WI USMC fought the river war in Vietnam?

IIUC the bulk of the US Marines in Vietnam fought up north near the DMZ, with the artillery duels etc.

WI instead the Marines were stationed in the south to fight the riverine war in the Mekong Delta? I'd imagine their training, equipment and close working relationship with the Navy would allow them to hit the gournd running. Also I'd imagine that the Marines would come out of Vietnam with years of highly relevant experience which is directly transferable to the Marines' Cold War role.
 
It depends if they were given a free hand. Time and time again I have
seen in books/articles that the Marine brass complained bitterly that
they were sent to do a task that was outside their description. Even
the occupation role, which was originally outside their description
had been modified successfully by way of handed Nicaragua/Haiti and
other misfit tidbits. But they were also given control of the situation
then.

Not so in Vietnam, hence the problem. CAP (Combined Action Program)
attempted to give face saving solution,but was unwisely focused upon
the northern part of south vietnam, as you mention. It should have
been focused in the Delta, as the north was always questionable
ground, especially Quan Tri. (Nyguen in 1975 made what is commonly
called by historians as one of the worst military decisions in history
to cut off the northern part, and bunker down in the south, but
did so without notifying Americans, or preparing. Defeat happened
days later.)

And the Marines should have gotten control in an autonomous sense.
Westy was a goof when committing forces in wise arrangement at the
very least in Tet and almost certainly other periods as well.

Having assault groups would also be good, but did not fit the
politics of the time (delta was pretty much Navy areas,
and while the USMC is part of the Navy, there might be some
friction), not the least Westy toasting his brain to think they
were his ace in the hole for Khe Shan, DMZ, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_Action_Program

http://capmarine.com/

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/usmc/williamson.pdf
 

pnyckqx

Banned
IIUC the bulk of the US Marines in Vietnam fought up north near the DMZ, with the artillery duels etc.

WI instead the Marines were stationed in the south to fight the riverine war in the Mekong Delta? I'd imagine their training, equipment and close working relationship with the Navy would allow them to hit the gournd running. Also I'd imagine that the Marines would come out of Vietnam with years of highly relevant experience which is directly transferable to the Marines' Cold War role.
You're certainly not alone with that observation my friend.

Colonel David Hackworth made the same observation when he was in command of an infantry battalion in the Delta in 1969. Nobody ever came up with any sort of rational explanation. If i were to guess, i'd say too much institutional inertia to overcome.

By design the US Marine Corps is an expeditionary force. That is to say that they're designed for shock operations. Move fast, hit hard, secure an area, and get out. Move along to the next mission. It was never designed for constant attrition situations. That is an Army function.

While it has changed some in recent years --The Marines aren't going to be hitting a beach in Division (MEF) sized units any time soon--their expeditionary nature is revealed in the fact that a Marine Corps combat deployment is approximately six months compared to a year for the Army.

In many ways the Corps was far ahead of the other services, particularly in integrating their special Operations troops (Force Recon) into Marine Amphibious forces. Because of this Marine Corps Force Recon troopers weren't a part of Joint Special Operations Command initially. That has recently changed.

After Vietnam, US Forces should have come out far better equipped with tactics to deal with low level insurgency like conflicts that they face today. However, in the words of John Paul Vann, We don't have 12 years experience in Vietnam. We have one year of experience 12 times over.

No institutional memory.


 
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