|
ENGINEERS
Combat Support
E ngineer support for the 4th
Infantry Division is the task of the 4th Engineer Battalion.
Arriving in the Central Highlands with the division’s advance
party in August 1966, the engineers soon began to carve at the
base of Dragon Mountain what would become, in a year’s time, a
city in the jungle.
Base camp construction is only one of the many tasks which
fall to the 4th Engineer Battalion. Combat engineers may be
found as far forward as the infantry company, clearing landing
zones and building fire support bases. An engineer element
usually accompanies the infantry on a combat assault, expressed
by the |
adage that ‘the infantry assaults the
objective while the engineers assault the terrain."
Without roads to keep convoys rolling and
troops on the move, the Ivy Division could not fight the
effective war in which it is now engaged. The engineers not only
build roads, but clear them daily of enemy mines.
The monsoon rains tax the engineers to the
fullest—keeping roads open and building a base camp are tasks
not easily done in mud above the knees.
In little more than a year, the 4th Engineer
Battalion has undertaken a large part of the construction of the
more than 900 buildings which now make up the Ivy Division base
camp.
No matter how large or small the task, the combat engineers
of the 4th Engineer Battalion are always there to do their share
and, then, a little more. |
