Vietnam

ALTHOUGH the United States contended that counterinsurgency operations should be combated through a combination of military operations and social reform, the demands of tactical operations in the Vietnam War remained the most important concern of the US Army. The focus on combat action was especially truthful from the middle of 1966 when US forces launched their first prolonged offensive, through tardy 1968 when Vietnamization of the war began in earnest. During the intervening period, southmost Vietnamese legions emphasized pacification duties while US units carried the brunt of the major fighting. In late 1968, South Vietnamese units began assuming an increasing responsibility for military operations. This responsibility continued to increase until the last US ground troops withdrew in August 1972.

Because of strategic and political considerations, the ground dodge remained that of a gigantic mobile defense. The strategy sought to defeat the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Vietcong (VC) forces and to suffer the people of South Vietnam to manage their own affairs. Tactical operations within the mobile defense were predominately offensive, for the essential idea was to ascertain and destroy the enemy.



Such operations theoretically enabled the government of South Vietnam to extend its control over the people within an sector. soldiers operations were thus an inherent part of the pacification case even though their contribution to the pacification effort was much not immediately apparent at the local or village level.127

From the moment the US Marines first entered South Vietnam in March 1965, the war was characterized by its nonlinear and multidirectional nature. Following the arriver of the 173d Airborne Brigade in May 1965, American tactical operations concentrated on defeating or destroying the enemy within, an area rather than capturing terrain features or conventional objectives. Consequently, tactical methods were usually real different from those previously...If you want to get a full essay, determine it on our website: Orderessay



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