The Farm Gate deployment was authorized by Kennedy on 11 October 1961. At about the same time, and under cover of USAF participation in an air show, four McDonnell RF-101C reconnaissance planes were detached to Vietnam to fly missions over that country and Laos. Four more were sent to Thailand in November, and later replaced the Vietnam detachment. Before the end of the year, they had flown about 200 sorties.

In November, Kennedy authorized the deployment of three companies of Army H-21 helicopters, plus an Air Force squadron of 16 Fairchild C-123 tactical transports. The Vietnamese air force was loaned 30 North American T-28 aircraft, fitted for counter-insurgency missions. The most controversial decision, viewed with the perspective of time, was his authorization to move a Ranch Hand flight of six C-123 aircraft from the Philippines to Vietnam. Their mission was defoliation of the thick jungle that hid the Viet Cong.

Late in 1961 came the first of the many rules of operation, telling the Air Force how it was to fight or cooperate with the Vietnamese. That first one prohibited any combat by the Farm Gate detachment unless a Vietnamese crewman was aboard, or unless the South Vietnamese air force could not handle the mission.

Those first few months set the pattern: escalation of forces, operational restrictions, control from Washington. It was a frustrating way to go to war, and it had hardly begun.