In February 1971, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) launched an incursion into Laos in an attempt to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail and destroy North Vietnamese Army (NVA) base areas along the border. In this first in-depth study of this operation, military historian and Vietnam veteran James H. Willbanks traces the details of battle, analyses what went wrong, and suggests insights into the difficulties currently being incurred with the training of indigenous forces.