The REAL Battle from We Were Soldiers - Ia Drang 65 (1/2)

An interesting report on the action.. Part 1 of 2..
Funny how you hardly hear about the ambush at LZ-Albany. Hollywood left that part out of the movie!

Yes, when I finally read the book, I was surprised to discover that the film only covers the first part of what happened.

Not just Hollywood. The US Army at the time made a considerable effort to bury the story. It was embarrasing to the point that they didn't dare to sack McDade, who despite having made an enormous balls up of the affair, soldiered on in command of 2/7 Cavalry for another four months. I suppose they took into account his service in WW2 and Korea and that he was a decorated officer. Still, pretty much anyone else would have canned him on the spot.

I'm always amazed when looking at the US Army at the disparity of performance between units, as well as the lack of attention to really basic issues of soldiering, like tactical movement, providing security at the halt and on the move etc. An absence of skills and drills at the lowest levels cannot have helped.