173rd Airborne Brigade Sky Soldiers: M113 Gavins in Combat in Vietnam 1/3

This rare, revealing documentary, The Sky Soldier details the Vietnam exploits of the 173rd Airborne Brigade which has a direct lineage back to the WW2 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment that jumped several times in the Pacific war against the Japanese at Nadzab, New Guinea under an aerial smokescreen

http://www.combatreform.org/smokescreen.htm

and several times to retake the Philippines with the assault on Corregidor island fortress:

http://www.combatreform.org/airbornewarfare.htm

The 173rd Airborne Brigade of the 1960s was better than the current force structure by being a completely self-contained, combined-arms force with its own company of M113A1 Gavin light tracked, infantry-carrying tanks to mount as needed a company of its own infantry to effect cross-country, armored maneuver in conjunction with dismounted infantry movements with great success in Vietnam. This is yet more proof that even light infantry narcissists can and should employ simple, light tracked, high-technology M113A3 and A4 Gavin tanks today embedded down to each infantry battalion by replacing the current vulnerable, immobile Humvee trucks in the Delta Weapons companies

http://www.combatreform.org/itmaneuversabattalion.htm

Had todays 173rd parachute jumped into northern Iraq with its own M113A3 Gavins in 2003 and fanned out immediately to block Saddam Husseins escape from Baghdad to Tikrit instead of waiting for 1st Infantry Division (M) Gavins to slowly airland, the rebellion that has cost us so far 4, 236+ dead and 26, 000+ wounded and $1 TRILLION could have been avoided