 Okay, move out. I'm a T.C. graduate of Fordham University, and I'm your host on this issue of Your Army Reports. Your Army is making news all over the world, and to bring you some of those stories firsthand, camera men are at work in many parts of the globe. Today's program tells the story of new and interesting developments and tactical uses of the helicopter. It's an ungainly but a tremendously valuable bird in the Army's arsenal. The story begins in the United States, goes on to Hawaii, and ends with on-the-job fighting with the Air Mobile First Cavalry Division in Vietnam. Next we visit Army engineers building roads in Thailand as part of a civic action program there. Then on to engineer units constructing facilities to speed the flow of war material in Vietnam. And finally, a new concept in the important soldier behind the soldier, behind the machines, the Army Drill Sergeant. All in today's program of Your Army Reports. Meet the versatile Chinook helicopter. It is designed to play a key role in the Army's new Air Mobile Division. The Chinook can seat 33 fully equipped troops, a great help in keeping the unit together. The Chinook makes possible a complete helleborn task force with its artillery, vehicles, and its crew-served weapons. In a typical assault maneuver, the first Chinook over the area brings in a pathfinder team, which sets up a landing zone and coordinates the arrival and departure of aircraft. The first assault wave arrives bringing in the rifle platoons. This Chinook need only beyond the ground 25 seconds to unload. Any number of subsequent platoons can be delivered in a similar manner depending on the assault commander's requirements. Later support equipment is brought in. A jeep and a three-quarter ton truck loaded and ready are able to clear the cabin in just 12 seconds. If the helleborn assault requires artillery support, the Chinook can carry it, two howitzers at a time. Within minutes they are able to fire. A little John Rocket, complete with its crew, can be ready in less than one minute after unloading. The launcher may be easily redeployed to a new firing site. Thus the Chinook facilitates the artillery principle of shoot and scoop. The new helicopter is especially useful for the resupply of an air assault action. It can carry pallets or serve as a flying tanker. Loads up to seven tons can be carried depending on the range of the mission. This use of the Chinook helicopter is an answer to the problems of refueling other aircraft close to a combat zone. Air mobile assault operations are often conducted during periods of reduced visibility to minimize detection by the enemy. In failing life into heavy downpour, the Chinook again proves its worth as either an assault or support aircraft in a helleborn task force. A valuable addition to the Army's growing group of battle-ready helicopters. Down there is the top of a dense tropical jungle. As it happens, the location is Hawaii. But it could be Southeast Asia or South America or any other jungle area. And it's not much of a spot to land a helicopter. Not unless you spend a lot of time, too much time, clearing away towering trees and tangled undergrowth. Yet today's Army must be able to function under just such a jungle canopy as this, with timely helicopter support. So what do you do? Land on the tops of the trees? In a word, yes. At least the next thing to it. What you're about to see is a demonstration of a new concept in helicopter support over jungle terrain. The experimental innovation is called the jungle canopy platform system. And it begins with the laying of long strips of netting on the tops of the jungle trees. Two such nets, sometimes three, crisscross one another to provide stable support for an amazing amount of payload, as you'll see in a moment. Next, a crew of men drops onto the nets to get ready for the completion of the installation. The final element of the system is this platform. It weighs some 800 pounds and is 18 feet across. Once it is delivered to the foundation of nets at treetop level, it's ready to become the focal point of what is, quite literally, a treetop heliport. All that has to be done now is to level the platform, which the crew can quickly do by adjusting built-in screw jacks in the legs of the platform. Then word is radiated to the copter that the platform is secure and ready for approach. First, the platform shows how it can be used as a debarkation point for fully equipped troops. Using a special braking device on their ropes, the troops repel swiftly down from the platform to the jungle floor with their weapons. The platform can also serve as a casualty evacuation heliport, a special litter is used to give the simulated casualty all-round protection from branches on his way to the platform above. Ordinarily, such a casualty would have had to be carried out overland or wait for airlift until a large clearing could be cut into the jungle. But with this treetop platform, he can be on his way in minutes. In these tests on Hawaii's jungle treetops, the new concept shows definite promise. Formally designated the Jungle Canopy Platform, the new treetop heliport may well prove valuable as the Army continues its never-ending search for ways to improve its ability to move and communicate and carry the fighting to the enemy wherever he may be found. At Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, men are being trained to shoot from the hip like the shotgun riders on stagecoaches of the Old West. These men, all volunteers, must be in top condition and pass a stiff physical. Shotgunners or officially aerial doorgunners are tough, skilled soldiers trained to protect the skycoaches flying over South Vietnam. The program began when the need arose for combat-trained crews and mechanics to man the automatic weapons of helicopters on operational missions. Training is given in the use of many weapons and the men must be experts in the use of each. Spirit is high and their accuracy deadly. The modern-day shotgun rider becomes familiar with his airborne stagecoach. He learns the techniques of aerial observation and the tactics of firing. The shotgunners are trained to strike from their perch in the sky with suppressive area or point target fire, whichever the situation may require. At the same time, keeping a keen eye on other support helicopters as they debark groups. A practical lesson the shotgunners take to the air. Being is geared to assure instantaneous and accurate response to enemy fire while at different altitudes. The requirement calls for excellence in performance and only the most able finish the course. Next stop for the graduates is Vietnam. Over 2,000 men from the division have already completed training and seen action across the sites of their machine guns. These newly trained shotgun riders form up to sign for their flying gear before setting out on their first combat mission. To meet the combat needs in Vietnam, existing ground weapons have been adapted to the airborne requirements. They consist principally of machine gun and rocket adaptations. The men are given a final briefing on the arming procedure for their airborne foxhole. Then they are briefed again on the mission of the day. Most of the hills on the map may look alike, but to the professional soldier, the ability to pinpoint targets is essential. Now after months of training and waiting, the moment has come for the real thing. Today's version of the shotgun rider of old is proving that he is ready to fight anywhere, anytime. Their cavalry and 101st Airborne are ready to move out by copter from rice paddies near their base of operations at An Ki. The of honor, accomplishment and pride of both units is long and the troops are daily adding new pages to an impressive tradition of excellence. Objective today is a pass high in the mountains, their mission to keep it clear for friendly use and deny its use to the enemy. This is the key point where Route 19 runs through the pass. The men move rapidly to set up their positions. This is a vital stretch of road because Route 19 is the ground supply route between the base of operations at An Ki and Kenan. In short order, the men have their high objectives secured, their defenses and communications well established. From a good elevation, the battalion commander makes a personal evaluation and finds it satisfactory. So men of the 1st Air Cavalry and 101st Airborne go about their job of keeping the pass open. They make sure that no Viet Cong arms, ammunition or propaganda materials travel Route 19 as long as they have charge of it. Civic action by the United States Army to assist friendly nations has produced fine results. One such story concerns the 809th Engineer Battalion in Thailand building a much needed road to help stimulate that country's economy. In Thailand, the men of the 809th Engineers are building a road. This is the sort of major highway construction that could be seen anywhere in America. The equipment, the activity and the need are the same. But in Thailand, the need is more acute. For this is a nation with few modern highways. The new road runs from Chuchin Sao to Kabin Buri and it means a great deal to the Thai people. Until now, they had almost no means of getting crops and produce to distant markets. American and Thai workers together are changing that situation. The engineer operation in Thailand, though strictly an Army project, is on a par with large-scale industrial activity in the United States. Even the rock which goes into the asphalt aggregate is quarried and crushed locally by Army engineers. The entire plant is established, maintained and run by Army engineers. And from these hoppers pours the black top, which is stretching each day farther and farther across what was once jungle, rice paddies and a few ox cart trails. Not long ago, the only way to get crops to market was to wait for the rainy season and go by boat. It took two weeks. Now the trip to market takes an hour and a half. Small wonder that its builders take pride in it. The men of the 809th Engineers, the United States Army. At Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam, officers and enlisted men of the 35th Engineer Group disembark onto the beach. The assembled group represents a cross-section of citizens and professional soldiers. Those of many years' service and young men recently inducted, all serving their country halfway around the globe. In a strife-torn land, they are in Vietnam to help build vitally needed pier and dock facilities, troop housing and ammo dumps, and most important, to fulfill the pressing need for roads and airfields. To accomplish this formidable mission, these Army engineers have brought with them their complete work arsenal of heavy equipment, bulldozers, forklifts and cement mixers, straight to the beaches where they are offloaded under their own power. At Cam Ranh Bay and at other points along the China Sea coast, bases are being constructed to provide logistic and air support for the growing numbers of combat troops in the area. A minor enemy to be faced by the engineers in their work is the sea of sand which surrounds them. It's humid, hot and dusty duty, which leaves the men dirt-caped and bone-tired, but also with the feeling of a job going well. The salt air and sand make for problems with the machinery and tools. However, despite these difficulties and with the help of local civilian workers, buildings take shape within days. Among the first priority are the roads which must be built in this day of mechanized armies. Specialized drilling equipment and nimble fingers prepare for dynamite charges inserted in the rock face, which will provide the necessary supply of crushed stone. Mechanical shovels claw at mountain sides and dunes in order to remake the bay area for military purposes. Big stones are crushed into little ones under the light touch of knowing demolition's men. Not much margin for error in this operation. Rock quarry, the road materials are quickly transferred and dumped at the spot where they are required. Following closely is the heavy road-building equipment to complete the job of leveling and finishing yet another section of badly needed roadway. Because port facilities at Saigon are already overcrowded, nighttime activity is SOP to these soldiers in there. Ground the clock race to accomplish their assigned mission. With the know-how of the experienced 35th engineer group, the work at Kamran Bay proceeds at full speed. Psychological research has revealed that the early attitudes formed by recruits influences their entire military career. In order to revitalize Army training, the Army gathered its best non-coms into a new drill sergeant program, which would be responsible for training the basic soldier. In 1964, the Army's new drill sergeant program was created by Konark. The decision was to change from a system of centralized training committees to unit-level instruction, which is considered the prime recruit training level. And to provide the personal contact needed, the role of drill sergeant was instituted. The man underneath the broad-brimmed campaign hat became the heart of the new system. The potential new drill sergeants attend a stiff refresher course in basic combat subjects. And at the same time, every student drill sergeant learns the fine points of being an effective instructor. Upon completion of the required six-week course, new drill sergeants are authorized to don their distinctive campaign hats. Then they are assigned to duty to a basic training company at one of the Army's seven basic combat training centers. To accommodate shorter periods of military service, the Army has streamlined the recruits' basic combat training course to eight weeks. That leaves only 44 training days for the drill sergeant and his staff to turn a raw recruit into a fighting man. Just 352 hours to make a soldier. For example, there are just 12 hours for bayonet, 4 hours for grenades, 8 hours for first aid, and 3 hours for military courtesy and customs. You must also be made familiar with such things as night firing, individual camouflage, and new methods of protection against chemical, biological, and radiological warfare under the trained eye of his drill sergeant. The objective of the Army drill sergeant during the period of basic training is to develop disciplined, highly motivated soldiers, physically conditioned, and drilled in the fundamentals of soldiering. The physical combat proficiency test is part of a standardized series of tests given in order to evaluate recruits. Physical training, the recruit is tested on every military subject taught during basic combat training. If he does extra well, he may be one of the top 20% in each company eligible for immediate promotion. When the eight-week cycle comes to an end, the drill sergeant can look back with pride at a job well done and forward to yet another group of raw recruits, which he will help mold into fighting men of the United States Army.