U.S. Army 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) Becomes Operational

October 1, 1965 - October 31, 1965

Overview

The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)—one of the first two full U.S. Army divisions to deploy to Vietnam—becomes operational at An Khe, in the Vietnamese Central Highlands. The division of 16,000 men is equipped primarily with CH-47 Chinook and UH-1 “Huey” helicopters. It is the first major airmobile unit in the U.S. Army and is capable of conducting rapid combat maneuvers across all types of terrain.1

¹Graham A. Cosmas, MACV: The Joint Command in the Years of Escalation, 1962–1967, United States Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2006), 245; John M. Carland, Stemming the Tide, May 1965–October 1966, United States Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 2000), 54–56, 58–59, 61–63, 66; Spencer C. Tucker, ed. The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History (2nd edition; Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011), 18. See also Shelby L. Stanton, Anatomy of a Division: The 1st Cav in Vietnam (New York: Presidio Press, 1987).