In article ,
Ed Rasimus wrote:

On 29 May 2004 17:36:07 GMT, (MLenoch) wrote:

I just saw the History Channel presentation of the Army's 7th Cav. Part of
the segment described the battle at Il Drang, where Col. Moore called Broken
Arrow.
The Col. said that the call produced aircraft holding above his position
from 5000' to 35,000'.

The "Broken Arrow" call seems unusual in my experience (I've got to
read the book soon, as the movie version might be the source of this.)

It's in the book, listed in the index.

The term Broken Arrow is part of a trilogy of terms that were used to
describe mishaps/accidents with nuclear weapons systems. The other two
were Bent Spear and Dull Sword.

I never heard the term used as it was in the movie.

From chapter 12:

"Lieutenant Charlie Hastings, our forward air controller, had already
swung into action. Sensing disaster, Hastings made an immediate,
instinctive decision: 'I used the codeword "Broken Arrow", which meant
American unit in contact and in danger of being overrun..."