After receiving its orders for deployment, the unit trained
hard; by mid-September its members were ready for war. On
September 24, 1966, the 8th Transportation Group boarded USNS
Leroy Eltinge at Oakland, Calif., and set sail for Southeast
Asia, arriving on October 19. The unit was assigned to the 5th
Transportation Command and Qui Nhon. The headquarters camp was
set up in the rolling Thanh Valley. The 8th operated as far
north as Bong Son and as far west as Pleiku and Dak To, near the
Laos-Cambodian border. The road near Qui Nhon was smooth
macadam. However, the 8th had to support American and allied
units in the Central Highlands, and the first stop to the west
was An Khe. Between An Khe and Qui Nhon lay 40 miles of some of
the worst terrain on earth. Route 19 was the single road that
led from Qui Nhon to An Khe and farther west. As the road
climbed west into the Central Highlands, it crossed through An
Khe Pass in a series of hairpin turns. Trucks carrying heavy
loads often had difficulty negotiating the