In an article written by Major General James Gavin of WWII paratrooper
fame from Harper's Magazine, May 1954 titled, "Cavalry… and I Don't
Mean Horses," he introduced the concept of air mobility. In one
paragraph he summed it up in a nutshell. "Where was the Cavalry?
...and I don't mean horses. I mean helicopters and light aircraft,
to lift Soldiers armed with automatic weapons and hand-carried light
anti-tank weapons, and also lightweight reconnaissance vehicles,
mounting anti-tank weapons the equal or better than the Russian
T-34s . . . If ever in the history of our armed forces there was
a need for the cavalry arm--airlifted in light planes, helicopters
and assault-type aircraft--this was it . . . Only by exploiting
to the utmost the great potential of flight can we combine complete
dispersion in the defense with the facility of rapidly massing for
the counterattack which today's and tomorrow's Army must possess."
3rd Platoon of A Company 511th Airborne 
A decade after General Gavin wrote his prophetic article, Sergeant
Art Miller and his fellow paratroopers, of A Company, 511th Airborne
Infantry, 11th Air Assault Division (Test), were making military
history as they trained with soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division
in the pine barrens of Fort Benning, Georgia. The history they were
making combined the swift mobility of the old-fashioned horse cavalry
with the lethal firepower of a modern Army Division. General Gavin's
vision along with an odd looking flying machine nicknamed the "Huey"
had evolved into a revolutionary new military doctrine called "Air
Mobility." It was to be a unit like no other. Air mobility would
free the army from the tyranny of terrain, and Gavin's dream of
troopers being able to swiftly attack enemy positions using air
assault tactics would become a reality. On July 1, 1965, the 11th
Air Assault and elements of the 2nd Infantry Division, were redesignated
the 1st Cavalry Division (Air Mobile). Sergeant Art Miller was now
a member
of A Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry (Abn) of the 1st Cavalry
Division (Air Mobile). On July 28, 1965, President Johnson, on a
nationally televised news conference, announced to America, "I have
today ordered to Viet-Nam the Air Mobile Division . . ." Within
a few weeks, Sergeant Miller and his buddies would be boarding troop
transports for deployment to The Republic of South Vietnam and war. Sergeant Art Miller
View the reorganized
and redesignated units of the 1st Cavalry Division (Air
Mobile)
 
Juan Fernandez, a rifleman with the third platoon recalled, "Reveille
was at 0300 hours that morning, and as we marched from our barracks,
I remembered how pitch black it was. We lined up in platoon formation
with all our gear and waited for the buses that would take us to
Savannah where we would board our troop transport, the USNS Geiger.
After a several hour bus trip, we arrived at dockside; some of the
battalion had arrived earlier and were in the process of walking
up the gangplank in single file, duffle bags on their shoulders.
According to the morning
report and roster typed by the company clerk, Specialist
4 Brandenburg, a total of 169 officers and men of A Company boarded
the ship that day. It took the entire day for the battalion to board,
and we set sail for Vietnam on the evening of August 20, 1965."
Juan
Fernandez
"On August 25, I celebrated my 18th birthday aboard the Gieger as
we steamed through the Panama Canal. We spent our days aboard the
ship in a fairly predictable routine. A lot of time was spent standing
in line waiting to get into the mess hall with an equal amount of
time spent standing in line waiting for a turn in the latrine. In
between standing in lines, we had lots of PT and classes on combat
tactics and even had several opportunities to fire our weapons at
targets towed from the stern of the ship. On September 5, we docked
at Pearl Harbor and the entire platoon was able to take a much appreciated
shore leave.  It
was great to be back on dry land, if only for a few hours. The day
after leaving Hawaii we were told we had a new company commander,
Captain Roger L. McElroy. He had replaced Captain Tom Forman, our
very popular CO. (Shore leave in Hawaii)
Apparently, Captain Forman had enjoyed his shore
leave too much and had been involved in a barroom brawl, and much
to the dismay of most of A Company, had been relieved of his command.
The voyage continued without further incident until September 13,
when we ran into some rough weather and spent several days being
tossed about by a typhoon. We arrived at the island of Guam on September
16, and once again we were able to leave the boat and stretch our
legs before continuing on to Vietnam. My favorite memory of the
voyage, recounts Fernandez, was the time I spent standing at the
front of the ship and watching the dolphins and flying fish swim
and fly through the big waves created by the Gieger's bow. It was
a wonderful thing to watch".
 On
September 21, 1965, after 31 days at sea, the USNS Gieger dropped
anchor off the port city of Qui Nhon, Republic of South Vietnam.
The troopers of A Company were issued a combat load of ammunition
and climbed aboard World War II type landing craft for the short
ride to the beach. "I remember the heat," recalls trooper Bill Garlinger.
"It must have been 110 degrees. We landed without incident, and
were all sort of milling about, very curious about everything. There
was a large group of Vietnamese workers loading stuff on trucks,
and a trooper next to me said that he was glad that they had issued
us ammo with all the Vietnamese on the beach. I turned to him and
said that they were friendlies, they were on our side. The soldier
smiled, and asked me how I could tell. I was suddenly glad I was
carrying a loaded M-16."
 
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