I Corps

I think they were probably about the best the communists had other than the National Folks Army.

They were a crack force, okay? Up at I-Corps, which was within...

30 kilometers or so of uh of the 17th parallel um in in some places westmoreland had deployed the u.s marine corps from east to west basically to establish like looking at a map that would be the main line of resistance in event of a conventional assault okay and caisson was situated right there But there's nothing really at Quezon.

And it was also located as it was.

He was, he was like a champion wrestler, just, just an incredibly capable alpha kind of guy, you know, and a very tall guy with very dark skin, like not at all the way you think of Vietnamese, but in any event, Westmoreland, at least publicly, he suggested a pretty conventional geostrategic purpose behind defending Khe Sanh.

Proximity to the Laotian border and the path at Lao, there was never full operational integration between them and the Viet Cong, but there was enough.

That a concern over a potential invasion from Laos over land could potentially cut I-Corps in half and sabotage the ability to stage operations at scale there.

Also, Westmoreland claimed, at least when challenged by these media figures as well as opponents in Washington, you know, in uniform and on the civilian side, that, well, you know, if Khe Sanh falls, that'll allow the enemy ingress to the eastern coastal zones, you know, beyond, and that further compromises their ability to, you know, defend a potentially exposed flank.

So then I finally get the orders to what unit I'm going to be assigned to.

It's going to be the Americal Division up in the I Corps near July.

And so they have these fire bases that they have.

And so they drop you off at this fire base, and it's always a hill, because it's always elevated.