Word: rangers
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...airpower. For their part, senior South Vietnamese officers say that Laos has exposed some leadership problems even in crack ARVN units, and the lesson, they judge, is that Vietnamization has proceeded "too fast." Moreover, it may be six months or more before the seven first-rank ARVN Ranger, Marine and 1st Infantry battalions put out of action so far (another four battalions have endured moderate to heavy casualties) can be brought back to strength...
...sprinted out onto the oil-soaked pad. Zipped into his brown flame-resistant flight suit, he had already scrambled into the front seat of his Cobra by the time Copilot Ronald Lee Walters, 22, clambered into the rear. Within two minutes the Cobra was bound for Fire Base Ranger on a hilltop eight miles inside Laos, where South Vietnamese troops were trying to fight off a North Vietnamese attack...
...arrived over a scene of total chaos. As Hayden and Walters carved circles in the sky several thousand feet above the fire-scarred hilltop, they watched errant rockets from choppers already on the scene blazing into friendly and enemy positions alike. Other ships, including Medevac Hueys, milled around the Ranger landing zone but were unable to penetrate the murderous curtain of fire...
Hayden was lucky at Ranger, where, as he puts it, "nobody knew what was going on.'' In the week-long battle for the hilltop fire base, a number of U.S. helicopters were shot down, and more than a few of those that wobbled back to Khe Sanh were thoroughly shot up. Since the Laotian operation began on Feb. 8, the loss rate of U.S. helicopters -normally about one per 16,000 sorties -has quadrupled. So far during the Laos operation, Communist gunners have knocked out no fewer than 61 helicopters, about 10% of the fleet originally committed...
...need for firsthand reporting from Laos is pressing-especially in light of the longstanding unreliability of South Vietnamese military communiqués. Last week the Ranger battalion's losses were classified as "light," only to be revealed three days later as 100 killed, 145 wounded and 78 missing. South Viet Nam claimed a victory nonetheless, citing 623 North Vietnamese killed. U.S. reports were also suspect, and some information officers were openly scornful of what was being pumped out to the press. "There can't be a credibility gap," scoffed one, "when there's no credibility...