HHT 3/17th Air Cav History
The 3rd Squadron of the 17th Air Cavalry was activated and
trained at Ft. Knox, Kentucky in 1966 before deploying to central South Vietnam
in the Fall of 1967. Morris Miller from HHT and John Dungan
of 'D' Troop served with the 3/17th Squadron in both places and helped
bring the unit to Vietnam. Click on their names and visit their websites for a
more personal and informative look at this period in our squadron's history.
The 3/17th's AO (Area of
Operations) was primarily III Corps and its Cambodian border with
occasional forays into Cambodia itself. The squadron was initially tasked with
a mission of scouting and gathering intelligence about their AO for whomever
needed it. That mission evolved dramatically over the course of the war and saw
the squadron taking on ever more roles and responsibilities.
The squadron was made up of a headquarters troop, three aviation troops, and an armored scout (infantry) troop. The aviation troops were: Alpha Troop, known as the "Silver Spurs" -- Bravo Troop, known as "The Burning Stogies" -- and Charlie Troop, known as "Charlie Horse." The armored scout troop was Delta Troop and were known as "The Blue Tigers." Headquarters Troop, known as HHT, was also an aviation troop, but with a much different mission than the other aviation troops. The Squadron was called "The Redhorse Squadron." A red Pegasus, the mythical winged-horse, served as our unit emblem. Our unit motto was: "If you ain't Cav, you ain't shit."
The aviation troops originally used "B" and "C" model UH-1 hueys (some for troop carrying, some as gunships) and the OH-6 loach. Through the course of the war the hueys were replaced with "D" and "H" models, the gunships were replaced by the cobra, and the 6's were supplanted for a while by the OH-58 Kiowa.
A common mission was to have a loach low level through the trees and try to draw fire. When the loach scouts made contact they dropped a willy-pete and called up to their big badass brothers circling high overhead. Don't mess with little brother. These missions were known as "Pink Teams" or "Big Brother/Little Brother Teams." The aviation troops would also do combat insertions of combat troops, known as "Eagle Flights." The huey gunships and cobras also provided close air support for ground troops. Many a ground troop in Vietnam cheered at the wop-wop sound of the Air Cav screaming in to their aid. Not quite a bugle call, but close enough.
Delta Troop had a similar mission to the
other 3/17th troops, gathering intelligence about the AO, but used very
different tactics. They were our ground troops and got up close and personal
with the enemy. They patrolled or set up listening posts out in the bush or
rode the roads of Vietnam in armed "gun-jeeps" attempting to draw
fire. Delta Troop often had its troopers scattered throughout the 3/17th AO and
assigned to numerous other units who needed their special aero-scout skills.
Delta Troop was highly mobile and seldom stayed in any one place long enough to
call it home.
Headquarters Troop tried to
coordinate and support all of its far-flung troops as best it could. Their
slicks often flew overhead of battles providing C&C, or at other times
serving as flare ships illuminating the battlefields. HHT also provided the
personnel, finance, medical, supply, and other necessary support critical to a
combat calvary squadron.
Any two troops of the 3/17th were
rarely ever stationed at the same place at the same time. All of the troops
changed their locations at least a couple of times. Some of the main places they
stayed were Dian, Phu Loi, Tay Ninh, Cu Chi, and Lai Khe. There were other
places. Individual troopers from the squadron, like RTO's, and scout squads
from Delta Troop, could be found working for other units throughout the
3/17th's AO.
The 3/17th did its job well in
Vietnam. The squadron as a whole earned several unit citations, as did the
individual troops in the squadron. Many, many awards for valor were earned by
the individual troopers of the 3/17th. Their stories can be found throughout
the 3/17th Air Cav websites.
The 3/17th began redeploying in
early 1972 as the american involvement in the war wound down. The final
remnants left for Schofield Barracks, Hawaii in April of 1972 to join the 25th
Infantry Division. Troopers with more than 6 months left on their tour were
reassigned to other units throughout Vietnam. Many of our aircraft went on to
see more battles when they were adopted by other Army aviation units still in
Vietnam.
If you find the history of the
3/17th interesting be sure to visit the various 3/17th webpages where you will
find extensive work has been done compiling that history. You'll find personal
stories, documents, maps, and links to other resources to help you understand
just what the 3/17th did in Vietnam, and maybe a better understanding of what
you personally added to that endeavor.
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