US Army Communications – Vietnam 1966 US Army Staff Film Report 66-43B
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“STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL COMMUNICATIONS IWCS, IN-COUNTRY RADIO NETWORK, CABLE TRAFFIC, TELEPHONE AND TELETYPEWRITER SYSTEMS ADPS AND MSC-44 SATELLITE TRACKING STATION”
US Army Staff Film Report 66-43B
Public domain film from the US National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
Wikipedia license:
The 1st Signal Brigade (“First to Communicate”) is a military communications brigade of the United States Army subordinate to the Eighth United States Army and located at Yongsan Garrison in South Korea…
History
Vietnam War
The 1st Signal Brigade was activated on 1 April 1966 in the Republic of Vietnam. The brigade’s mission in Vietnam was to originate, install, operate, and maintain a complex communication system that fused tactical and strategic communications in Southeast Asia under a single, unified command. The formation of the brigade brought together three signal groups that were already in South Vietnam.
At the peak of the Vietnam War the brigade consisted of more than 21,000 soldiers, in six Signal groups (including the 160th Signal Group), 22 signal battalions and several communications agencies, making the 1st Signal Brigade the largest signal unit in the U.S. Army at the time.
South Korea to present
In November 1972 the brigade was relocated to the Republic of Korea under the U.S. Army Strategic Communications Command. On 29 January 1973 the 1st Signal Brigade was reestablished by General Order 56 from HQ, USASTRATCOM. The brigade’s mission in South Korea is to provide communications support to the United Nations Command, U.S. Forces Korea and the Eight U.S. Army. The brigade was also given the mission of installing, maintaining and operating the Defense Communications System in South Korea…
…Korean War and Vietnam War
During the Korean War and Vietnam War the Signal Corps operated Officer Candidate Schools initially at Fort Monmouth…
Modern warfare utilizes three main sorts of Signal soldiers. Some are assigned to specific military bases (“Base Ops”), and they are charged with installation, operation and maintenance of the base communications infrastructure along with hired civilian contracted companies. Others are members of non-Signal Army units, providing communications capability for those with other jobs to accomplish (e.g. infantry, medical, armor, etc.) in much the same way as, say, the unit supply sections, unit clerks, or chemical specialists. The third major sort of Signaleer is one assigned to a Signal unit. That is to say, a unit whose only mission is to provide communications links between the Army units in their area of operations and other signal nodes in further areas served by other Signal units.
Sending radio signals across the vast Pacific Ocean had always been sketchy and unreliable. In August 1964, radio communications across the sea were given a huge boost in quality: The first satellite terminal ever installed in a combat zone was installed in Ba Queo, near Saigon, led by Warrant Officer Jack Inman. This enabled trustworthy communications to Hawaii, and thereby to Washington, D.C.
From north to south, communicating across the varied landscapes of Vietnam presented a variety of challenges, from mountains to jungle. The answer came by utilizing the technology of “troposcatter”. A radio signal beamed up into the atmosphere is “bounced” back down to Earth with astonishingly good results, bypassing debilitating terrain. The Army had little experience with this technology, so they contracted the development of the systems to Page Engineering. In January 1962, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara approved the system of troposcatter units under the operational name of BACKPORCH.
The escalation of the number of troops in the Vietnam War caused an increasing need for more communications infrastructure. In the spring of 1966 the assorted Signal units were reassigned to the newly formed 1st Signal Brigade. By the close of 1968 this brigade consisted of six Signal groups, and 22 Signal battalions—roughly 23,000 soldiers…
