I have a few questions regarding the American Air-mobile Platoon for a project I am working on.
First off, what was the operational size of an American Air-mobile Platoon during the Vietnam war. Notably during the battle of Ia Drang Valley?
How many helicopters would be required to transport this platoon? Would there be a helicopter reserved for the platoon specifically for medevac?
How would the platoon be armed both on paper and in actuality? How many radios would the platoon have, what type?
Would the platoon have a dedicated medic? Signaler? Forward Artillery Observer? Forward Air Observer? Or are these all higher level attachments that would be made.
Finally, any additional detail about this topic you could provide would be fantastic, I'm sure there are a few things I'm not asking that I'll think of later.
The answers you're looking for are all contained within Field Manuals FM 57-35, Airmobile Operations, and FM 17-37, Air Cavalry Squadron. The first details the US Army's standard procedures for Airmobile operations by any unit. The latter is a comprehensive guide to the Air Cavalry Squadron as a unit, detailing how it should be used at all levels down to Troop, and including tactics and ToEs. However, it does date from 1969, so might not be as useful for the Ia Drang Valley. The aerorifle platoon detailed in FM 17-37 has four nine man squads and a four man command squad. The squads are then further subdivided into two four-man fireteams led by corporals, with a sergeant in charge. The command squad has the platoon leader, platoon sergeant and two radio operators. Each squad has two M-79 grenade launchers, and an M60 machinegun, while the rest of the men are armed with M16 rifles. They also have a single AN/PRC-25 radio. The platoon commander should be armed with a pistol, while the rest of the command squad should be armed with M16s. The command squad has two AN/PRC-25s. The aerorifle platoon also had a lift section, of 5 UH-1 Huey helicopters. One of these helicopters was reserved for the platoon leader, and had an AN/PRC-25 in addition to its AN/URC-10 radio, while the others had only the AN/URC-10. The platoon had two signallers, the radio operators in the command squad. To some extent, medical support was available within the Air Cav Squadron, with the Squadron's support platoon having a medical section. Medical evacuation could be performed by the rifle platoon's lift section, but this was only to be done in emergencies. All other attachments were made at the Troop level, above the platoon.
Could you expand on the project you're working on?