Defense Secretary McNamara sounded like a proud father. "I have," he told newsmen, "today authorized the Army to organize a new division, the Air-mobile Division." To be organized at Fort Benning, Ga., the new 16,000-man outfit will be ready for action by mid-August. Said McNamara: "It places the Army on the threshold of an entirely new approach to the conduct of land battle."

Airmobile combat troops, their artillery and ground vehicles, will be flown into combat by the division's 400 huge LOH, Chinook and Iroquois helicopters. The division will have six twin-engined...