 An official report produced for the armed forces and the American people. Somewhere in enemy territory, soldiers of the aggressor forces man a radar post. A constant threat to the successful operation of our own forces. An obstacle which must be eliminated as quickly and quietly as possible. Out of nowhere, so close to the earth that it is almost part of it. Below the range of the enemy radar comes a task force with a deadly serious mission. This is on a simulated combat. A swooping surprise raid to knock out an enemy radar post. Then a swift return to their own lines. This is not a hypothetical action. It is standing operating procedure as part of the tactics of the United States Army. The American fighting man is taking to the air in an increasing variety of missions. In small units as well as large for long and short range tasks. Aviation has given him a new dimension of movement. Whether he moves by helicopter or transport plane, he is applying his resourcefulness and daring to find new ways of using the supreme mobility that air travel has made possible. At an air base on friendly soil, soldiers prepare to go into battle in a way scarcely dreamed of a few short years ago. As soldiers in combat have always done, they move out to engage the enemy. But the sky itself is their line of departure. It was inevitable that the foot soldier would become airborne. Through the long history of warfare, speed and mobility have had a decisive effect on the battlefield and rapid concentration of firepower at critical points. And mobility meant greater survival power for the fighting man because rapid movement made a more difficult target. The foot soldier has always been quick to adapt or improvise artificial means of transportation. Once, he made use of the horse. More recently, he adapted the railroad to his knee and then the truck. The advent of mechanized movement expanded mobility, not only for the foot soldier but for his weapons as well. Both infantry weapons and supporting arms. There was a limit to high speed movement on the ground. Open country is rarely fast. Road travel has problems of its own. Shouldn't the soldier prove that there was no obstacle of nature or man that could not be crossed? Demonstrated that there was no defense which could not be penetrated. No barrier which could not be scaled. But frequently, these accomplishments could be made only at a great loss of time and mobility. It was inevitable that when the airplane became practical, the foot soldier should see it as the ultimate solution to his problems of mobility to overcome terrain obstacles by passing over them. Two saw the first and highly successful use of airborne troops in combat. The Germans dropped troops with great effect early in the war on Norway, Holland, and Crete. Geneva, Sicily, was of France in the pre-dawn hours of June 6, 1944 and supplies by air. The first successful airdrop of heavy weapons in combat was made here. Born soldier was established. Battle proven, a common place in military thinking. In post-war maneuvers, advances were made in dropping heavier and heavier materiel. The airborne soldier became the supreme example of the classic army principles of firepower and mobility. Missile warfare did not change this concept. On the contrary, it enlarged its importance. The extreme range of missiles provided a consideration of the highest importance. Destructive radius of nuclear arms added immeasurably to that consideration. Together they made slow-moving concentrations of ground troops suicidal. The capacity for swift movement to achieve maximum dispersal was vital and so was swift movement to re-concentrate the enormous firepower of the modern fighting division. First step in meeting this need was to reorganize the division from its mass three-regiment structure into five smaller mobile self-sustaining units called battle groups. A battle group, such as this one which has been massed on a parade ground for photographic purposes, is in effect a fighting machine capable of great independence on the battlefield. It can disperse into any number of smaller units over an area of considerable distance when circumstances demand dispersal. It can come together quickly to deliver a massive blow when the target presents itself and then rapidly disperse once more. Its communications unites it into a cohesive group, however widely scattered it is. Its weapons and the weapons which stand behind it which it can call upon for support make it hard hitting. But mobility is its prime characteristic. It is in every sense a modern basic fighting unit perfectly tailored to the needs of a modern army. It was only natural that the most highly mobile of all divisions, the airborne would be the first to be reorganized under the pentomic concept. The airborne movement led to bold new thinking in military science both strategic and tactical. Ceaseless communist probing at soft spots in the free world either through subversion or outright incitement to riot had imposed on the free world's leader, the United States, the obligation of being prepared to lend military support swiftly to any free world nation calling for support against communist pressure or any other form of hostile aggression. States army formed STRAC, the strategic army corps whose slogan is, skill, tough, ready, around the clock. STRAC consists of several of the army's crack fighting units in the United States, the 4th Infantry Division, the 82nd Airborne, the 101st Airborne, and the 1st Logistical Command. Readiness on literally a moment's notice is the distinguishing characteristic of STRAC units. Planes of the United States Air Force with help from the Navy and the Military Air Transport Service are prepared to fly our airborne soldiers anywhere in the world at any time. Exhaustive studies and practice have refined procedure to a split-second schedule. The first element of STRAC airborne troops can be in the air in two hours. It's leading company in only 15 minutes. Clerk and bullet can be moved to its destination in six days or less. Procedure follows battle-proof design. Giant transport planes can make long-range flights to drop important elements of an airborne division deep in enemy territory. Some of them parachute from their planes. Others are airlanded. Unloading is swift and precise. STRAC airborne forces are ready for instant deployment in battle. They fly to fight with the ammunition, food, and supplies needed to sustain them in combat before being resupplied. The STRAC concept paid off brilliantly in Lebanon in the Middle East. Political forces outside the country threatened the overthrow of the democratic government. The United States, at the request of Lebanon, landed Marines from the 6th Fleet and flew in airborne reinforcements from Germany. The discreet, restrained presence of these troops calmed Lebanon and enabled a democratic election to be held. After this was accomplished, the troops withdrew without incident. This bold, strategic use of the airborne soldier is being matched by innovations and tactics. The Army's own aviation organized for movement in and around the battlefield, helicopters, and light planes. Short-range aerial vehicles of great versatility give the airborne soldier the means to perform raids, reconnaissance in force, flanking attacks, slashing penetrations to the enemy's rear, a third-dimensional cavalry striking through the air with a speed, surprise, and shock power far beyond their predecessors on horse, wheels, or tracks. The infantrymen's or cavalrymen's former obstacles simply no longer exist. There is no need to penetrate woods, climb mountains, or traverse swamps. Helicopter rotors and light planes soar over them all. Low flying, they hug the ground in so-called contour flying so that they will remain unseen by enemy eyes. They skim low across the flat beds of rivers. They slip through passes behind hills or mountains to land suddenly where they are least expected in the enemy's unprotected rear or flanks. This is vertical envelopment, a new dimension of warfare for the airborne soldier, a tactic proven so effective that each regular pentamic infantry division has its own aviation company to carry heavily armed assault forces for a swift thrust against the enemy. Fresh troops, unwearied by forced road marches or long truck rides, organized to take the field immediately in battle formations, ready to release a storm of firepower against a surprised, demoralized enemy, automatic weapons, and supporting warfare, recoilless rifles, and artillery. Even the helicopters themselves are being utilized in experimentation going on today as aerial gun platforms to lay down a deadly screen of rocket or machine gun fire. In demonstrations where these firing helicopters are used, they have proved the tactical effectiveness of aerial assault vehicles. Vehicles which have used in combat on the battlefield of tomorrow may look considerably different from the helicopters which are demonstrating this effectiveness today. Soldier means greater speed and effectiveness for small unit actions as well as large. A handful of men can be stealthily airlifted to the rear to carry out a variety of special missions and patrols. The vital need for small units with this kind of mobility is dictated by the special circumstances of war as it would be fought in these times. On any battlefield which would exist today or tomorrow, our own forces would be dispersed over wide areas in order to deny the enemy a lucrative target for his firepower. In the same way, the enemy himself would disperse. He, too, to protect his forces from nuclear attack would do so by scattering them in small units. In such a fluid battle area, mobile patrols become most effective. They can scout out enemy positions and strong points, harass and demoralize aims of communication which link the dispersed elements of the enemy's forces. The enemy cut off from his own group. They can attack weapons which may be hidden from our own necessary means of acquiring information about enemy operations. Its mission completed quickly and expeditiously. The patrol retains its mobility by returning to a rendezvous point to be picked up by helicopter or light flame. Several stations in the United States, Europe and the Far East. Small groups of volunteer paratroopers known as special forces are undergoing what is probably the most intensive training ever imposed on American fighting men. These men are conventional soldiers doing an unconventional job. As expert infantrymen, parachutists is only the beginning. They must qualify as frogmen, primers as well. Reform of swift, deadly attack. Earn the techniques of defense. Armed? Mentals of demolition. Improvise is a key word. This transportation may be crudely constructed, but it works. The special forces soldier must be able to improvise, shelter as well as weapons. He must do it in any kind of terrain or climate that he will not only stay alive, but be comfortable to save his strength to fight and carry out his mission, catch his food. In short, the special forces airborne soldier knows that if he must, he can live off the land like an Indian. But he is first of all an expert in modern combat with special schooling in psychological warfare and foreign languages. Superbly self-reliant though he is, the special forces airborne soldier is not a lone wolf fighter. When he goes into action, it is always as a member of a highly organized team. This consists of a varying number of weapons men, demolitions men, tomb sergeants. Each man is an expert in his specialty, but he is so intensively cross-trained, he can take the place of another specialist if necessary. The mission of special forces is unique among airborne soldiers to penetrate deep behind enemy lines hundreds or thousands of miles to stay for indefinite periods. To organize, train and direct native guerrilla bands to fight the enemy from within his own camp with the weapons and skills of modern warfare. A detachment of special forces is capable of organizing and training a guerrilla force of 1,500 fighters. The importance of this can be assessed when we remember the General Eisenhower equated the assistance given by the French Maquis as that of 15 divisions. With all his unique qualities, the special forces trooper represents a highly developed but not a revolutionary application of the airborne soldier. Soldier, whether committed to action or mass, or as a small unit, whether an instrument of the global strategy that directs strats, or in the battlefield tactics of vertical envelopment is simply an aerial extension of the infantryman whose mission on the ground is unchanged to close with the enemy and destroy it. With the dazzling increase in firepower and mobility for the modern fighting man, we must always come back to a basic, timeless truth. In the arena of final decision, the foot soldier ensures the ultimate victory. Now this is Sergeant Stewart Queen, your host for the big picture. The big picture is an official report for the armed forces and the American people. Produced by the Army Pictorial Center. Presented by the Department of the Army in cooperation with this station.