Page:John Banks Wilson - Maneuver and Firepower (1998).djvu/379

THE TOTAL ARMY The airborne division was the last type of division to be modernized. As in other divisions, the new tables provided an air defense artillery battalion, adjutant general and finance companies, and a materiel management center. The structure also continued to include a much debated light armor battalion, equipped with reconnaissance airborne assault vehicles, which had been assigned to the division in 1969. The most significant change, however, was the replacement of the supply company with a supply and service battalion, which provided the division with over 500 additional service personnel. The one remaining active airborne division, the 82d, with nine airborne infantry battalions and an armor battalion, adopted the new structure by the fall of 1974.14

After returning from Vietnam the 1st Cavalry Division had been given two primary missions: evaluate the interaction of armor, mechanized infantry, airmobile infantry, and air cavalry (armed helicopters); and fill the role of an armored division in the strategic reserve force. To cover the second mission, the division continued to use National Guard round-out units, which had originally designated for the 1st Armored Division—the unit that the 1st Cavalry Division replaced at Fort Hood in 1971. To evaluate the interaction of armor, air cavalry, and mechanized and airmobile infantry, the "First Team" was organized under new tables (Chart 42) that included resources for an air cavalry combat brigade (ACCB). This was not to be the type of brigade the Howze Board had suggested in 1962, which was to be a completely air-fighting unit, but one that troops in Vietnam and Europe had been testing under limited conditions as a combined arms assault unit, With the division combining armor, infantry, and air cavalry in one organization, Westmoreland coined the term "TRICAP" (triple capability) to describe it.15

During the evaluation of TRICAP two views emerged about the structure of an air cavalry combat brigade, Some planners saw it primarily as a separate antiarmor brigade with infantry and air cavalry integrated into attack helicopter squadrons without organic support. Others desired the brigade to be a strong, well-balanced, versatile organization with attack helicopter, infantry, reconnaissance, artillery, and combat support units that could perform a variety of missions, including an antitank role. During the summer of 1972 Vice Chief of Staff