18th Engineer Brigade Essay

707 Words2 Pages

The 18th Engineer Brigade served in Vietnam during the Vietnam War from July 1965 until they deactivated in September of 1971. The Brigade’s first responsibility was to oversee all Army Engineering operations in Vietnam until late 1966 establishment of the U.S. Army Engineer Command in Vietnam. The Brigade had many challenges that they needed to overcome. Those challenges included lack of experienced engineers, lack of funding, lack of supplies, as well as overcoming the challenges that the weather created. In 1965 the 18th Engineer Brigade arrived in South Vietnam. Within two weeks of their arrival they set up the headquarters of operation in Tan Son Nhut, and committed to projects in Long Binh and Vung Tau. Their activities centered around development of port facilities, ammunition dumps, base camps and air fields to support the rapid built-up of U.S. combat troops deploying to Vietnam. The Brigade mainly assumed responsibility for the northern part of South Vietnam. The 18th Engineer Brigade faced many obstacles they had to overcome in order to complete their mission. Some of the …show more content…

The Facility covered over 191,000 square feet. Simontaniusly, 18th Engineers carried out the highway restoration project, maintained quarries moving over 70 thousand tons of rock a week and 60 thousand tons of asphalt in support of the highway program. Throughout the next 2 years the Brigade worked on the English Airfield, one of the largest airfields the 18th Engineer Brigade had built. The airfield had a runway of 3,600 feet long by 60 feet wide and had a 150 foot turn around area. At that time, this was the largest airfield in the area to use for the U.S. troops. The airfield was completed in March of 1969 near Qui Nhon. Construction was completed in multiple phases and the finish product was able to handle the C-130

Open Document