The 2nd Marine Brigade was a mostly volunteer group that included many of South Korea's early Chaebols (Lee Kun-Hee, Ohn Jee-won, Chung Mong-koo), intellectuals and staunch anti-communists.

The Blue Dragons were initially deployed to Cam Ranh Bay in September 1965, but in December moved to Tuy Hòa to provide security against the NVA 95th Regiment.

[2] Under an arrangement with the USMC, air assets would be provided to the brigade and assigned the same priority for available aircraft as American units.

A team from Subunit One, 1st ANGLICO was dispatched and charged with the mission of keeping an air umbrella over the Blue Dragon Brigade in and out of the field.

Initially, the AK-47-equipped Vietcong (VC) and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) had somewhat superior small-arms to South Korean soldiers, since they were armed with World War II-era weaponry (M1 Garand and M1 carbine), although ROK forces like others relied on overwhelming use of heavy artillery and air support against small-arms and mortar units.