US Air Force/Capt. Billie D Tedford
In May 1967, US special operators and Vietnamese troops went behind enemy lines to take out North Vietnam s top general.
The mission led by the secretive MACV-SOG quickly went wrong, and US forces spent days fighting just to keep them alive.
Fifty-four years ago, a group of American and indigenous commandos fought for their very lives in a small, far away valley in one of the boldest special-operations missions of the Vietnam War.
Codenamed Oscar-8, the target was the forward headquarters of the North Vietnamese Army s 559th Transportation Group and its commander, Gen. Vo Bam, located alongside the Ho Chi Minh trail complex, which ran from North Vietnam to South Vietnam and passed through Laos and Cambodia.
US Army/1st Lt. Ryan DeBooy
During the Vietnam War, US commandos developed an insertion and extraction method that is still used today.
Now, with conflict in Southeast or East Asia a growing prospect, its an increasingly relevant but still risky method.
During the Vietnam War, American commandos developed an insertion and extraction method for operations in the jungle that is still used by today s special operators.
The Special Patrol Insertion/Extraction (SPIE) system is designed for small special-operations teams that operate in areas where an enemy presence or the terrain prevents helicopters from landing.
The SPIE technique hasn t been used operationally for decades, in part because US air superiority and lackluster enemy anti-aircraft capabilities have meant it wasn t needed.