FSB RIPCORD was a vital link in the defenses
of the 101st ABN Div in the mountainous Nam Hoa district of Thua Thien province (northern I Corps Zone) in 1970.
Nearly 1000 meters high, Ripcord sat at the northeastern rim of the infamous Ashau Valley, and close to North Vietnamese
sanctuaries in Laos. Ripcord was part of the mile-high Coc Muen mountain range, dominant terrain along which enemy
infiltration routes to the populated lowlands had to pass.
