In August 1962, MACV established a Special Forces CIDG camp at an old abandoned French fort, about two kilometers east of the village of Khe Sanh and just below Route 9, for border surveillance and anti-infiltration operations.' In November 1964, the Special Forces team moved from the French fort to a light-duty airstrip, built by French forces in 1949 on the Xom Cham Placeau, above Route 9 and about two kilometers north of their former base. This new site, which eventually became the Khe Sanh base.

* *CIDG is an acronym for Civilian Irregular Defense Group. The CIDG consisted of local militia, armed, trained, advised, and, in fact, led by U.S Army . and South Vietnamese Special Forces personnel. Such camps were scattered throughout the country. This French fore sice was later referred to by the American forces at Khe Sanh as the 'old French Fort.'

1968 The Definitive Year