 In Vietnam today, the Air Force is working closely with Army planners in providing air support for ground operations. In all kinds of situations, night and day, bad weather or good, air power is being made available to the Army within minutes by the Air Liaison Officer and Forward Air Controller. I'm a Forward Air Controller, a fact, an Air Force pilot assigned to Brigade. This particular mission was pre-planned, requested by the Army's Third Brigade a day in advance. The objective was to find and destroy base camps on an east-west V.C. supply route in the area around La Quay, about 50 miles from Saigon. Our job along with Army artillery was to neutralize the landing zone, what we call prepping, so that the Army troops could get in there with the choppers. Right on schedule at 0840 hours, a flight of three F-100s out of Phan Rang, Ronde Voudon Station. I filled them in on the location of friendly troops, near a safe area, and other details of the site location, and then pinpointed the target with smoke rockets. As planned, the 100s had 10 minutes to work the area before the choppers came in, time enough to drop the ordnance, and then strafe along the edge of the LZ, to neutralize anyone who might be lying in ambush, and who we hadn't gotten before. The weather had been marginal, but the clouds broke up so that we had no delays. Along with low clouds, the 100s had ordnance, which could be delivered very accurately in low altitudes. This was a hot LZ, likely occupied by V.C. The hitting went smoothly, and the flight did good work. No problems. The initial chore is complete, we remain in the area, airborne over the troops all the time, monitoring their operating frequency. If they need help, run in stiff resistance, or want an objective softened up, we can call an immediate airstrike anytime, through our normal immediate request net. We'll have a flight on station in 15 minutes, if things work as they normally do. In emergencies, other pre-planned flights can be diverted to the area. For us, and for the fighter pilots, there's a real sense of satisfaction in providing support for ground operations, knowing we're saving lives, preventing injuries to our people down there, and overall helping these army troops in tough situations.