Page:John Banks Wilson - Maneuver and Firepower (1998).djvu/348

326 Shortly thereafter, the Army's buildup plan went awry. Army Chief of Staff General Johnson had requested his staff to consider forming a divisional-type brigade (i.e., without the supporting units common to a separate brigade) to replace the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, which was programmed for deployment to Vietnam in early 1966. Resources scheduled for one of the remaining brigade authorizations could then be used for the Hawaiian unit. Another proposal, calling for organizing both the remaining brigades in MeNamara's expansion program in Hawaii, was presented to the Army Staff. However, the Army had activated the 199th Infantry Brigade at Fort Benning, Georgia, on 1 June 1966 in response to a request from Westmoreland for a brigade to protect the Long Binh-Saigon area. Units in Europe were tasked to furnish the cadre for the brigade, which fielded three light infantry battalions. In less than six months it deployed to Vietnam.

Having authority to organize only one more brigade, the Army activated the 11th Infantry Brigade, a pre-World War II element of the 6th Infantry Division, in Hawaii on 1 July 1966. Behind the selection of the 11th was the assumption that the 6th would be the next division to be activated, The 11th consisted of three infantry battalions, a support battalion, a reconnaissance troop, and a military police company. Because of a shortage of personnel and equipment, the brigade lacked its field artillery battalion, engineer company, and signal platoon authorized for an independent brigade. But despite their absence, training began and the missing units were eventually organized. Rather than remaining in Hawaii as planned, the 11th Infantry Brigade deployed to South Vietnam in December 1967 in answer to an ever-growing need for forces there.

As the Army's involvement in Southeast Asia deepened, more units moved to Vietnam. As noted, the 25th Infantry Division was alerted for deployment in December 1965, and at that time General Johnson, Army chief of staff, directed that two new infantry battalions be added to it. However, almost immediately after their organization began, the battalions were inactivated and replaced with two existing battalions from Alaska, a means of speeding the departure of the division. When the division deployed in the spring of 1966 it fielded one mecha-