How U.S. Air Cavalry Evolved in 60 Years

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Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
0:55 - 1960s (ROAD / Vietnam)
8:11 - 1970s
8:51 - 1980s (AOE)
11:50 - 1990s
12:35 - 2005-15 (Modular Force)
16:02 - 2015-
Sources:
• FM 1-15 "Aviation Reference Data" (September 1977)
• FM 1-112 "Attack Helicopter Operations" (April 1997)
• FM 1-114 "Air Cavalry Squadron and Troop Operations" (February 2000)
• FM 1-116 "Air Cavalry/Reconnaissance Troop" (February 1991)
• FM 3-04 "Army Aviation" (July 2015)
• FM 3-04 "Army Aviation" (April 2020)
• FM 3-04.1 "Aviation Tactical Employment" (April 2016)
• FM 3-04.126 "Attack Reconnaissance Helicopter Operations" (February 2007)
• FM 17-36 C1 "Armored Cavalry Platoon and Troop, Air Cavalry Troop and Divisional Armored Cavalry Squadron" (May 1963)
• FM 17-36 "Divisional Armored and Air Cavalry Units" (October 1965)
• FM 17-37 "Air Cavalry Squadron" (June 1969)
• TC 1-400 "Brigade Aviation Element Handbook" (April 2006)
• "Infantry Reference Data, ROAD" (November 1962)
• "Infantry Reference Data" (June 1967)
• ST 1-100-1 "Reference Data for Army Aviation" (May 1973)
• ST 17-1-1 "Armor Reference Data in Two Volumes, Volume I, The Army Division" (FY 1977)
• ST 17-1-1 "Armor Reference Data in Two Volumes, Volume I, The Army Division" (1978-1979)
• ST 17-1-1 "Armor Reference Data in Three Volumes, Volume I, The Army Division" (1981)
• ST 17-1-1 "Armor Reference Data in Three Volumes, Volume III, Division 86 Organizations" (1981)
• FKSM 71-8 "Armor/Cavalry Reference Data in Four Volumes" (May 2004)
• FKSM 71-8 "Armor/Cavalry Reference Data: Brigade Combat Team" (November 2005)
• FKSM 71-8 "Armor/Cavalry Reference Data: Support Brigades" (May 2010) particularly in reference to the CAB
• TOE 17-108E (Modified) "Air Cavalry Troop (Modified), Armored Cavalry Squadron, Mechanized Division or Infantry Division" (January 1967): d-1-10thcav-vietnam.com/toepg1...
• TOE 17-98T "Air Cavalry Troop, Air Cavalry Squadron, Airmobile Division" (June 1969)
• TOE 17285F000 "Division Cavalry Squadron (XXI), Heavy Division"
• MTOE "2d Squadron, 17th Cavalry"
• "Operational Report - Lessons Learned, Headquarters, 164th Aviation Group, Period Ending 31 Oct 1968" (November 1968)
• Bieneman, P. (2020) "Charlie Troop 1st Squadron 9th Cavalry Regiment: The Deicision made November 3, 1965"
• Carland, J. (2000) "Combat Operations: Stemming the Tide, May 1965 to October 1966"
• Donnelly, W. (2007) "Transforming an Army at War: Designing the Modular Force, 1991-2005"
• Hudges, K. (2017) "U.S. Army Helicopter Evolution during Vietnam War, Part II". U.S. Army.
• Romjue, J. (1997) "The Army of Excellence: The Development of the 1980s Army"
• Russell, M. (2004) "Is The Current Army Aviation Maintenance Strategy Efficient or Effective in the Post Cold War, Non-Linear Battlefield Era of Expeditionary Force Projection?"
• Stockfish, J.A. "The 1962 Howze Board and Army Combat Developments". RAND.
• Weinert, R.P. (1991) "History of Army Aviation - 1950-1962". TRADOC.
• Wills, D. (2015) "Air Cav battalion reflags to new, historic unit". DVIDS.
• 6th Cavalry Museum: www.6thcavalrymuseum.org/6-6-...
• 82nd Aviation Association: www.82ndavn.org/ourpresent.html
• 1st Cavalry Division Order of Battle history: www.first-team.us/tableaux/ap...

[@BattleOrder]

Check out our merch shop for new prints and apparel: battleorder.org/shop Tag me with your BO merch on Twitter (battle_order) or Instagram (battle.order) if you want to be feature in a video. Also, I've optimized and re-uploaded much of the organizational reference data I cite onto my website's Archive section: www.battleorder.org/archive

[@farrazaulia2917]

Great video man

[@recoil53]

Thank-you for this video. I had asked a couple times specifically for this. Most of what I could find on the internet only covered the Viet Nam days and not changes made.

[@admiraltiberius1989]

Id love a comparison between US Air Cav/Air mobile doctrine in the Cold War and their closest Soviet counterparts.

[@leonardochristophe29]

Vdv heli assault?

[@jamalwilburn228]

Don't get Air Cavalry mixed up with Air Mobile. Air Cavalry is the use of helicopters in reconnaissance and scouting. Air Mobile is getting troops, equipment, and supplies to the battle though helicopters and morphed into Air Assualt. It's a safer and more precesise way of getting troops on to the battle quickly rather than parachuting

[@admiraltiberius1989]

@jamalwilburn228 that's why I put the slash mark between the two. But thank you for the clarification.

[@BorgCoitus]

​@@admiraltiberius1989soviet doctrine was quite a bit different. Air mobile forces weren't theorized to be used to secure objectives like airbases, bridges and the like, but to be dropped in the operational depth of NATO formations, and used as spoiling forces against counterattacks aimed at stopping Soviet Army thrusts. Where NATO air mobile forces were expected to drop some distance behind lines and take key objectives, Soviet drops were much shallower and a closely operating part of the deep battle offensive.

[@admiraltiberius1989]

@@BorgCoitus excellent summary, thank you very much.

[@gallendugall8913]

I worked with some air cav guys during Haiti, yes, I know no one remembers Haiti. They refused to explain to me how they trained the horses to fly a helicopter.

[@justachipn3039]

🤣🤣

[@ericdeer5887]

Apples

[@leef8433]

My dad worked with a guy who went to Haiti as a Seabee

[@uku4171]

@@ericdeer5887 The first thing they teach you in air cavalry - "The horses love your SAC". Sugar, apples, carrots.

[@ericdeer5887]

@@uku4171 we leaned that the Warrant Officer pilots could be trained with cigarettes and coffee.

[@FirstDagger]

I really love those new isometric graphics, really puts the size of the Apache into scale.

[@1masonhenry]

It’s a 20,000lb turd

[@tommy_boy2472]

Alot smaller in person than you'd think

[@MrSharkmissle]

They’re about 58’ long and around 17-20000 lbs fully loaded. Also they are super finicky and maintenance heavy.

[@geodkyt]

The Vietnam era1st Cav "Air Cav" was really an "Aerodragoon" formation. But most folks don't understand the critical differences between "Cavalry" and "Dragoons" or "Mounted Infantry". Heck, an IFV platoon, fighting mounted, is closer to Cavalry than the Vietnam era air mobile. 1st Cav basically fought as airborne infantry, only with "two way" parachutes in the form of the helicopters. The post-2015 Air Cav formation actually does "Cavalry stuff", as opposed to "Dragoon stuff".

[@recoil53]

The original Dragoons, back in the day of horses, were supposed to be infantry that got around by horse. But calvary was more glamorous than infantry and horses associated with nobility and so they became a light calvary.

[@benlewis4241]

@@recoil53 Well also in peacetime regular dragoons got very good at riding horses, so it was a shame to waste those hardwon skills as infantry. Training horsemastership and battlefield horse riding took years, are you going to provide some amateurs horses to be cavalry over long service professionals?

[@recoil53]

@@benlewis4241 Only infantry defends and holds ground. That's the value of horse mounted infantry, to quickly seize ground and hold it until reinforcements arrive. It's like paratroopers on a tactical level before airplanes. And all that was lost.

[@benlewis4241]

@@recoil53 Problem is, scouting and mobile shock were really hard to train for and is often in very short supply, particually after long periods of peace, so in the case of a sudden war dragoons often found themselves pressed into those roles. The only place where you see mounted infantry persisting is areas with a massive middle class equestrian culture, who cannot afford full size millitary horses. Of course after a long period of war it is a different ketttle of fish

[@hedgehog3180]

Arguably they're more like horse archers (I mean longbow is literally in the name), which would make modern highly survivable attack helicopters like the Apache akin to an Eastern Roman Cataphract. Nikephoros Phokas would be proud.

[@196cupcake]

Vietnam era "pink" teams were basically "hunter/killer" teams, right? I remember a History Channel documentary in the '09's on the Vietnam war, and they talked about how the cobra would stay high and they would send the scout helicopter to go low, trying to draw fire, and then the cobra would attack after the enemy had given away their position.

[@BattleOrder]

Yes

[@samuelhowie4543]

They also used a heavy team with 2 gunships up high in areas they knew were "hot".

[@flyoptimum]

Air Cavalry pilot here. Just a minor correction on combat leadership roles within a troop. The troop commander and platoon leaders are administratively in charge of the troop and their respective platoons. They're involved in managing maintenence, health and welfare of troops and pilots, accountability of property, mission planning, and generally ensuring the troop remains a properly resourced and well-managed organization. They are generally not, however, combat leaders when the aircraft are in the air. The platoon leaders are amongst the most junior pilots in the troop. Most of them do not make Pilot in Command (PC), who is the senior pilot within a crew responsible for the safe operation of the aircraft, until right before we lose them to take on a staff position. Increasingly, though not by design, troop commanders come back from the career course having not yet made PC, and they themselves are junior pilots within their own aircraft. Even with the commanders that have made PC, they are typically junior PCs and will not make Air Mission Commander (AMC), the pilot responsible for the safe and effective employment of all aircraft within a flight, until later in their command tenure. So with all of that said, warrant officers make up vast majority of the PCs within a troop. The senior warrants, a few W3s and sometimes a W4, are the majority, and certainly the most experienced, AMCs availible to the troop. They will be the ones tasked with leading the aircraft in the fight. None of this is a criticism of the professionalism and skill of the regular officers, as they are very often impressive individuals. Flying and leading aircraft in combat is simply a very particular skill-set that takes a long time to master, and they are at a significant disadvantage compared to the warrants. This is because the warrant officers have uninterrupted time with the aircraft to grow their skill-set, and the regular officers will be pulled away frequently to take up staff positions and other assignments to broaden their experience so they may more effectively run aviation organizations at more senior levels of command.

[@edgaraquino2324]

Yes...excellent....

[@jamesscott2894]

Fascinating! Would def love to see more Army Aviation, I know they've reorganized the UH-60 and CH-47 a fair bit recently (like how do the fancy EH-60 and HH-60 fit in nowadays? What about the UH-72 Lakota?) Looking forward to the next video, the graphics and production have been stellar lately!

[@JS-gg3kh]

Lakotas are just trainers and state side light SAR / light utility.

[@dianapennepacker6854]

I'm more interested in how the Valor is going to shake things up. You have an amazing aircraft that can out run and out range basically all your legacy aircraft. So does that mean there are going to be missions without others? I haven't even seen a concept of what an attack version will look like. I am told will happen eventually unless they decide to make an entirely new aircraft. Hope it goes the Cobra route though! Gut the interior and load it with turrets. Basically a slimmer version with the standard attack helicopter set up.

[@Bilbs654]

There are no more EH-60s

[@1cavscout160]

I was an AO (left seat) in an OH-58 in the 1st Cav in ODS. We flew with Cobras performing reconnaissance and calling targets for the Cobras to shoot. Great video!

[@SuperDudewithaface]

I was in 3ID's Apache battalion during the transition period. Interestingly enough our Kiowa unit didn't adopt Apaches, they straight up disbanded. And then shortly after they cased their colors, we were reflagged with their old unit name and lineage. I believe an Apache unit in Europe was given our old Aviation unit name and lineage, but I'm not sure if that was a new battalion or another reflag.

[@BattleOrder]

Yeah I kept it with a simple explanation of the transition because there was a lot of attack helicopter bns reflagging as Cav, other battalions disbanding and being replaced by other reflagged units or completely new ones, etc. Got a little bit confusing in the original draft

[@THEBOSS-xi2oj]

That happened to my unit. 2-17 CAV, 101 ABN. I cried like a little girl when they got rid of the Kiowas.

[@MrSharkmissle]

If you’re talking about 3-17 and 1-3, It was a reflag.

[@spudnikflyover1227]

Technically speaking, the air assault elements were closer to dragoons than to actual cavalry.

[@jasonrusso9808]

Like real Dragoons from the 18th & 19th Century. How dissimilar are they from Uhlans, Hussars, Cuirassier, Conquistador, Arquebusier or Schwartz Reiter?

[@hedgehog3180]

Actually they were cataphracts.

[@jasonrusso9808]

@@hedgehog3180 their weaponry was quite pussy.

[@higgs923]

It might be fun for you to touch on the history of the USMC's vertical envelopment initiatives.

[@Oxide_does_his_best]

WE'RE SO BACK. YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

[@DevonLv]

It’d be cool to see a comparison between USMC Light Armored Reconnaissance and US Army Armored Cavalry

[@ktiger1766]

The Marines LAV is light & fast for recon, but the Army ACR is heavy & more fire power with tanks and cfv

[@ktiger1766]

Marines is no match to the Army recon level because without tanks 😮😅

[@armynurseboy]

Army armored cav did recon by fire. Essentially moving forward until you ran into the enemy and got into a meeting engagement. ACRs were designed to be able to hold their own in a stand-up fight until they could turn the fight over to the follow-on elements (usually an Armored Division).

[@armynurseboy]

​@@ktiger1766yup. Army ACRs were designed to find the enemy, pick a fight, pin them in place, then turn the fight over to a bigger element to finish them off.

[@CrowDawg11]

@@ktiger1766 Marine LAR is not designed to go toe-to-toe with a full-scale, heavy armored formation like army ACR. LAR is just that - recon. LAR is much closer to the traditional definition and role of 'cavalry' - reconnaissance, screening, raiding, and harassment - than army ACR formations, which are essentially just armored units that the army has decided to label as 'cavalry'. Of course the ACR is much more capable in a stand-up fight - LAR is not meant to be getting into a stand-up fight with a heavy unit like that.

[@Gator-357]

My dad and uncle were Air Cav/ Air Mobile repectively. Dad flew C model Hueys and uncle Charlie got transported by the slicks. I was armored Cav support with the 96th TC/ 533rd CSSB /1st Cavalry Div. during Desert Storm, followed the armor across the desert with fuel trucks because they outran the supply lines.

[@ejn1011]

As a current LTC who spent my LT days as a 58D driver and an Air Cav PL, this video is such a breath of fresh air. The use of doctrine and operational terms and graphics...chef's kiss! I even saw one of my helicopter (Tail 975) and my unit (2/6 CAV) in this video! The nostalgia is real! Thanks for putting in the work to get this right.

[@shorttimer874]

In 1971 I was in D Troop, the ground troop, of 8/1 Air Cav Squadron, part of the 194th Armored Brigade at Ft Knox. We had 8 jeeps per platoon with pintle mounted M-60s, the only time I remember the lowest ranking man on the vehicle had the main weapon, and boy it could get cold winter time standing up above the windshield, another jeep for a 106 recoilless rifle, and a 5/4 truck with a 82mm mortar plus the platoon Sgt. I would guess there was another jeep for the platoon leader but really do not remember. Most of the time we supported the officer`s Armor School, supplying bodies for runners and such, using the mortars for artillery practice, and jumping out of the squadron`s Hueys to demonstrate insertions. That winter we convoyed over to the area surrounding Ft Bragg for an exercise with the graduating Green Beret class. Damn cold, the only time our troop had contact was in a pre-arraigned ambush, but I understand the choppers had a lot of fun following the trails in the snow.

[@1337flite]

If you ain't cav- you ain't. Cav - real cav (ground or air) i.e. units designed for recon, screening, covering force and the like - are my favourite units, being combined arms teams with all arms organic. I really liked the organisation of 70s and 80s cav squadrons with blue teams and ground troops. The ultimate in combined arms. Thanks for another great video - I love your work. When I was a 15 year old army cardet (junioer ROTC??) I used to spend my spare time researching and dreaming up unit TOEs. This is a topic that has been near and dear to me for a long time (pre Internet).

[@ga3521]

That always fascinated me. A 2LT in a cav platoon for much of the cold war era would have had at least a pair of tanks, a mech infantry squad, several jeeps with scouts and a mortar section under his command. Other branches wouldn't get that kind of experience until company command several years later.

[@ktiger1766]

Armor Cav is the combined the tanks, troops armor fighting vehicle, mortar tracks together plus squadron artillery & a tanks company support and have a engineer company too, with the air cav chopper scouting at the front plus have a regimental supply and support maintenance units is the combined multiple arms troop's, smaller size than any combat brigade!

[@armynurseboy]

​@@ktiger1766yup. An armored cav squadron is essentially a mini armored brigade. An ACR was essentially a mini armored division.

[@tylerlawlerDEVGRU]

Cav Patch is the biggest patch the Army has to offer.

[@mr_beezlebub3985]

2ID is also a large patch

[@shawlacy634]

Great video - full of information as usual! But my pet peeve is the pronunciation of "cavalry" as "calvary". It took me a while to listen past my pet peeve. 😅

[@kiligan713]

The fact it would sometimes change in the same sentence drove me up the wall. Glad to see I wasn't the only one.

[@roboanalogtom]

I was in the mortar section of A troop 1/7 air cav (reconnaissance), 1 cav div in 1988. The other troops were choppers. A troop was 19 deltas with the M3 but everyone was often 19 delta dismount (I did more FTX time like at the NTC as 19D rather than 11C). The helicopter rides were a lot of fun!

[@diasulhaqisya954]

helicopter helicopter

[@Paddman]

i literally was wishing for a video about this from you yesterday... thank you so much

[@Balrog2005]

Oh yes, this channel is the best ! Thanks for all the good work.

[@sapprdaddy]

Thank you for your hard work doing the research for this presentation.

[@WeebSpecGaming]

Currently in 6-17 cav. very cool to see how our 3x 2-ship setups came into doctrine. Great work!

[@sanderstensrud7839]

Yet another great video! I was wondering how the channel and your interest in the field came about?

[@BasGamer-zu4rl]

Another super interesting video, thanks a lot.

[@Brice0525]

It would be great to see the Armored Cavalry Regiment breakdown. Fascinating multi-role unit with a lot of combat history

[@armynurseboy]

They already did a breakdown.

[@taun856]

I served in the 6th ACCB (Air Combat Cav Bde) at Ft Hood in the mid 1970's. It was an experimental unit at the time, used to develop Tactics and Doctrine. Though I was in the Signal Troop and spent most of my time there out in the field working from a RATT rig (Radio Teletype). That was one reason I loved being in Signal Corps you could be assigned to literally any type of unit, anywhere in the world.

[@patrickbec68]

Correct and it continued experimenting with new tactics and doctrine after it received its first Apache squadron in 1986.

[@nemo7840]

Actually dope video, i can't find much vids on this topic

[@LEWTSPEC]

Would it be possible to get a second video showing how many logistics crew and vehicles were attached to these units for fuel, ammo, and others?

[@anubix9011]

Great video! Just came from 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, FT Cavazos (Hood), Texas. I was in the Air Calvary Squadron 7-17. You mentioned the Squadron as 4-227 it was redesignated around 2015-2016 I think. The number you gave for the Air Cavalry squadron was off though. At least for 7-17 I don’t want to go into detail of the number of apaches for 7-17, but 1st Battalion 227 our heavy attack battalion has 24.

[@christophersims7060]

Always love the helicopters! This was just a so informative! Great picture of American Aviation, thank you you've got a new subscriber!

[@AviatorTiger]

Great evo vid!!

[@archiegeorge3969]

Great video! I especially liked the soundtrack.

[@BattleOrder]

Patreon monies going to Epidemic Sound

[@13thravenpurple94]

Great video 👍 Thank you 💜

[@farrazaulia2917]

Cool video man

[@joshfuss777]

Really looking forward to the armored cavalry video. Girlfriend's dad was in 3/11 ACR watching Fulda

[@dongraf1222]

Great overview

[@bronzecossack]

Hi nice video! Could you maybe do a video about training? The tactics and maneuvers the air cav do?

[@edgaraquino2324]

Good video! Thanks!

[@niccosalonga9009]

I was imagining horses with wings.

[@user-nl4ir7cx5r]

As you should. Genetically engineered herds of Pegasus chimeras may sound highly unethical, but think of how cool it would be

[@ktiger1766]

🦄😂

[@ChasRize]

In my last unit in we were the 2nd combat avaition brigade and under that was 3-2Gsab (general support avaition battalion) 4-2 assault recon battalion 602nd avaition battalion and 5-17 air cav squadron and we also had 2 other ground units on different bases so learning about this is actually interesting to me

[@seanmurphy7011]

8:57 - weirdly, when there is no "M" we say "Tee, Oh, and Ee", when the "M" is present we say, "M-Toe". Weird, but true. 10:18 - 1-1 CAV of 1st Armored Division (Germany) still had AH-1s in 1996 when they transitioned to AH-64s (while deployed to Operation Joint Endeavor).

[@BattleOrder]

The Army said put those toes away

[@indianajon7980]

Have just found this channel and love it! Thanks for the great content it's really interesting and I love that you include the various models used and not just a generic 'huey' or whatever. Question. When you discuss the introduction of the Cobra you show it with a crew of three and I was wondering why? Did they have a designated ground based crew chief or similar? Thanks again.

[@BattleOrder]

When a third person displayed next to a two-man aircraft, it's a ground crew chief assigned to that specific helicopter. On Hueys and stuff the Crew Chief also flew in the back

[@indianajon7980]

@@BattleOrder that's brilliant thank you. I did wonder if it was something like that but didn't realise there was one specifically designated but it makes sense thank you.

[@BattleOrder]

@@indianajon7980 I think at one point they stopped pairing specific crew chiefs with specific helicopters in the TOEs, but a crew chief would generally be responsible for a specific helicopter regardless

[@andrewpizzino2514]

Wonder how well air assault would have done in an 80s Cold War scenario. The Army lost many helicopters against light infantry in Vietnam. Against the Soviet Union they would have faced mobile, modern air defenses.

[@nobodyherepal3292]

Pretty well I’d say, as a lot of those air defense systems have turned out not to be all they were worked up to be.

[@andrewpizzino2514]

@@nobodyherepal3292 hopefully. And the Black Hawks and Apache’s were certainly more survivable

[@TheTrueAdept]

@@nobodyherepal3292 Think Serbia when discussing the effectiveness of WARPAC air defense, not Iraq, not modern Russia, Serbia.

[@nobodyherepal3292]

@@TheTrueAdept you mean the same Serbia that was bombed by NATO all the way to the negotiating table?

[@TheTrueAdept]

@@nobodyherepal3292 by basically going where the air defense wasn't and hitting civilian targets. Serbia's IADS won that conflict as it only lost ammunition and a handful of radars; they pretty much still had everything despite what NATO attempted. NATO Airpower got its ass largely handed to it. NATO only 'won' via terror bombing and backpeddling _hard._

[@geewee1geewee197]

Great video again! I've only recently discovered your channels and they are a gem! I've been kind binge watching them, lol. I have a bit off topic question: how many soldiers are in a BEB and BSB in the current brigade combat team organization? I've searched everywhere but couldn't find an answer! Thank you and keep up the good work.

[@BattleOrder]

If you go on my website battleorder.org/archive under the Archive page and 21st century, there’s these things called MCOE Supplementals. The 2016 ones will show how many people are in the BEB and BSB

[@geewee1geewee197]

@@BattleOrder Thank you!

[@SHVRWK]

I see you used the helicopter mission soundtrack from MOH 2010 haha, really appreciate that detail.

[@parryyyt8479]

Maybe something about Polish ariborn and air cavalry? We have very little of them but the mix of NATO and our own structure is interesting how every airborne battalion have it's own specialization (6bpd have recon, 18bpd have firefighters, 16bpd have eod and more) Whole equipment and tactics are interesting

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video...👍

[@justnotg00d]

I like the video. Aerial Scout (19D15F) in OH-58 Helicopter, Combat Aviation Troop, C&C Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment 1977-1981 Feucht Army Airfield, Nuremberg Germany. Brings back memories.

[@umami0247]

Was in 7/17 6th air cav at Ft hood till 82. Never learned what happened to the unit they we’re saying it was to be moved to Germany but haven’t heard if that happened. Crewed both the OH-58 and a Huey. Had a great time working on and flying.

[@rodneygillmeister8003]

I was with the 1st. Cav. BRAVO 2/20th ARA ( BLUE MAX) in Vietnam for 2 tours. We had 12 AH1G's cobras.

[@paulsnickles2420]

Very interesting video

[@Blank27]

As someone who spent 4.5yrs in a Kiowa unit with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, I can share some insight into one of the units you mentioned. 1-10 from the 10th Mountain Division was originally designated as (iirc) 3-3 from 3 ID and had relocated and switched places with 3-17 Cav (my unit) which was originally based in Ft Drum. In a 3CAB's deployment to Afghanistan in 2009/10, the Battalion/Squadron level units were all broken down into task forces which consisted of a company/troop of OH-58, AH-64, UH-60, and CH-47 along w/ HQ, maintenance, and supply Co/Troop

[@zee7056]

I'm curious to see what this all looks like when the V-280 Valor enters service.

[@jona.scholt4362]

This channel is insanely good; great production, all content. No idea how it doesn't have more subs.

[@jackbloomer1334]

I like how they come up with all these crazy names to reduce the amount of helicopters used

[@SuperDudewithaface]

I know you did WW2 Navy landing parties awhile back, and saw on your site breakdowns of some Army sea transport units that operate ships. Ever thought about doing breakdown vids on WW2 USN/USCG ship crews or weird modern units like the CG's Port Security Units? I'd certainly be interested.

[@SuperDudewithaface]

I'd also love to see comparison of different military police formations and a discussion of their different battlefield roles. I know the US Army uses them for "maneuver enhancement" aka route reconnaissance and clearance, convoy/route security, and of course base security. Curious to see if other countries stick to that script, especially in those MP formations that are their own branches (French Gendarmerie, Italian Carabinieri, etc.)

[@BattleOrder]

Possibly although I haven't seen that many good ship's complement lists. The only ones I've personally seen online were like destroyer escorts and LSTs during WW2

[@SuperDudewithaface]

@@BattleOrder Yeah unfortunately I've seen that too. The war years were too chaotic I suppose, and many ships took complements much bigger than they were originally designed for. Best one can hope for is a ship that served before the war maybe having a good publicly available list, and just guestimating where the extra men would've gone in wartime.

[@alanaldpal950]

So, in summary…. The main take away is that as soon as they complete a re-organization…… they start another re-organization

[@Mephistopholies]

Good show.

[@christianpethukov]

The one fact that stood out to me is that the Apache units only have some airframes equipped with Longbow, when I thought they all had them.

[@flyoptimum]

It would be overkill as one fire control radar can transmit targets to the entire team. Also understand everything on a helicopter is a trade-off. If you add the the radar, you have to give up something in terms of weapons and fuel to allow for the extra weight. There are also some seperate configurations that cannot coexist with the radar that bring differend capabilities to the flight. Having a mix of aircraft configurations makes the team more versitle.

[@christianpethukov]

@flyoptimum Essentially one Apache becomes the scout and that's augmented with the drone buddies. I like that!

[@schlirf]

Blues Platoon, C troop 2/10 ACS in Fort Ord for about a year and a half, which brings me to my point: How can we use AIR CAV methods and doctrine for Drones? Consider the moving parts of an AC unit: Command, Logistics, Red (Gunships), White(Recon) and Blues(mobile lift...and beer). Can this type of organization be copy pasted to future Drone units, or will other methods be needed?

[@Fang70]

As of right now, not all of those missions. UAVs are best at recon and surveillance missions. Some, such as the MQ-1C and MQ-9, have some strike capability, but that is more to quickly strike at targets of opportunity while they wait for heavier attack aircraft to get within range to finish the job. In the future I could see UAVs augmenting gunships as flying missile trucks that assist the manned gunship. Eventually, the manned gunship might be replaced entirely, but that's pretty far off. It may be possible to augment or replace manned mobile lift with some type of militarized eVTOL aircraft, but battery technology is decades away from being mature enough to perform this role, regardless of what eVTOL industry marketing will tell you. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting to see those in regular civilian service, let alone in military use.

[@schlirf]

@@Fang70 Well argued, and thanks.

[@cjclark1208]

Army Men: Air Attack 3DO games in early 00s really got my 6y old pip squeak love of rotary aircraft going, might be pissing in the wind haha.

[@flyonwall360]

I just happened to be sitting here watching this video while wearing my 1st Cav hat. 1st Cav 1988-89. 101st 1985-86. Air Assault!

[@DarkRyderWhisky]

I'm surprised you were able to make this without even mentioning 3rd ACR aviation. Which was probably the most leaned upon aviation during OIF.

[@dw7094]

I used to be Aero-Riflemen 11D, in a Aero-Rifle Squad. When all was said and done 11D was turned over to 19D Armor Branch and the Aero-Riflemen squads were eliminated. All of us 11D's were reclassified as mechanics and truck drivers. Infantry and Armor were all at full strength.

[@TheRandCrews]

Any videos or graphics for other western armies for their Air Mobile or Air Cavalry units like those in France, Italy, Britain using Gazelles, Lynxs, Scouts to Tigers & Apaches, Magusta?

[@theslavecrusher5947]

I just wanted to see helicopters essentially be called flying horses

[@bagatur8810]

My brain just melted.

[@pyeitme508]

Heck yeah choppers

[@Oeilhelbrecht]

Hi ! Amazing content, as usual. Even if I cannot have the audacity to ask you for specific content, it would be extraordinary if you can make a full video to talk about the helicopter uses of the French Army in Algeria, which largely inspired the helicopter uses of the US Army. France was a pioneer in heavy weaponry on helicopters, used in fire support, as well as in the development of medical evacuations by helicopter for wounded soldiers, without forgetting the drop-off of commandos in the Algerian hinterland. The Algerian War was undoubtedly the first concrete laboratory of the military use of helicopters. The USA have long observed French trials and successes in developing the doctrine for the use of helicopters in US Army. Thanking you once again for your amazing content. Greetings from France. 🇫🇷 💪🇺🇸

[@recoil53]

Just ask him directly. I asked for Air Cavalry a couple times in his pinned post. It took the better part of the year, but now I have the video.

[@Emperor54mm]

@BattleOrder You featured a short video of an oh13 firing rockets. Do you recall where you found this clip? I cannot find much information at all about OH13's armed with weapons.

[@BattleOrder]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/moDGioObrqyspZosi=O6nOJKYmaG_FEImV&t=1376

[@davidrodrigueztoro6512]

Awesome video!. could you do a video on colombian armed forces?

[@alancranford3398]

I've been following helicopter forces since my high school days (Class of '75) and I delved into the late Forties experiments with helicopter mobility and helicopters as fire platforms. This video suggests that Long Bow can do more than direct helicopter fires from defilade firing positions. It seems as if regular tube artillery, rocket artillery, smart munitions by tactical aviation and B-52 bombers, naval gunfire and even mortars in leg infantry battalions can be networked in by Long Bow and a fire direction center. This capability exists for unarmed drones, so why not with Apache gunships? It is an extension of the 1938 Time-on-Target Fire Direction Control systems that during WW2 used L-4 Grasshoppers (militarized Piper Cubs) to lay waste to anything moving below. Helicopter-borne infantry has replaced glider infantry and to a large extent parachute infantry--the Airborne divisions still existing have greater reach than helicopters right now but are not as flexible and responsive. This presentation was on Air Cav, not Air Mobile--so the lack of riflemen is understandable.

[@benitkutchka9663]

I loved it. I was a 19d with the 101st

[@shareefkhan2787]

I was a Ground Scout 19D with 2/10 Air Cav. First time we had a HQ and 3 Air Cav Troops. B, C, D troops. 85 Total Helicopters.

[@durandus676]

The US army is one of the largest airforces if you count Helis

[@Fang70]

19:21 That's an interesting change to the MTOE.

[@nicholas9825]

need another tactical breakdown of a battle.

[@AR-pm6mx]

Great video but I have a (maybe stupid) question. Do the current Assault Heli Battallions with utility helicopter squadrons carry their own organic infantry like in the Vietnam era organization or are they just the transports used to support infantry from other BCTs on specific missions? I ask because I noticed that utility squadrons have a differend name and NATO symbol compared to the old air assault infantry units marked with the infantry cross, so I don't understand if they are the same unit with a different name and symbol or if they removed the organic infantry.

[@BattleOrder]

No, the Assault Helicopter Battalions carry infantry from other infantry battalions, normally in a maneuver brigade (as opposed to an aviation brigade). The Air Cavalry Troops with their helicopters and infantry in the same unit were actually the exception. Most larger assault helicopter units that were dedicated to airlifting other units didn't have organic infantry. It was basically divisional helicopters lifting infantry part of their subordinate brigades.

[@AR-pm6mx]

@@BattleOrder Understood, thanks!

[@MrSharkmissle]

I was in C 1-10 during the dual airframe years. Your synopsis is pretty close to spot on, only thing I have to mention is the gray eagle companies in modern day attack battalions.

[@blicka6544]

11:58 AIR ASSAULT!

[@hanostrydom3859]

You should read the book, called ChickenHawk, because it is the true story of a Huey pilot during the war, who was in the air cav, but what confuses me, is that he says he was apart of yellow team. Not red or white.

[@samuelhowie4543]

It's been awhile since I've read that but if I remember right he was a troop transport pilot, which might explain the yellow team. Another book is Low Level Hell.

[@hanostrydom3859]

Oh yeah, thats right. He flew slicks, the heuy that wasn’t a gunship. Oh and I will take a look at the book low level hell.

[@hardcaselj111]

playing TNO right now, AirCav my beloved

[@HKSFMinerva]

8:18 Soundtrack: Thirty Seconds Out · Ramin Djawadi Medal of Honor (EA Games Soundtrack) aka the Apache Attack Mission. Good Taste for the subject matter at hand.

[@Makem12]

You may think me silly, but I honestly clicked on this video hoping to see horses with parachutes

[@patmanboofer4463]

whered you get the medal of honor 2010 loop from?

[@BattleOrder]

I looped it manually

[@MrTryAnotherOne]

@Battle Order: I know it's a huge task to ask for but could you do the same for russian and chinese helicopter formations?

[@shenkorte7337]

could you do one on pj team orgination?

[@MrNukehead1]

the russian helicopter tactics would be a interesting video because i dont think much is know from them, from soviet era to current day

[@ilf5788]

Good video, but just to point something out. Thumbnail style matters, very few people look at the channel name, and look at the title and thumbnail instead if you have a distinct thumbnail style (like you typically do) your fans and people will pick up on that, and will be more likely to watch your videos because they immediately know you made it, when the thumbnail deviates from your style, people dont recognise its you and are less likely to watch it.

[@arbelico2]

Excelent .

[@TheFunyCornMan]

My great uncle was a Sergeant in 1st air cav during 'Nam. Cool shit

[@MichaelSSmith-hs5pw]

SGT. E-5, M.S. “Archangel” Smith UH-1, Huey M-60 Door Gunner Alpha Troop, 1st Squadron 9th Cavalry Regiment “Sky Troopers” 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) “First Team” An Khe, Vietnam -1969 (Garry Owen) “Get Some”

[@theromanorder]

Please do a video on carrier strike group formations, Like all the ships and resons for the formation Mabey takk about more then just America

[@cm275]

Carrier strike groups aren’t standardized- they vary quite a bit depending on a lot of factors.

[@theromanorder]

@@cm275 exsactly Giving examples to show how comander design there formations

[@codyandrex152]

@@theromanorder Carrier Strike Group composition (from wikipedia): carrier one or two cruiser two or more destroyers submarine (depends on mission) oilers and supply ships

[@theromanorder]

@@codyandrex152 hiimmm yup really useful this tellls me alot and is definitely not something ive already heard

[@Floofrer]

Kolibri - WW2 German Helicopter needs some recognition too.

[@ccarroll4339]

Oooh, 10th mountain :) 14:37

[@Barundus]

Nicely done. At 15:05, you've got it exactly backwards, though. KW in lead, down low, scouting. Apache in trail, in overwatch, ready to pounce. Just like the pink teams you highlighted from the Vietnam days. Also; the heavy DIVCAV was badass. Scouts Out Forward Garry Owen