This is coolbert: Some of you may remember the recent movie, "Once We Were Soldiers". About the first major battle of the Nam war between U.S. troops and NVA. This was Ia Drang Valley, Chu Pong mountain. The battalion commander lifted his whole battalion right onto an entire NVA regiment. He was surrounded from the start and did not know it. Kept wondering where all the enemy troops kept coming from. Well, intell was wrong and this commander chose his LZ's in the wrong spot. The idea was to choose a LZ close to the enemy, but not right on top. This caused all sorts of problems from the start. And in the latest war, the 101st Airmobile sent out almost all it's attack choppers en masse to seek out the enemy. Took so much ground fire, they had to turn back. It would seem that choppers operating independently are much like tanks operating independently. A potent force, but also exposed to a determined enemy. Combined arms would seem to be the answer. A coordinated plan with arty, rocket, ground support aircraft backing up the choppers is the answer. Hey, no one said war was easy.

coolbert.