Marine Forces On Defending Khe Sanh Case Study

Since 1775, the United States Marine Corps has continuously dealt with irregular warfare in many conflicts around the globe. This irregular warfare has been fought via many activities, all of which involved our 14 leadership traits. The most prominent leadership traits used to combat irregular warfare are knowledge, judgement, and decisiveness, all of which are necessary for mission accomplishment.

The Marine Corps takes history very seriously. When asked, Marines can name battles most people have never heard of, such as the Battle of Chapultepec in Mexico in 1847. It is rumored that the Blood Stripe of a Marine Non-Commissioned Officer’s (NCO’s) trouser is based off the bloody Battle of Chapultepec. Marine NCO’s since then had created a tradition called “Blood Striping.” Blood striping is the act of literally inflicting a blood stripe on a newly promoted NCO’s legs through means of punching or kicking them. Blood striping a Marine is classified as hazing and is already prohibited under Marine Corps Order 1700.28B, but still happens to this day and is supported by most Marines. Blood striping is a tradition that should be changed or completely eliminated because it is based off false history, considered hazing, and does not support the Marine Corps goal in approaching professionalism. Marine NCO’s hold the title “keeper of traditions” not the “keeper of lies.”

military was the Vietcong’s use of guerilla warfare tactics. Guerilla warfare is defined as the use of hit-and-run tactics by small, mobile groups of irregular forces operating in territory controlled by a hostile, regular force. A lot of the Vietcong's fighting was done through ambushing, booby traps and mines, use of tunnel systems, but did include some pitched combat with the Americans when necessary. The Vietcong’s guerrilla warfare also made it really hard for the U.S. military to find the enemy, especially when they blended in as everyday Vietnamese citizens. They would use their environment to attack the Americans quickly and then dip out. Whether it was through the over two hundred mile long tunnel systems, or escaping deep into the Vietnamese forests.

American soldiers were using fairly new weapons compared to previous conflicts. The fully automatic assault rifle was new addition to the American arsenal. A prime example of the sheer power and deadliness of an automatic rifle is the M1918BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle). This gun was the first of it’s kind for American forces. Though it was a bit heavy, it had stopping power. It blasted the .30-06 Springfield round down range at 2,822 f/s. Although the iron sights weren’t all that great, the aperture view did the job quite well for targets that were a little ways out. Due to the success of this weapon, Browning set out to create a better, stronger version of it for heavier combat. The M1919 Browning Heavy Machinegun was deployed. This monster of a gun was usable without a bipod, but heavy and hard to aim without. With a 600 round per minute rate of fire from a direct feed belt, the Browning was one of the

The United States battle tactics did not fare well against an unseen enemy, who rarely presented himself in a full-scale battle, but rather picked at units one by one. A conversation between a colonel in the U.S. army and a colonel in the Vietnamese communist army summed up the guerilla warfare tactics used: "You know you never defeated us on the battlefield," said the American Colonel. The North Vietnamese Colonel pondered this remark for a moment. "That may be so," he replied, " but that is also irrelevant." The revolutionaries in Vietnam used hit and run attacks. They would assault small groups of soldiers, by sneaking up on them. This worked well, because it allowed the Viet Minh to avoid bigger battles, which they were not trained for. They knew that the U.S. soldiers were unfamiliar with the battlegrounds and jungles, so they used this weakness to their advantage, by being able to move more quickly and stealthily than the U.S. troops. They also knew how to

During the pivotal 1950 battle, 15,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines, alongside another 15,000 UN soldiers, fought through a force of 120,000 Chinese soldiers to reach the sea some 78 miles away. During the campaign, U.S. forces successfully evacuated 98,000 refugees while inflicting heavy losses on the Chinese army. The Marine Corps led the push against a numerically superior Chinese force. Chosin also called Changjin, campaign early in the Korean War, part of the Chinese Second Offensive (November–December 1950) to drive the United Nations out of North Korea. The Chosin Reservoir campaign was directed mainly against the 1st Marine Division of the U.S. X Corps, which had disembarked in eastern North Korea and moved inland in severe winter weather to a mountainous area near the reservoir. The campaign succeeded in forcing the entire X Corps to evacuate to South Korea, but the Chinese did not achieve their particular objective of isolating and destroying the 1st Marine Division. Instead, in a deliberate retrograde movement that has become one of the most-storied exploits in Marine Corps lore, the Marines turned and fought their way down a narrow vulnerable road through several mountain passes and a bridged chasm until they reached transport ships waiting at the coast.Following the successful landing of the X Corps at Inch’ŏn in September 1950, the United Nations Command under the direction of U.S. Pres. Harry S. Truman’s administration and the UN General Assembly, pursued the remnants of the communist Korean People’s Army into North Korea. On the orders of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of all allied forces in the UNC, the U.S. Eighth Army crossed the 38th parallel the prewar border on October 7 and advanced up the western side of the Korean peninsula toward P’yŏngyang, the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. At the same time, MacArthur redeployed the X Corps on amphibious ships around the peninsula to Korea’s east coast. The X Corps commanded by Maj. Gen. Edward M. Almond included the 1st Marine Division Maj. Gen. Oliver P. Smith, the 7th Infantry Division Maj. Gen. David G. Barr, and the 3rd Infantry Division Maj. Gen. Robert H. Soule. The

With this new and improved anti-aircraft tank it became one of the perfect air defense weapon systems for potential low-altitude threats, with the M55 Quad 50 as its only rival in versatility. Known as the ‘Whispering Death’, the M55 Quad 50 consisted of four Browning M2 .50-caliber machine guns mounted in a power turret on a deuce and a half (2 ½) or 5 ton truck (“ADA Units in Vietnam”, n.d.). “Generally speaking…Quads could not go cross-country in support for maneuver units. But in operations away from established road nets where heavy machine-gun support was needed, it was possible to slingload the Quad with the CH-47 helicopter” (Charles E. Kirkpatrick, in “Arsenal”, Vietnam magazine,

The battle of Ap Bac was a small battle engaged between the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and the insurgents, or the People Liberation Armed Forces (Viet Cong AKA VC) with the assistance of American’s weapons and advice during the Vietnam War. It took place on 2 January, 1963, near a small village named Ap Bac which is located approximately 65 km southwest of Saigon in the Mekong Delta. (Starry, 2002). As a senior leader, it is important that we have to be technically and tactically proficient. In order to be proficient, we not only need to be trained, but also we have to know how to gain experience from past battles in history using battle assessment, and critical thinking process to study the battle. That way, we know what needs to be improved, how to sustain it, and how would we execute it better next time. Therefore, studying the history of the battle of Ap Bac will enhance the knowledge of how the commanders used the most effective and efficient method for applying decisive action on the battle field. It would be a successful outcome for the South Vietnamese ARVN, and Kennedy’s administration would have gained more trust from American people for the presence of American troops in Vietnam, if the American advisers and the ARVN’s commanders would have integrated intelligence preparation of the battlefield (ITP) throughout the operations process to identify the gaps of intelligence between human intelligence (HUMINT),

In Saigon as the situation unfolded, the general of the ARVN asked the US for help. First the US and Vietnamese Air Force were able to airlift in supplies, fresh bodies, and remove the wounded. The AH-1 Cobra were able to stop most of the tank advancement and infantry men allowing the ARVN troops on the ground to continue to defend their positions10. The VNAF, along with the US Air force and US Navy brought in planes to engage and thwart the ability of the VNA/VC advancement. Though this was successful it was found that there was not any form of battle space de-confliction. In this the pilots found themselves not only dodging the Anti-Aircraft Artillery from the VNA/VC, but as well as other aircraft in the fight. Aircraft were seen flying into direct fire from other aircraft and no one was talking to each other. Ground troops were not on the same frequency so they would stumble into the engagement area as well.

The production team also made sure the weapons and vehicles were historically correct as well. To me, those are two of the things I would notice when it comes to viewing historically re-enacted war movies. I have seen too many movies where the weapons or vehicles that are from the wrong era ruin the movie and therefore destroying its historic value. However, in this movie, the production team hired a company called Cinema Weaponry who furnished and restored some 250 weapons for the Air Calvary soldiers including M-79 40mm grenade launchers, M-60 machine guns, 45-calibur pistols and M-16E1 assault rifles. The Vietnamese used anything from French and Russian surplus rifles including the MAT-49 submachine gun and PPS-43 rifles. Since few actual AK-47 were around, they made custom replicas of the Ak-47s. Over all, the costume and prop departments for this movie did an extraordinary job to simulate and recreate the Battle of Ia Drang in 1965.

The People’s Army of North Vietnam (PAVN) carried out a massive artillery bombardment on the U.S. Marine garrison at Khe Sanh (Defending Khe Sanh). The Marines recorded an actual body count of 1,602 NVA killed, but they estimated the total NVA dead between 10,000 and 15,000. The Time magazine, in an April 12, 1968, was titled, “Victory at Khe Sanh.” They took 220 killed at Khe Sanh and about 800 wounded and evacuated them to a different area. For the next 77 days, U.S. Marines and their South Vietnamese allies fought off an intense battle of the garrison. The Battle of Khe Sanh was one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.

of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and U.S. forces, but fire had also been directed at

Likewise, the Vietcong received weapons, supplies, and heavy armaments, such as tanks, from the Russians and Chinese which made the resistance even greater than the U.S. and its allies' forces put together. This was evidenced clearly during the Korean war when the U.N. and U.S. forces arrived to Korea and forced the North Korean forces back to the 38th parallel and were even about to take North Korea as well, but as this was about to occur, the "human waves" created by the Chinese soldiers were introduced into Korea, retaking North Korea and forcing the allied forces out of Korea absolutely. Correspondingly, when the U.S. introduced its forces into Vietnam, the Vietcong received much support from Russia mainly but also from China, which turned the tide of the encounter and lead the communist Vietnamese to victory. On a more detailed level, during the mid of the conflicts, there were also several similar points. Operations on behalf of the U.S. had similar results, such being the case with "Rolling Thunder" and "search and destroy" tactics during the Vietnam war and the attack on North Korea after having taken the 38th parallel during the Korean War.

In the spring of 1967, the North Vietnamese army, also known as PAVN, changed tactics. They decided to attempt to open up a new battlefield along the South Vietnamese border in order to lure U.S. forces into an environment favorable to the North Vietnamese. They planned to use guerilla tactics to ambush the American troops and inflict heavy losses. In accordance with this strategy the PAVN sent a reinforced regiment to the Khe Sanh area. The regiment consisted of the “95C Regiment, 325 Division, plus a battalion from the division’s 18C Regiment.” (Willbanks 116) The first encounter between the PAVN regiment and U.S. forces occurred in April of 1967. A U.S. marine patrol was ambushed on one of the hills surrounding Khe Sanh. When a rescue patrol was dispatched to retrieve the ambushed marines, they suffered heavy losses due to their M16 rifles jamming en masse. When news of this accident was relayed to Congress it sparked a wave of congressional hearings and army modifications to improve the reliability of the M16.

The North Vietnamese Communist leadership's ability to reassess and adapt during the Vietnam War was reflected in how well they combined guerilla and conventional operations to achieve their strategic goal of unifying Vietnam under communist rule. Throughout the conflict, the Viet Cong (VC) were employed to conduct guerilla operations while North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and VC "main force" units were used to transition to conventional operations. Guerilla operations enabled Hanoi to inflict a steady flow of casualties on US forces which increased anti-war sentiment in America. NVA and VC main force conventional operations reinforced the US Army's conventional approach to the fight which caused the Americans to alienate the people of South