The Patrol - The Big Picture

National Archives and Records Administration

ARC Identifier 2569692 / Local Identifier 111-TV-427

Big Picture: The Patrol

"Where is the enemy? What is he doing? How can we prevent it?" THE BIG PICTURE presents "The Patrol," the dramatic and exciting report of seven men sent deep into aggressor-held territory for the answers to these questions. Upon their skill, training, and fortitude can rest the outcome of an entire maneuver. As THE BIG PICTURE points out, thirty years ago such an assignment would have been accomplished by a lightening sortie of mounted men galloping headlong behind enemy lines, sowing confusion and, with luck, returning with the vital information. Today's cavalryman may not seem as glamorous but is certainly more reliable. In the course of their mission the patrol takes advantage of every form of transportation from helicopter to armored patrol car, to rubber raft, to combat boots. This is not a war "game." It has the serious purpose of giving Army units field experience in the doctrines they have studied in training. In wartime, such a mission could well result in the prevention of thousands of casualties.