The 198th replaced the 196th Brigade in the Chu Lai area and assumed part of Operation Muscatine, a security mission protecting Chu Lai and the neighboring lowlands.
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Official history · broader operational context
What the Army history tells us
A guide to Erik B. Villard’s Combat Operations: Staying the Course, October 1967-September 1968—and to what it does not tell us about H Troop.
Read this first
Useful context,
not an H Troop history
A full-text review of this 776-page official history found no direct reference to H Troop, Troop H, H/17, LZ Bayonet, or Landing Zone Bayonet. Its index names other 17th Cavalry troops, but not H Troop.
The book remains valuable because it documents the assignments and operations of H Troop’s parent formation, the 198th Infantry Brigade, during the troop’s first year in Vietnam. The chronology below is presented so readers can decide where it may connect with their own service, photographs, letters, and memories.
Editorial standard: A 198th Brigade operation is not automatically attributed to H Troop. Direct participation will be stated only when a troop-level record or credible firsthand source confirms it.
From the official narrative
198th Brigade chronology
These entries summarize the wider operational setting around Chu Lai, Tam Ky, Quang Tin, Quang Ngai, and the Que Son Valley.
Two 198th battalions moved toward Tam Ky. The brigade assumed responsibility for the Batangan Peninsula while continuing operations farther south.
The 198th watched the area surrounding the Americal Division base at Chu Lai and helped counter threats to the district and provincial capitals.
The brigade opened Operation Burlington Trail to secure Route 533 between Tam Ky and Tien Phuoc and search enemy Base Area 117.
The 198th also assumed responsibility for Operation Wheeler/Wallowa in the Que Son Valley.
The brigade continued Burlington Trail, shielding Tam Ky and Chu Lai while searching the hills west of the populated coastal plain.
The 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry began Operation Vance Canyon near the Tra Bong Special Forces camp.
Elements of the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry operating under 198th Brigade control fought enemy forces northeast of Tam Ky.
Where the trail leads
Original records identified
Villard’s footnotes identify the underlying reports most likely to contain the detail omitted from the published narrative.
Americal Division ORLL · Nov. 1967-Jan. 1968
The 198th's movement into the Chu Lai-Tam Ky area and Operation Muscatine. Cited in Record Group 472, Command Historian, Headquarters, USARV.
Americal Division ORLL · Feb.-Apr. 1968
Post-Tet assignments and the beginning of Burlington Trail. Dated May 7, 1968; Box 66, ORLLs, 1966-1971, RG 472.
Operation Burlington Trail AAR · 198th Brigade
The most promising brigade-level report. Its narrative and annexes may identify reconnaissance, armored, and supporting elements omitted from the published history.
Americal Division ORLL · May-July 1968
Burlington Trail, Vance Canyon, Tam Ky, and protection of Chu Lai. Dated August 7, 1968; Box 66, RG 472.
Americal Division ORLL · Aug.-Oct. 1968
The late-summer offensive and continued operations around Tam Ky and Chu Lai. Dated November 7, 1968.
Operation Muscatine records
An after-action report dated June 20, 1968 and a 3rd Military History Detachment narrative, both cited by Villard.
Repository: Most are cited under Record Group 472, Records of the United States Forces in Southeast Asia, at the National Archives at College Park. Some are also retained in the U.S. Army Center of Military History’s historians’ files.
Read and compare
Examine the source yourself
The complete book is available from the U.S. Army Center of Military History. It is approximately 31 MB and may take a moment to open on a phone.