bridge for stocking the airfield and resupplying Royalist guerrillas. As early as 1964, Hmong General Vang Pao established a number of guerrilla bases around Nakhang, using it to import needed materiel for his burgeoning "Secret Army". At about the time the United States began Operation Rolling Thunder, Nakhang's activities surged. During June 1965, the first two U. S. air advisers were posted to Vang Pao at Nakhang for six months. One of them, Captain John Teague, was the son of Congressman Olin Teague. Also stationed there were half a dozen Royal Thai Air Force majors serving as forward air controllers. As a result of increasing Royalist activity, there were a series of skirmishes between the sides for possession of the outlying positions surrounding Nakhang throughout 1964 and 1965. In July 1965, Nakhang was the launching point for a successful offensive against Communist forces in the vicinity. By late November, Vang Pao had five weak Royal Lao Army (RLA) battalions to defend the entire north of Military Region 2. He reinforced them by posting three picket lines of Auto Defense Choc (ADC) skirmishers to screen any PAVN approaches. The five battalions plus the ADC militia troops numbered 5,120 strong. Another 5,500 Auto-Defense Ordinaire home guards were alerted in villages throughout the region. First battle of Nakhang On 15 January 1966, the PAVN high command dispatched 5th Battalion, 168th Regiment from North Vietnam to assault Nakhang, which was garrisoned by a single Royalist battalion. By mid-February, they had crossed into Laos and were poised to attack. They were under orders to disregard casualties, and to capture Nakhang regardless of cost. At 2330 hours 16 February 1966, the battalion, now swollen to 600 to 1,000 troops, overran an outpost 1.6 kilometers south of Nakhang. By dawn, the attackers were shelling Nakhang with mortars. Return Royalist howitzer fire drove the PAVN attack back onto high ground southeast of Nakhang. An AC-47 Spooky gunship responded, dropping flares and firing on Communist troops near the overrun outpost. Later on 17 February, a Butterfly Forward Air Controller, U.S. Air Force Captain Ramon Horinek, found a civilian pilot to fly him over the battlefield. Although their plane was hit three times by small arms fire while taking off, they succeeded in directing tactical air strikes on the previously captured Lima Site 27. Upon return to Nakhang's Lima Site 36, that airstrip was under mortar attack. As friendly forces