Download or read book The Marine Corps Combined Action Program in the Vietnam War written by Gene Hays and published by . This book was released on 2019-09-25 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Marine Corps Combined Action Program was a part of the Vietnam War that is not commonly known. Marines and Navy Corpsmen were embedded in the villages and hamlets of Vietnam. Marines were augmented by Vietnamese Popular Forces somewhat akin to a local militia. The mission of the Marines was to protect themselves and the villagers they lived with, provide the Popular Forces with weapons training, defense and operations tactics with the Marines learning the local language and customs. The end goal was to deny sanctuary to the enemy that would terrorize villagers to support them, forcibly recruit all the able bodied young men and rob the villagers of food and money. When not busy defending their villages, Marines would perform civic action projects that included Navy Corpsmen providing medical services and sanitation, providing materials and assistance for improving living conditions, providing clothing and school supplies donated by supporters in the United States while educating them about their government and democracy. This Combined Action of Marines and Vietnamese was about winning "hearts and minds" leading to a successful pacification program throughout the Marine's tactical area of responsibility. With the Marine Corps assigned responsibility for the northern most section of Vietnam, referred to as I Corps (pronounced Eye Corps). By 1968, this program increased exponentially, succeeding driving the enemy (Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army, known as NVA) away from the I Corps area. Using the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos and Cambodia, the NVA bypassed the Marines and moved through the delta. This program was one of limited success as noted by Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) leaving some historians to ponder if that success would have also borne fruit throughout all of South Vietnam. This book describes in detail all the above, including the many acts of valor and courage of Combined Action personnel.

Download or read book The Combined Action Platoons written by Michael Peterson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1989-06-26 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first comprehensive history for the academic reader of the Combined Action Program (CAP) in Vietnam. Created as a response by the U.S. Marines to what was known as the other war in Vietnam, the CAP Program was comprised of platoons each combining a fourteen man marine rifle squad, a navy corpsman, and a platoon of South Vietnamese militia. These CAP units were unique to the war. Their function was to capture and hold rather than to search and destroy. While the main forces of the Army and Marines all too often waged war on the Vietnamese hamlets, the CAP marines waged war from the hamlets. Their intent was to keep the hamlet intact. The uniqueness of the CAP Program justifies this study not only from an historical and political perspective but also sociologically. The CAP Marines were among the few Americans who lived with the Vietnamese in their own setting for long periods of time, developing community projects and civic action programs. The 1980s has brought about a resurgence of valuable research, the declassification of official documentation, and most important, an emotional distance from the trauma of defeat. The author takes full advantage of these conditions to present a thorough and comprehensive history and civic program analysis. Many critics of the Vietnam War now agree that the tactics of the Combined Action Program were among the most promising of the war. The CAP Marines fought a deadly and personal war with the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army. In this volume, the author achieves his twofold objective. He not only provides a valuable historical account of the Program, but also analyzes the civic action and community development projects undertaken by the CAP Marines. His study is done with an eye to the future as U.S. counterinsurgency has again found expression in other Third World conflicts.

Download or read book Defend and Befriend written by John Southard and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-07-08 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After relatively successful military interventions in Iraq in 1992 and Yugoslavia in 1998, many American strategists believed that airpower and remote technology were the future of U.S. military action. But America's most recent wars in the Middle East have reinforced the importance of counterinsurgency, with its imperative to "win hearts and minds" on the ground in foreign lands. In both Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military has studied and experimented with the combined action platoon (CAP) concept used from 1965 to 1971 by the Marine Corps in Vietnam. Consisting of twelve Marines, a medic, and dozens of inexperienced local militiamen, the American contingent of CAPs lived in South Vietnamese villages where they provided twenty-four-hour security and daily medical support for civilians, and fostered social interaction through civic action projects, such as building schools, offices, and wells. Defend and Befriend is the first comprehensive study of the evolution of these platoons, emphasizing how and why the U.S. Marine Corps attempted to overcome the inherent military, social, and cultural obstacles on the ground in Vietnam. Basing his analysis on Marine records and numerous interviews with CAP veterans, author John Southard illustrates how thousands of soldiers tasked with counterinsurgency duties came to perceive the Vietnamese people and their mission. This unique study counters prevailing stereotypes and provides a new perspective on the American infantryman in the Vietnam War. Illuminating the fear felt by many Americans as they served among groups of understandably suspicious civilians, Defend and Befriend offers important insights into the future development of counterinsurgency doctrine.

Download or read book Combined Action Platoons In The Vietnam War written by Major Ian J. Townsend and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 93 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Vietnam, the III Marine Amphibious Force used Combined Action Platoons (CAPs) as one part of its operational level counterinsurgency campaign. These platoons provided security assistance to the South Vietnamese Popular Forces and civic action to the village based population. To measure the operational effectiveness and the current relevancy of this specific type of combined action their activities are evaluated against current Army counterinsurgency doctrine. This monograph demonstrates the value of the CAPs as one element in the context of a counterinsurgency campaign, and how this form of combined action may serve as a tool for Army commanders conducting operational art in future. Independent operations are not the future of American warfare in the 21st Century. Contemporary thought about the future of American warfare is that the “conventional forces of the United States Army will have an enduring requirement to build the security forces and security ministries of other countries.” Some form of combined action will be a required in American military operations for the foreseeable future. Given this truth, CAPs provide a practical historical example of a combined action technique that can serve as a tool for the future.

Download or read book War in the Villages written by Ted N. Easterling and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2021-03-15 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much of the history written about the Vietnam War overlooks the U.S. Marine Corps Combined Action Platoons. These CAPs lived in the Vietnamese villages, with the difficult and dangerous mission of defending the villages from both the National Liberation Front guerrillas and the soldiers of the North Vietnamese Army. The CAPs also worked to improve living conditions by helping the people with projects, such as building schools, bridges, and irrigation systems for their fields. In War in the Villages, Ted Easterling examines how well the CAPs performed as a counterinsurgency method, how the Marines adjusted to life in the Vietnamese villages, and how they worked to accomplish their mission. The CAPs generally performed their counterinsurgency role well, but they were hampered by factors beyond their control. Most important was the conflict between the Army and the Marine Corps over an appropriate strategy for the Vietnam War, along with weakness of the government of the Republic of South Vietnam and the strategic and the tactical ability of the North Vietnamese Army. War in the Villages helps to explain how and why this potential was realized and squandered. Marines who served in the CAPs served honorably in difficult circumstances. Most of these Marines believed they were helping the people of South Vietnam, and they served superbly. The failure to end the war more favorably was no fault of theirs.

Download or read book CAP Mot written by Barry L. Goodson and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Water buffalo dung to keep the mosquitoes away. Ordinary villagers like Mamasan Tou would set up a security network so the CAP marines could afford the occasional luxury of a nap or a few minutes to write a letter home. The only time a CAP marine left the jungle was when he was rotating home, wounded or dead. Goodson's thirteen-month tour of duty was almost over when he was wounded. He spent several weeks in various hospitals before going home, and facing a whole.

Download or read book Our War was Different written by Albert Hemingway and published by Naval Inst Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shares the experiences and observations of Marines who were part of the CAP, or Combined Action Program, one of the few successes in Vietnam

Download or read book The U S Marine Corps Combined Action Program CAP written by Curtis Williamson III and published by . This book was released on 2012-11-17 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Vietnam War was a war against an insurgency sustained by the resources drawn from the South Vietnamese peasant.The CAP offered a viable alternative to the strategy taken in Vietnam, challenging the sustaining infrastructure of the guerrilla, while providing security for the largely agrarian populace.Taking a lesson from Mao Tse-tung's insurgent rise to power in an agrarian setting, Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap implemented a guerrilla-based strategy to liberate and unify Vietnam. Placing heavy reliance on the populace of South Vietnam to provide both men and food for the NVA and VC, the village represented a center of gravity for the Communist movement.Incapable of viewing Vietnam as anything but a conventional battleground, General William C. Westmoreland applied the unsuccessful strategy of "search and destroy," and wholly ignored the insurgent underpinnings of his enemy and their grip on the populace. Possessing a belief that the war was among the people, the Marines spawned combined action, that of combining a Marine rifle squad with a platoon of South Vietnamese Popular Forces who cohabitated together within a particular village.Never growing beyond 2,500 men and 114 platoons, the program achieved unsurpassed success towards providing security for the populace, threatening the guerrilla infrastructure, empowering the local and regional leaders to govern, and killing the enemy. Additionally, all attempts by senior Marine leaders to convince General Westmoreland of the CAP's validity as a fitting strategy for all ground forces failed to overcome his conventional inclination towards the nature of the war.The strategy proposed contains three elements: (1) separating the guerrillas from the people through combined action, (2) fighting the guerrillas as guerrillas, and (3) limited pursuit of large NVA units with "fix and destroy" forces.Accepting that the war was among the people, this alternative strategy strives to achieve first pacification through combined action, then destruction of enemy forces.The application of American military power in Vietnam failed to acknowledge the critical vulnerabilities inherent to an indigenous guerrilla force. Through the CAP, the Marines provided a model that if taken throughout South Vietnam would have likely preserved its sovereignty. Given the American inclination to play down the volatility of small scale wars and in particular guerrilla affairs, the Marines' combined action experiences in Vietnam present a viable alternative to unconventional utilization of conventional forces for the future. This book lays out the CAP strategy.

Download or read book U S Marines In Vietnam The Landing And The Buildup 1965 written by Dr. Jack Shulimson and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-09 with total page 666 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the second volume in a series of chronological histories prepared by the Marine Corps History and Museums Division to cover the entire span of Marine Corps involvement in the Vietnam War. This volume details the Marine activities during 1965, the year the war escalated and major American combat units were committed to the conflict. The narrative traces the landing of the nearly 5,000-man 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade and its transformation into the ΙII Marine Amphibious Force, which by the end of the year contained over 38,000 Marines. During this period, the Marines established three enclaves in South Vietnam’s northernmost corps area, I Corps, and their mission expanded from defense of the Da Nang Airbase to a balanced strategy involving base defense, offensive operations, and pacification. This volume continues to treat the activities of Marine advisors to the South Vietnamese armed forces but in less detail than its predecessor volume, U.S. Marines in Vietnam, 1954-1964; The Advisory and Combat Assistance Era.

Download or read book The U S Marine Corps Combined Action Program CAP A Proposed Alternative Strategy for the Vietnam War written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Vietnam War was a war against an insurgency sustained by the resources drawn from the South Vietnamese peasant. The CAP offered a viable alternative to the strategy taken in Vietnam, challenging the sustaining infrastructure of the guerrilla, while providing security for the largely agrarian populace. Discussion: Taking a lesson from Mao Tse-tung's insurgent rise to power in an agrarian setting, Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap implemented a guerrilla-based strategy to liberate and unify Vietnam. Placing heavy reliance on the populace of South Vietnam to provide both men and food for the NVA and VC, the village represented a center of gravity for the Communist movement. Incapable of viewing Vietnam as anything but a conventional battleground, General William C. Westmoreland applied the unsuccessful strategy of "search and destroy," and wholly ignored the insurgent underpinnings of his enemy and their grip on the populace. Possessing a belief that the war was among the people, the Marines spawned combined action, that of combining a Marine rifle squad with a platoon of South Vietnamese Popular Forces who cohabitated together within a particular village. Never growing beyond 2,500 men and 114 platoons, the program achieved unsurpassed% success towards providing security for the populace, threatening the guerrilla infrastructure, empowering the local and regional leaders to govern, and killing the enemy. Additionally, all attempts by senior Marine leaders to convince General Westmoreland of the CAP's validity as a fitting strategy for all ground forces failed to overcome his conventional inclination towards the nature of the war.

Download or read book U S Marines in Vietnam written by Jack Shulimson and published by U.S. Government Printing Office. This book was released on 1997 with total page 828 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book was donated as a part of the David H. Hugel Collection, an archival collection of the Special Collections & Archives, University of Baltimore.

Download or read book The U S Marine Corps Combined Action Program CAP written by Curtis L. Williamson and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Vietnam War was a war against an insurgency sustained by the resources drawn from the South Vietnamese peasant. The CAP offered a viable alternative to the strategy taken in Vietnam, challenging the sustaining infrastructure of the guerrilla, while providing security for the largely agrarian populace.

Download or read book Tiger Papa Three written by Edward F. Palm and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2020-06-03 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. Marine Corps' Combined Action Program (CAP) in Vietnam was an enlightened gesture of strategic dissent. Recognizing that search-and-destroy operations were immoral and self-defeating and that the best hope for victory was "winning hearts and minds," the Corps stationed squads of Marines, augmented by Navy corpsmen, in the countryside to train and patrol alongside village self-defense units called Popular Forces. Corporal Edward F. Palm became a combined-action Marine in 1967. His memoir recounts his experiences fighting with the South Vietnamese, his readjustment to life after the war, and the circumstances that prompted him to join the Corps in the first place. A one-time aspiring photojournalist, Palm includes photographs he took while serving, along with an epilogue describing what he and his former sergeant found during their 2002 return to Vietnam.

Download or read book Small Wars Manual written by United States. Marine Corps and published by . This book was released on 1940 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book War in the Villages Volume 5 written by Ted N Easterling and published by . This book was released on 2021-03-15 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much of the history written about the Vietnam War overlooks the U.S. Marine Corps Combined Action Platoons. These CAPs lived in the Vietnamese villages, with the difficult and dangerous mission of defending the villages from both the National Liberation Front guerrillas and the soldiers of the North Vietnamese Army. The CAPs also worked to improve living conditions by helping the people with projects, such as building schools, bridges, and irrigation systems for their fields. In War in the Villages, Ted Easterling examines how well the CAPs performed as a counterinsurgency method, how the Marines adjusted to life in the Vietnamese villages, and how they worked to accomplish their mission. The CAPs generally performed their counterinsurgency role well, but they were hampered by factors beyond their control. Most important was the conflict between the Army and the Marine Corps over an appropriate strategy for the Vietnam War, along with weakness of the government of the Republic of South Vietnam and the strategic and the tactical ability of the North Vietnamese Army. War in the Villages helps to explain how and why this potential was realized and squandered. Marines who served in the CAPs served honorably in difficult circumstances. Most of these Marines believed they were helping the people of South Vietnam, and they served superbly. The failure to end the war more favorably was no fault of theirs.

Download or read book U S Marines In Vietnam Fighting The North Vietnamese 1967 written by Maj. Gary L. Telfer and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-09 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the fourth volume in an operational and chronological series covering the U.S. Marine Corps’ participation in the Vietnam War. This volume details the change in focus of the III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF), which fought in South Vietnam’s northernmost corps area, I Corps. This volume, like its predecessors, concentrates on the ground war in I Corps and III MAF’s perspective of the Vietnam War as an entity. It also covers the Marine Corps participation in the advisory effort, the operations of the two Special Landing Forces of the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, and the services of Marines with the staff of the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. There are additional chapters on supporting arms and logistics, and a discussion of the Marine role in Vietnam in relation to the overall American effort.

Download or read book The Combined Action Marine written by Rebecca H. Bishop and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By focusing on Vietnam Combined Action Program (CAP) Marines and using them as examples of service members whose contributions, especially civic action, went mostly unnoticed during and after the war, this thesis will contribute to filling a specific void within a larger gap of Vietnam War pacification and civic action history. Furthermore, this study will reveal that these CAP Marines did not fit a publicly accepted image of Vietnam service members that was enabled by incomplete and sometimes inaccurate histories and war-time media coverage and both demonstrated by and further perpetuated by the 1980s popular film Platoon. That image is of a heartless, unintelligent, alcoholic/drug-dependent, narrow-minded "gook-"killer. In the service, he found his niche as only a combatant, yet he was beat down relentlessly by war's daily tragedies. The CAPs were made up of all kinds of people, many of whom were nothing like the popular Vietnam service member image that penetrated and lingered in the collective memory. In fact, in spite of endless criticisms, tongue-in-cheek references to the "hearts and minds" missions, and popular images to the contrary, many would argue that the CAPs actually did win hearts and minds in Vietnam. In the process of researching and writing this thesis, the author conducted literature and archival searches at Fenwick Library at George Mason University, The Alfred M. Gray Marine Corps Research Center, and the Marine Corps Archives and Special Collections. The author also conducted interviews with multiple CAP veterans, as well as other veterans who offered information to the topic.