Kentucky
2d Brigade	February 1972	Returned to Fort Campbell, Kentucky
3d Brigade	December 1971	Returned to Fort Campbell, Kentucky
173d Airborne Brigade	August 1971	Inactivated at Fort Campbell, 1972
196th Infantry Brigade	June 1972	Inactivated

In June 1972 the last two U.S. combat brigades, the 3d Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, and the 196th Infantry Brigade, left Vietnam. The cavalry brigade rejoined its parent unit at Fort Hood, replacing the 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, while the 196th was inactivated at Oakland, California. The last brigade element, the 3d Battalion, 21st Infantry, departed Vietnam in August 1972, marking the end of U.S. Army divisions' and separate brigades' direct participation in the war in Vietnam.62

Shortly after the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam had begun in 1969, President Nixon adopted a new doctrine for military involvement in world affairs. He based the "Nixon Doctrine" on several principles: the United States would honor all treaty commitments; it would provide a shield if a nuclear power threatened one of its allies or a nation whose survival was considered vital to U.S. national interest; and it would offer military and economic assistance to its allies when requested. But the United States expected a nation directly threatened to assume primary responsibility for its own defense. Following these principles, Nixon directed a 20,000-man reduction of Army forces in Korea by 30 June 1971. To accomplish that goal, the 7th Infantry Division concluded its 21-year stay in Korea and returned to Fort Lewis, where it was inactivated on 2 April. Its departure left only the 2d Infantry Division, now reorganized to consist of two armor and six infantry battalions, augmented by Korean forces.63

With a smaller Army the nation could no longer maintain two brigades in Alaska, and Westmoreland decided to eliminate one. In September 1969 both brigades had been reorganized from mechanized to light infantry as modernization and cost-saving measures. U.S. Army, Alaska, chose to inactivate the 171st Infantry Brigade and reorganize the 172d. Under the new alignment a light infantry battalion and the reconnaissance troop were stationed at Fort Wainwright, while two light infantry battalions and the remainder of the brigade base were at Fort Richardson. The reduction of forces in Alaska was completed by November 1972.64

By May 1972 post-Vietnam retrenchment had cut the active forces by about 650,000 men from its peak wartime figure of 1.5 million. The number of Regular Army divisions fell to twelve, and only four special-mission brigades remained. The divisions, particularly those in the United States, were far from being effective fighting teams. The vicissitudes of the war in Vietnam and the reductions in the size of the Army combined to erode combat effectiveness. The decline in unit capabilities had been less abrupt than in 1919 or 1945-46 but just as alarming.

and brigades had been tailored for various missions within various regional commands. Light units campaigned effectively in Vietnam, heavy units continued to meet NATO commitments in Europe, and Army forces in the United States covered contingencies for all commands. The major problem for the Army was the acquisition of personnel and equipment. All divisions and brigades, except for those in Vietnam, suffered a decline in readiness, the price of meeting the demands of the conflict. Soldiers were withdrawn from Vietnam as individuals, and most units returned to the United States as paper organizations. The Army appeared to have solved its organizational problems associated with flexible response, but it had not come to grips with its perennial difficulty, shortages of human and materiel resources.