CHAPTER FOUROPERATIONS
EFFECTIVENESS It was not defficult for the Air Force to establish that the ARDF program was effective, thanks primarily to favorable comment contained in letters and messages received by the 6994th SS or the 460th TRW. Most of the COMINY data, however, remained in the U.S. Army's 509th RRG data bank as Category II special Intelligence. As such it was handled strictly on a need-to-know basis, and was not generally fed back to Air Force channels. That information which could be sanitized was fed back through the 6994th SS to the TEWS, either through the parent wing of directly, and provided high motivation to the crews by giving then a real sense of mission accomplishment. Typical of the encomiums received by these units are the following excerpts from letters and messages:
for a jog well done . . . such exemplary performance is the direct result of hard-working, dedicated, and mission-oriented people working as a cohesive unit, whether air or ground crew. Brigadier General William E. Potts, USA MACV J-2
. . . The Commanding General of the US 9th Infantry Hq 8th Radio Research Unit DSU, Hue Phu Bai, RVN
. . . Congratulations on a job well done . . . General Creighton S. Abrams, USA COMUSMACV
101st Abn Div. From the Commanding General, G-2, down to Brigade headquarters and S-2, this information is continually sought. ARDF is of the highest quality when its timeliness is taken into consideration. Between 40 and 50 percent of all ARDF comes in identified. Average time for disseminationof info, between 4 and 15 minutes after receiving info at this station (265th RR Co). Ex- amples of ARDF usefullness: In March, 1st Bde, 101st Abn Dev, was to launch a combat assault into LZ Susan. An hour before the CA (combat assault), a 750-meter fix was obtained at the location aof LZ Susan on an enemy element. Artillery was employed and upon insertion 3 dead NVA were found at the location. In middle March, 1st Bde, using fixes ona number of u/i (unidentified) activities in one area, initiated a program where maximum fire power - - Naval, Army, and Air Force--was placed in the area. This began around the 11th of March and at present time is still continuing. The 2nd Bde combat assaulted into fire bas "Veghel" on 12 March. A fix on another enemy unit was obtained two days before by ARDF. Upon inser- tion two US were killed and 17 NVA were killed. The 3rd Brigade also went in on a Front 6 fix, find- ing complexes and overrunning Front 6 Headquarters. Two radios were found in the area and Front 6 was not heard from for over a week. The supported com- mand is eager for this information. They do react in a timely manner on most fixes within their area of operations. The only shortcoming, they feel, is that there is not enough of this type information.
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