[Vietnam] Helicopter Insertion Tactics for Recon Team Operations
Helicopter Insertion Tactics for Recon Teams in Vietnam. This video is mostly based on the de-classified document: Headquarters United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam: Guide for Helicopter Tactics and Techniques for use with Reconnaissance Teams - Lessons Learned NO. 83, October 1970
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Military History Visualized provides a series of short narrative and visual presentations like documentaries based on academic literature or sometimes primary sources. Videos are intended as introduction to military history, but also contain a lot of details for history buffs. Since the aim is to keep the episodes short and comprehensive some details are often cut.
» SOURCES «
Headquarters United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam: Guide for Helicopter Tactics and Techniques for use with Reconnaissance Teams - Lessons Learned NO. 83, October 1970
Footage:
National Archives - United States Army Helicopter Operations in Vietnam - National Security Council. Central Intelligence Agency. (09/18/1947 - 12/04/1981).
archive.org/details/gov.archi...
Department of Defense - PIN 26968
STAFF FILM REPORT 66-19A
VIETNAM - COMBAT AND OTHER ACTIVITIES, APRIL 1966 - 1ST CAVALRY DIVISION, 173D AIRBORNE BRIGADE; PRESIDENT JOHNSON AWARD MEDAL OF HONOR; AND ACTIVITIES IN KOREA, THAILAND AND SANTO DOMINGO.
archive.org/details/gov.dod.d...
Department of Defense
PIN 26972
STAFF FILM REPORT 66-21A
VIETNAM - APRIL 1966 - 25TH INFANTRY DIVISION, 1ST INFANTRY DIVISION, 1ST CALVARY DIVISION, AND SPECIAL FORCES; USAREU - 3D ARMOR DIVISION, "OPERATION SOUTHERN ARROW''; NYU HALL OF FAME.
archive.org/details/gov.dod.d...
Department of Defense
PIN 26971
STAFF FILM REPORT 66-2OA
VIETNAM - COMBAT AND OTHER ACTIVITIES, APRIL 1966 - 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION AND 1ST CAVALRY; HOSPITAL PRACTICE ALERT IN GERMANY; AND EVENTS IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AND BOLIVIA.
archive.org/details/gov.dod.d...
National Archives and Records Administration
ARC Identifier 34383 / Local Identifier 111-LC-56854
COMBAT ACTIVITIES OF THE 1/501 BDE, 101ST ABN DIV (FIRE DROP); ETC
archive.org/details/gov.archi...
National Archives Identifier: 32702
archive.org/details/Dustoffs1969
VNAF A-1E Skyraider Air Strikes, Vietnam, 11/19/1964
National Archives Identifier: 69150
archive.org/details/USAF-37675A
Supplementary Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorot...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam...
» CREDITS & SPECIAL THX «
Song: Ethan Meixsell - Demilitarized Zone
These tactics will be really useful in Rising Storm 2 Vietnam... "Anyone who runs is a VC, anyone who stands is a well disciplined VC"
just googled that.... OH YEAH Red Orchestra in Vietnam....
+Military History Visualized You should check out the PAX West stream on their official forum. They explain everything about gameplay, weapons and abilities in the game. I was hyped about it since last April and the devs might release it in Q1 2017.
So just blast every single fucker with conical hat, young or old all the same
+My Hentai Girl And just keep one thing in mind : Don't lead'em so much. It's the 'murican way...
Only if they're women or children.
I remember hearing someone talk about a friend he had who fought in Vietnam at a wargames convention. Admittedly it's not a primary source, and it's just one story but I still found it interesting. He was a door gunner for insertions of recon and special forces types just like this. He noticed that enemy infantry would generally stop firing and take cover if they were being fired at with an M134 minigun, but wouldn't if they were being shot at with the M60s Slicks had. He kept an M16 loaded entirely with tracer rounds and would fire it so it seemed like the helicopter had miniguns instead of the m60s it actually had.
***Ride of the Valkyries starts playing***
"Instead of Miniguns, we use Richard Wagner. It's quite effective. Also good fun for surfing.
Most gunships in Vietnam were Huey's not Cobras. Cobras came late into the war and never replaced Huey gunships. Second of all the UH-1P and the UH-1F were not really used much in the Vietnam War. The most I saw out there was B,C,D and H Models. I myself spent my time on B models. As for this "Belly man" never heard of it. A Crew Chief or Gunner can do the same job. Also Transport Helicopters were rarely used to pick up Recon Teams a Huey Gunship can pick these teams up. Most of the Time Transport Birds would be used to Insert Teams and if it wasn't the Birds it was carried out by Boat if possible. Also the Flex Guns were used more then Mini-Guns. Mini-guns again came late into the War. and not all Huey Gunships had them due to mission sets. The problem is this. We said "Fuck the Manuel" so many things in the Manuel were never used. I served with HA(L)3 part of Naval Special Operations and also part of Com Nav For V. We worked heavily with MACV-SOG and would also support their Teams mostly Rangers and LRRP's. However our main Job was too Support the Brown Water Navy Operations and SEAL Teams. The only Special Operation Helo Squad was Ha(L)3. Mainly because our Pilots could fly at night and in bad weather. plus our crews went through more training then a Reg Army Crew. I was part of Det 5 in HAL-3. I pulled 4 tours in Vietnam 1968-1971 also took part in the Cambodian Invasion. You can see picks of me at Seawolf.org under Det5 I have a Pet monkey on my shoulder. :)
Chelius, Rodney G. Jr?
Dogmeat1950 since you were Navy, do you think you guys operated differently than the Army birds? And maybe that's why you see so many differences between the video and your experience?
U.S Navy SeaWolves did Operated Differently a bit. A Good example was that the Navy could do Night Missions and in poor weather. The U.S Army wasn't able to truly do this till the mid 1970's after the Vietnam war ended. Which is why the Squadron was the only Squadron that would cater to other Special Operations/SF units. But keep in mind that this is a Manuel. and 90% of the Manuel was tossed out. My unit was created because the U.S Military didn't designate Air units for Special Operations and or Special Forces units. this problem was fixed by late 1967
Dogmeat1950 I've read that most of HAL-3's pilots were former fixed wing pilots. Is this true? It must have been a real challenge using those heavy gunships to move SEAL teams in those hot and humid conditions.
Well all U.S Navy Pilots go through Fixed wing training at flight school. " It must have been a real challenge using those heavy gunships to move SEAL teams " Not really, We could lighten our load to move around 4 Man SEAL Teams, let alone any other Spec ops/SF Team. However In the "Seawolves" aka HaL-3, We had a Unit Called the "Sea Lord's" Who were the Prime Air Transportation unit for SEAL Teams. Sealords would have "Slicks" aka H and D Models if I'm not mistaken. So they would carry Larger SEAL Teams, Rangers, etc etc and sometimes we would fly escort for them. Depends on what the Mission called for. Hal-3 only had B Model Huey's and later on they would have C models, however the C Model had a weaker Engine then the B. Regardless the C models weren't fully used and only came into theater during the last 9 months of the "Seawolves" B Models Were Primary Light Gunships of Hal-3, so as I said we could take a Recon team and maybe some wounded if needed but only in Emergencies. If we got too heavy we could bounce the chopper into the air by simply bouncing the Chopper off the ground a few times. or just run along side the chopper for a few second's and then jump in as it was moving. "hot and humid conditions" Another way to take weight off the Chopper was to simply remove the Doors off the choppers. We would just remove the Cabin doors and also remove the Pilot and Co-Pilot Doors. We only had the Doors on the Choppers during the rainy season in Vietnam. I hope I answered your Questions for you.
Thank You sir for a very fine explanation of helicopter tactics. I flew slicks for the 101 ASHB , "C" company, Black Widows, out of LZ Sally 1968 , then Hue Phu Bai 1969. The experience ruined me by being so much 'fun' and the Adrenalin rush's so intense NOTHING I tried after VN came close to the thrills I experienced putting troops in and taking them out. Also I was able to see other humans be both brave beyond comprehension and cowardly, sometimes the switch was instantaneous. Your explanation of the slicks role and maneuvers were exactly (90%) how we did it, except for two things. We often employed a 'smoke ship' to hide our insertion and on extraction we would NOT fly 2 miles at tree top level before gaining our 1500' I'd love to return to that time and do it again. Thanks for the Memories CW2 Bobby Ingram (ret) PS if any Blackwidows read this I want to say , Thank You.
thank you! Yeah, I can to a certain degree understand the adrenaline rush at least on a mental level, once had an "unfriendly" encounter that went well with a group in Argentina a few hours later I felt extremely well even though not bullets or even weapons, flying heli under enemy fire, well, I guess nearly everything else gets rather "dull". All the best!
I like this added Footage. Nice episode as allways Have a BRRRRRRRTTTTTTTT day.
Are you wishing me 'nam flashbacks?
The first war was a failure for multiple reasons...the simplest one is that the most competent professional soldiers and officers ended up quitting due to not getting payed and became enforcers for criminal orginisations or mercenaries. The second war in 1999 was successfully prosecuted
One very interesting fact is that roughly 50% of the helos were lost to gunfire or other reasons in Vietnam. This gives you an idea of just how dangerous that job was. And how effective the NVA and NLF were..
My father was KIA in 1967. He had been part of 101st AB since 1956 and was part of an elite Battalion. Now I'm 60 years old and have been working for the DoD for 37 years. I've studied mostly 20th century warfare for my entire life. The helicopter made us feel so effective in deploying troops in Vietnam that it was part of the illusion that we were "winning" in Indochina. I thank God we won the Cold War but our loss in Vietnam was inevitable. We believed our own propaganda to such a degree that we were certain we couldn't lose in Vietnam but studying it with our eyes wide open to reality speaks otherwise. A LOT of good, honest men died because we believed our own propaganda and the Helicopter fed us the tripe that we couldn't lose. We were damn wrong, but the important thing is we won the Cold War. Indochina? Unwinnable, and a lot of good men died chasing a "victory". God Bless all our guys who served in Nam.
The only way to square the Vietnam War with our sense of propriety as a nation is to see it as a battle in the war, not as the war. In that sense, we lost the battle, but won the war. That doesn't make the soldiers any less heroic.
i know that a foreign accent absolutetly fucks with ones english. and these videos are amazingly well done. but i genuinely laughed at how he pronounced jungle at 4:25
Thats an austrian accent. Even for english speaking Germans it sounds funny. I suggest you find one of the vids of him where he actually reads austro-hungarian field manuals he uses his austrian german compared to when he quotes german field manuals.
The NVA and VC adapted to airmobile insertion tactics by limiting ambushes to ten minutes (max) and breaking off at the first sign of enemy reinforcement (even if within the ten minute time frame). Additionally, they set up ambushes of their own to prompt a response- and then ambushed the enemy response.
"Short overview" - 15 minutes Never change MHV, never change :D
In the '90s I was squad leader of a Low Level Voice Intercept team (radio intercept and direction-finding using man-portable equipment, frequently deployed by helicopter.) Though we were never meant to be deployed on the "wrong" side of the front lines, we were necessarily pretty far forward; we used the false-insertion method extensively, with as many as half a dozen fake drop-off spots before and/or after our real insertion.
If Army, were you part of the 303rd Bn?
107th MI.
Way back in the day, by 1964 we had largely given up on ground DF. In forest terrain you would end up almost on top of the transmitter. That's how Sp4 Davis (one of the earliest casualties in VN)got nailed in an ambush in 1961. Huey's and DeHavailand Beavers took over the DF role and even then they took a real chance because they had to fly a straight and level course to get a good DF fix.
Would you guys fake a landing a few times and then go to the real spot? Or were other guys faking landings while yall go the real one?
We would make a few fake landings, then get dropped off, then the empty helicopter would make a few more fake landings. They weren't really landings... the bird would hover, hopefully 5 or 6 feet off the ground, moving slowly forward, and we'd toss out our gear and jump out. I say "hopefully" because of the time the ground level dropped away from under the bird as it moved forward, and I ended up falling 15 or 20 feet. (Hey, it was *dark* that night. We couldn't see the ground when we jumped.)
I'd recommend the book Chickenhawk by Robert Mason. Its about his experiences as a UH-1 pilot in the Vietnam War when he served with the 1st Cavalry Division between August 1965 to 1966.
Follow this with "to the limit" by Tom A Johnson. Then Da Nang Diary by Tom Yarborough to learn about the FAC role then the guys on the ground, Born Twice by Dale Hanson then We Few and Whispers in the tall grass by Nick Brockhausen. To get a really well rounded view of SOG recon
Loved it! Vietnam is my favorite era to learn about as far as tactics go.
I love this channel, its always so laid back, but interesting and educational. Keep it up!
Really like your videos. Always well-researched, thorough and insightful. Keep up the good work!
I am loving these Vietnam episodes! Keep up the good work.
Excellent work on that topic. How could I have missed this for so long. Your representations are highly valued in our gaming community (mudandblood) where WW2 and Vietnam War simulation games are most popular. We are currently reworking a game called "Recon" (can be found on Kongregate) with features that you presented in that video. Keep up the great work!
Very thorough, well referenced and succinctly entertaining... as always :-) Thanks again!
I like the historical footage you added to this one. I really enjoy your content.
great videos. love your insight. well done & they're easy to fit in spare time. the UH-1x gunships sure gave us a warm fuzzy 45 years ago. wasn't an 11B but they were still around protecting us.
Really love the work, it's incredibly interesting!
Any planned videos or thoughts on a Rhodesian Bush War themed video?
not really, I never heard of Rhodesia before a seminar on the British Decolonization. The bad mixture of very little interest on my part and rather unknown topic means usually: no. Also I assume there is political minefield involved. My interest may change, but there are about a few hundred topics I want to cover already and few thousand subtopics on these, e.g., tanks 101 series has probably another 5-10 videos. Not to mention loads of ww2 stuff and Prussia and Napoleon and .................................. endless list.
I just want a ask same question..In fact Rhodesian invented airmobile warfare tactics and USA just copied them. And also some of these special mission when behind enemy lines are just unbelievable. That raid on recruiting camp...
didn't know that, now I am way more interested.
Well at least I know a seed has been sown. I hope it grows.
Just look on Fireforce Tactics... K:D ratio was 15:1 also look on Operation Dingo...that was just butchery (or right use of air attack tactics) + operation Enland is also interesting
Boy this video brings back memories! Spent many a day/night riding the Huey's, and working along with the Apaches.
Great content - good to see official tactics covered for something other than WW2
could we have an episode about the Battle of Klendathu? I lost an arm and a couple buddies there....
damn dude
Oh yeah? I was deployed onto Umbara, I saw with my own eyes 15 of my brothers get vaporized so much that I think I inhaled some of Karma's ashes, what did the Republic do about it? Nothing as harsh as they did to us
Sure, dog. Aren’t you the one who walked into a saloon, looking for the man that shot your paw?
My brother (Air Cav) was a Crew-chief/Door-gunner on a Slick in the Mekong Delta. He did this sort of thing back then, including some trips into Cambodia.
Great video, the last picture you showed while talking about the UH-1P was of the M-60 flex gun mount on Huey Gunship mounting also could carry 1 minigun per aircraft side.
Depending on the area of operations, fixed wing air support was allowed in Laos while in Cambodia, only rotary wing assets were permitted. Lynne M. Black's book about his time in MACV-SOG does go into some of the tactics mentioned here. Good content and keep up the good work
BBRRRRRRRRRTTTTT - LOL! Hope we see more of this visualisation. Great work as always.
thanks this helped me alot getting out of work early
Interesting stuff. Thanks for posting!
That ending was outstanding.
Very good video, I'd love to see more like it. Also this makes me want to try a mission like this in ARMA.
Awesome vids man.
Great series!
your subs are starting to grow by the thousands, the last video I watched the count was 72k
Yeah now do a video about, Australian infantry tactics in Vietnam.
No, it'll make our high command sound like lunatics. You've heard of long tan yes? well the only reason that happened is because we plonked a base in the middle of a known high insurgency area.
Yes. And that is why they put that base right there, to disrupt VC movement and supply. The battle of Lang Tan happened because the VC, and the NVA had mortared Niu Dat the night before. Sending D-Company 6RAR to look for them. D-Company intercepted the Enemy before they could get to Nui Dat. See once again I was drunk, while commenting originally. I men't to type; Infantry tactics Of Australians, Americans and Vietnamese.
I like (and recommend) trying these tactics in wargame red dragon
It would be interesting to see a follow up vid on soviet helo tactics as they utilized the the He-24 in both the gunship and troop transport role.
great video, subscribed.
My uncle was a recon guy in Vietnam. He said that they even used a big Daisy cutter bomb to blow a hole in the jungle for insertion if there was no suitable LZ. They would make a couple and use the other ones as decoys. He said that the maps they had sucked and would frequently find missing or extra mountains when doing VR before a mission.
Spotted the mouse at the start :P
Putting archive videos (of the plane) in the bigger video, is a good idea!
JA! More Vietnam plz
Lovely videos daddy I love how you have sources
Video about tactics used in search & destroy missions would be cool. Was it just sending infantry to stroll around the jungle, to be ambushed and use the artillery and airpower to destroy the enemy?
Yes it was. It says so in "The Perfect War: Technowar in Vietnam". Before you could kill enemies you have to find him. And the American military was stuck with the idiotic idea of body counts as a measurement of success, so thats why their tactics was so insane.
well they were stuck with it because it was their first war that wasnt about gaining territory. You gotta give your soldiers some measurement of success other than pls dont die and shoot alot.
They didn't need to give soldiers any measurement of success. They had to justify the war to the public, through the press. There were no metrics beyond bodycount that could be counted as favorable. The US military had no idea how to fight, let alone characterize for the public, a counterinsurgency (especially one in such harsh terrain as the Southeast Asian jungles).
you cant go inside a land and say all are my enemys....so everyone i capture is a prisoner maybe the last time that worked was in ww2 but they bombed the shit out of everything first (or at least big cities) thats why the usa cant win the war in afghanistan! when you cant hit the enemy (because the enemy maybe is a civilian until he attack) you can only react and try to land hits (with drones) when you dont have the civilians on your side you can either try to win with "normal" measures like killing the bad guys and get slaughters in the mean time or say everyone is an enemy and make them hate you even more....or you left and dont care about it and let them handel it by themselfs
Fucking fascinating. Vietnam infantry tactics next please! :) :) :)
I like the way this channel has evolved. very good job and good content to watch
This reminds me of a book I read called "The Bear went over the hill". It is the Soviet lessons learned from Afghanistan. Well worth reading as they too used helicopter insertions.
There is a book called the price of exit based on the helicopter crews who fly these missions it's a good read.
Interesting video you made here. Would be interesting to compare Vietnam helicopter tactics to the Fire Force missions carried out by the Rhodesian Light Infantry in the 1970's. Two conflicts that overlapped each other, the Rhodesian Bush War is not that well known. I think that the Rhodesian Armed Forces, although disbanded in 1980, still hold the record for most combat airdrops. Their principle COIN units, the RLI, the SAS, and Selous Scouts were carrying out up to three operations per day. France is second on that list.
can you make a video about ORGANIZATION and STRUCTURE of US AIR CAVALRY DIVISION
ever consider doing a video on the differing tactics between the US and Australia and New Zealand in Vietnam?
I was in CCN khe sanh, in 66 they was building up for Tet, I had my 01 tell him what we saw, I never seen so much
Great video. Would you be interested in doing more infantry or tactical bombing tactics?
read any of the three parts of the 'six silent men' series for more info on ground ops and the essence of long range reconnaissance. Highly recommend (:
"Charlie Team, sit tight; evac is on its way. In the meantime, watch this MHV video on helicopter tactics..."
That was a very good phonetic representation of the sound made by a mini-gun burst firing. Please can we have the same overview for the Battle of Mogadishu era?
Great video! Next time maybe you could make one about cold war recon and armor tactics.
"I am so glad that we can at least agree on an universal time unit"
Metric system had its problems.
+Ibnziyad Tariq us government actually tried to covert to metric but everyone just ignored them
+Bobo Erectis Are calling Americans ignorant?
Ok.. Lets Go Go Go !!
you ever do anything about a German paratrooper unit vs a American paratrooper unit in ww2 ?
haven't found a suitable T&OE for the 101st yet (I have a special idea). For the German Paras there are loads of low quality books out there and then there was 3 volume killer out there, which was high quality, but very descriptive from what I remember, which means it is usually an extremely inefficient source. For a comparison, copied from my FAQ: militaryhistoryvisualized.com/faq/ Are you going to do a video on [COMPARISON BETWEEN ARMIES/DIVISIONS/VEHICLES/ETC]? Yes, but there needs one of the following criteria fulfilled: * I have a certain amount of knowledge on this topic already, e.g., if I have done like several German Tank Division layouts and a few of the Allies, I am probably able to do a comparison video at one point. Basically, I won’t start with comparison videos, I did it with the Shokaku and Yorktown Class carriers, but this was also the video I spent the most time on so far (out of around 65 videos as of writing). *I have a proper article / book that covers such a comparison that is of good quality and ideally (not mandatory) I know the topic well or have another good source to “counter-check”.
thank you for the fast response I just was wondering my grandfather was a paratrooper in ww2 and wanted to know the difference between us paratroopers and German ones thank you again
Band of Brothers by Stephen A. Ambrose (the book that got adapted into the famous miniseries) has a detailed TO&E of the company level and below for the 101st, and has moderate detail up through the battalion and regimental levels. There are a few things it doesn't cover, such as whether the HQ company had a different composition from the line companies and what other units were attached at the regimental and divisional levels, but it does give most of the organizational tree, and an almost complete TO&E for the line companies such as Easy.
@Wolfeson28: thx, well I guess I can find other sources that covers the higher levels.
Those pilots were realy skilled
btw, it must have been real scary to be dropped in a jungle like that and then see your choppers fly away, when the sound of the chopper is gone you only hear birds and jungle sounds if your lucky, while being in a jungle miles away of what you are grown to know. Much respect for those soldiers
I would call everyone who is getting dropped in a jungle from air surrounded by VC a soldier :p
Before the war, the Marines let the best students with highest degrees become jet pilots. And the 2nd best became pilots of propeller aircraft. And the rest that barely qualified became helicopter pilots. And as the the war was getting more intense it became a huge shortage of helicopter pilots, so many stayed in the military, and helicopter pilots from the civilian sector was called for, and many fighter pilots had to switch career just to fill the shortages of helicopter pilots in Vietnam.
.. may be in emergency landings
Most of the soldiers in the Recon Teams were volunteers. And the requirement to get into recon units such as the Army's Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP, pronounced "Lurp"), later called Rangers, and Marine Force Recon was a rigorousness training regimen
I'd love to see some content that is a short documentary on combat fighters. whom have written good memoirs with sources etc that are reliable, as can be. but I've been reading alot of German and American WW2 memoirs since covid isolation not that they have the most but also because a soldier's story fighting on every major front and had lived it all and able to articulate in his own words what happened, and has left that treasure of hardships and life lessons we could all learn from. I enjoyed the Vietnam helicopter tactics but J don't think im takin much away from it I didn't already assume with common sense besides going treetop for first 2 ks whilst exiting, would have loved some first hand accounts of actions from the door gunners lil examples of what they would encounter on a good or bad day etc upon landing ? I think ones on officers would get the most views ofcourse like a video on manstein etc all the way down to the common soldier if the first couple of videos do well. I think if you did a video on Otto carius it would get alot of views bacaise anyone that is into WW2 history would either know the name of read his memoir tigers in the mud. He sore more than we will ever understand and his accounts have all been verified and all of his commendations and awards along with him ending up in control of a company of tigers and could have sat at a desk if he wanted that was offered after he had surpassed 100 confirmed kills on tanks and tank hunters but chose to go back to his men. For a man that is like 5'6 and really skinny he has the heart of a lion, Even though I read it I'd love to see a lil doco about him, his unit and what they accomplished with such small numbers. Plz make that shit! Haha Just a suggestion
Ha! I was born in the month and year that this manual was published...
I have 250 combat missions in an UH1D DustOff in 66-68.
Think you could do a vid outlining japanese strategy in the pacific? Could be pretty neat maybe.
I was wondering what do you use to create yout videos?
Wasn't it more like a drop line the guys repelled down or clipped onto than an actual ladder? You wanted to get in or out quick rather than dicking around with something you could snag on. Getting out that way probably had the thrill of dangling in the open for a bit before being winched onboard. Other than that, I suppose daisy cutter could be used to clear an LZ (probably not recon though for obvious reasons.) For night ops, the Vietnam conflict was when night vision was first starting to be used. I'd think they had systems in place that would make this workable. (Quite clunky compared to the modern stuff, but still good enough for the job.) There are also IR flares and spotlights going back to that era, so it seems this stuff was used for this kind of operation.
are the tactics in 'we were soldiers' the same a as these?
Gonna try and input this in Wargame and see how it goes when deploying Recon Units.
against a human or ai? One of my subscribers used the tactic from my US Army Battalion video successfully in Wargame against a human.
xdigitaldeltax Badly. It will go badly because US Helos are shit in that game. A&S fixed that to an extent, but only USSR and Eurocorps should bother with helicopter insertions.
In Vietnam more expletives were dropped than any other conflict up until that point.
that starting mouse tho
I recently came across a lively discussion on whether or not the Soviet Union had a qualitative advantage over NATO in mechanized/armored tactics and equipment throughout the 1970's/80's. I was wondering if you had any good sources on the matter?
As for LRRPs this is pretty accurate but for MACV-SOG its off the mark in a number of regards. SOG teams typically kept their footprints to a minimum, and typically consisted of only two birds, the insert and an escort. For much of the war these were very tired H-34s flown by VNAF crews. Later UH-1Fs and Ps were used, depending on the mission, of which some were unbelievably hairy.
so, how about a more general review of vietnamese tactics during the war? or perhaps doing some introductions into why and how did vietnam win the war?.
you should do something on the Falklands war. loving the videos:)
thx, I did.
ooo ill have a look thanks for the response xD
Can you talk about the tactics of the yom kipper war please
Please make a video talking about the North Vietnamese strenght in men and equipment in 1964 before the Vietnam war
lol liked for "or if it floats your boat"
It would be cool to see you go over the 'Broken Arrow' code word during Vietnam. Maybe like the origins of it, how it was used, and times when it was used. BROKEN ARROW! I SAID BROKEN ARROW GODDAMMIT!
I will try to tell the pilots in my arma clan to watch this for tips, but i dont fly that often with them as i am in Bravo pluton and i am mechanized. Alpha (or Alfa as the company commander says).
The troop carriers never actually "land". They hover a couple of feet off the ground in case of mines.
10:06 LZ ..... I inmediatly thought of CONFLICT PS2
this will be useful when they open up the rising storm 2 beta
You should have spoken over a background track of Creedence Clearwater Revival's Fortunate Son.
my ex hates that i am interested in stuff like this. that's good tho - it's a good way to get her to stop yelling at me and go play with our child. not much else will make her play with the boy, and i hardly ever get a break, so thank you very much. very much indeed. also, have you seen the Great War channel? they'd probably like it if you did more stuff from World War 1. actually, they mentioned one of your videos a few months back (on their reddit page) and that's how i found your excellent channel.
thank you and also sorry to hear that. Glad that my videos also do some good. yeah, we are in contact with each other (with Flo). They also mentioned me in their video about British Uniforms.
no need to be sorry, i get to spend a lot of time with my child, and that's something that will not last forever. it's my ex who is missing out, not me. keep the videos coming, they're great and enjoyable to watch.
your videos are great! can you do some more on NATO and WARPAC forces in Europe during the late cold war (1980-1989)?
Will you ever do videos on the finnish wars against russia in ww2?
I've heard that the partial adoption of decitime is coming
The US Civil War would be an excellent topic to explore
I've always wondered, how doesn't the enemy hear the choppers from kilometers away, making a "stealth" landing impossible?
If they fly at low altitude it harder to hear them, and also to see them from the ground. And even if they happen to fly above your head you will not get many seconds to shoot them down until they have dissapeared when they fly fast at low speed.
Yes, you can hear a Huey at a good distance. But with forest cover it is difficult to tell where it is and in what direction it is moving. The low frequency sound makes pinpointing the source more difficult. If the helicopter is coming directly at you, as noted in the video, it is traveling at near 100mph (165kph) and from the time you hear it till it passes over you at tree top level will only be a few seconds. In addition there will be the noise from the support aircraft and picking out the insertion helicopter(s) is hard to do. This is the reason orbiting or making a second pass over the LZ is a no-no, again as noted in the video.
Aceroadholder Also (and I guess it wasn’t covered in the manual), the team-carrying slicks might themselves make a few false insertions before and after, further confusing observers. This would be in addition to false insertions mentioned in the video. Another thing not covered in the video regarding extractions: the extra body space could be (and was) used for prisoners snatched. Recon missions could be very opportunistic in their intelligence gathering.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRATATATATATATTATATATTATABRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Reloading!
can you do for jungle warfare and guerrilla warfare and what is the different on those two ? I wanna know more .. maybe this is the effect for being a war-freak xD
now two big questions. 1. What were the recon missions like? I would be very interesting to have a complete report about an acutal insertion, mission (in detail) and extraction process to have an idea of what we are talking about and compare it with the movies. 2. How effect were these missions in particular and how effective are military helicopters in general. I heard the opinion that they have a horrible ratio of cost/effectiveness and too expensive and too vulnerable to use. Do they ever make a real difference in armed combat or is it just better to stick with "real" ground troops and "real" aircraft instead of something in between.
*how effective are military helicopters in general* Everything is relative I guess. In a military budget I would give them a pretty low priority on my wish list compared to other weapon systems, I don't think they are the most bang for the buch even if I think ambulance helicopters could be valuble. The problems with helicopters in Vietnam were many. They couldn't carry a heavy load, and because of that their armour protection was crap and a single rifle bullet in the hydralics system could make this expensive machine go down along with men inside, they wasn't too suited to Vietnams weather and terrain, and when they landed their winds blow up wood and rocks and that shortened the lifespan if the propeller significantly. And even if the idea of putting a force behind the enemy and smash him in an encirclement sounds great in theory, it seems like not much was done in Vietnam. And helicopters aren't much flexible as one might think either, they can't just put down men and supplies everyware but they need landing zones. And then you often want it to be close enough to your own artillery. And when you found a spot, it could be dangerous to get there. Because the enemy aren't idiots, they know that there is only a very limited number of places where you are likely to land your helicopters. And as I said, it doesn't take much to shot down a helicopter. So therefore the Americans started using attack helicopters and prop planes to protect the landing and helicopters. But the Vietcong also learn the standardized procedures used by America in the video above. And when you finally put down some troops, its likely that it is a limited operation since the carrying capacity of the helicopters are limited. So what do I think about helicopters nowadys? I guess daisycutters have helped creating landing zones easier, I guess new technologies doesn't limit operations to daylight and good weather as much as before, and that helicopters are a bit stronger now so they could carry more. And instead of huey gunships, there are real attack helicopters nowadays. So helicopters have certainly improved. But on the other hand, fact remains that they are expensive and weak and could be easily shot down by cheap weapons. And the ability to carry heavy equipment is severly limited. So I don't think they are a war winning weapon.
thats what i thought
Meta, if you are you looking for a detailed account of these missions and just how crazy they were, look up "Phantom Warriors" book series. Written by a former LRRP'er (Long Range Recon & Patrol), they were the teams inserted using these tactics. Some of the missions included kidnapping enemy soldiers to gather intel, as well as ambushing numerically superior forces in order to call in heavy artillery and air support to destroy them.
The first and most important rule for a LRRP was , don't get spotted or located.
Keep the good work >) sry i cant help you with more :(
My memories of 1/9 CAV, 1CD, are somewhat different.
Mouse in the first second of the video, literally unwatchable.
It's fine.
This lack of precision is not befitting of a German person.
It's not a Mouse - its a Gerbil but you have to look very carefully. It's an easy mistake to make.
The use of helicopters and other rotating wing craft predates Vietnam. Flettner developed craft for anti-submarine warfare in 1940's. I believe the German Navy also trialled observation helicopters in the same period. By the Korean War H-19's were used for troop and material movement, with smaller craft, eg HL-4's, used for medevac. In the Malaysian Emergency the tough terrain made the use of helicopters for insertion of recce and fighting patrols essential, particulary by Uk and Aussie SAS teamsl. The Algerian Conflict also had helicopter use, I also seem to remember quite a few instances of them being used in various African conflicts n the 1960's. I would reccommend: Boyne, WJ editor, Air Warfare: An International Encyclopedia, Vol1 and: mhhv.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Helicopters-and-the-War-in-Vietnam-Air-Vice-Marshal-Bob-Treloar-AO-RAAF-rtd.pdf