3F   TAY NINH WAR ROOM

Combat briefings were held every morning at Tay Ninh base camp. They were limited to senior officers of the 1st Brigade, and the presentation covered every incident that took place in III Corp during the previous twenty-four hours. On the back wall was a map approximately fifteen feet high and ten feet wide, and it reminded me of maps you would see in a World War II movie. It was incredibly detailed, with miniature flags representing all the combatants that participated in the war. During my last briefing before leaving Vietnam, Major General Ellis Williamson, commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division, was in attendance. This briefing was different than the other briefings I had attended, as it concentrated on what was happening along the Chinese border. The briefer went into detail concerning a dozen or so Chinese infantry divisions along the Red River. General Williamson had the briefer dissect every division on a chalkboard, starting with its commander and staff. He wanted to know everything, and I mean everything our intelligence knew about that individual unit. When the general was through with his questions, the briefer was at once bombarded with more questions from his staff. This analysis of the various Chinese units went on for two hours, and when I left the briefing, I had a deep feeling that the Chinese presence along the border was more of a concern than our government was letting the public know back home. Something major must have happened along the Chinese border during the previous night, and as I walked back to my bunker, all I could think about was how dangerous our involvement in Vietnam would become if the Chinese got involved.