 The Group Commander considered the 523rd his best truck company and when instructed to send two light truck companies north to I Corps Tactical Zone for the upcoming Laotian Incursion, Operation Lam Son 719, in February through April 1971, he chose to send his best.The 523rd was attached to the 39th Transportation Battalion and stationed at the abandoned Marine Corps base Camp Vandergrift.During the two-and-a-half-month incursion into Laos, the North Vietnamese Army tried to close down the supply route with a total of 23 convoy ambushes.