The U.S. Army's Involvement
Fearing the spread of communism the US decided to aid the South Vietnamese forces. The cold war introduced a general fear of communism and was made a known enemy via media and propaganda. This common enemy was able to bring Americans together through support of the space race and instilling an overall sense of pride in one's country. The idea of more countries falling into communist government was not a welcome thought for American Government Officials and the need to step in was determined. The United States Army had been engaging in small skirmishes for a few months before the battle of the Ia Drang but was unable to gather information on the enemies whereabouts. With a solid lead on the enemies location two battalions of air cavalry were assembled and put into action. The US primarily wanted to test their new tactic and eliminate a strong enemy force in the area. The US planned on a relatively easy victory by bringing in a superior number of troops in comparison to the enemies suspected numbers. The U.S. also thought easy victory based on air superiority that was able to effectively and quickly respond and having an artillery force that could fire a multitude of shells with extreme precision with quick response times. Aerial rockets from helicopters also offered another means of heavy fire power if necessary Although there were not going to be any heavy armor on the ground, the light infantry forces would have superior fire power to call in when ever requested by radio. Colonel Moore was put in charge of all the ground operations and was confident in his men and equipment but sighted one major flaw in the plan; the helicopter tactic would leave a small number of troops to defend the landing zone by themselves while the next run for troops was being made. Moore was also put at an extreme disadvantage with the unexpected and overwhelming number of enemy forces. The US made this battle one of the first in which the media entered the field and covered the battle. The use of media allowed for numerous amounts of actual battle footage of the events that occurred at Ia Drang. As far as strategy goes, Colonel Moore was unable to implement much of his previously set up strategy due to how quickly events went south for American forces and being on the defense for the majority of the battle.