Posted on Apr 7, 2016
The Beginning: Search and Destroy Video - Vietnam War History - HISTORY.com
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Search and Destroy, Seek and Destroy, or even simply S&D, refers to a military strategy that became a large component of the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War. The idea was to insert ground forces into hostile territory, search out the enemy, destroy them, and withdraw immediately afterward. The strategy was the result of a new technology, the helicopter, which resulted in a new form of warfare, the fielding of air cavalry,[1] and was thought to be ideally suited to counter-guerrilla jungle warfare. The complementary conventional strategy, which entailed attacking and conquering an enemy position, then fortifying and holding it indefinitely, was known as "clear and hold" or "clear and secure." In theory, since the traditional methods of "taking ground" could not be used in this war, a war of attrition would be used, eliminating the enemy by the use of "searching" for them, then "destroying" them, and the "body count" would be the measuring tool to determine the success of the strategy of "search and destroy." It is common practice among military forces to enforce strict rules on a search and destroy mission.
The Beginning: Search and Destroy Video - Vietnam War History - HISTORY.com
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I tend to disagree with your last statement "It is common practice among military forces to enforce strict rules on a search and destroy mission." I was with the 173 Airborne Brigade from May of 1969 to May of 1970....the first five months of my tour was spent in S&D missions as a Plt Ldr, 3d Plt, Co D, 1/503 Infantry, 173 Abn Bde....this was the "best" part of my mission prior to going into Pacification....Pacification was littered with "rules," who we could fire on if at all, how we approached the citizenry and on on......S&D had no rules...in our Brigade....the mission was to find the enemy and assume that within the AO all non US personnel were the enemy and were to be destroyed....there was no wait to be fired upon as we fired first to insure fixing their positions and go on to destroy the enemy force....as a Plt Ldr, my firepower was unbelievable...beyond the weaponry of the Plt, I had Helicopter gunships, Artillery, close air support, Navy gunships off the coast, our 4.5 mortar section, the 81.s of the company if we were close enough....in fact, enough firepower to destroy a major city in the US if need be within a very short period of time....and I did not hesitate to employ these assets when we made contact with the enemy in the interest of protecting my men from making direct contact prior to using other available and more deadly force than small arms......
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
CPT Gary Jugenheimer first and foremost thank you for your service. Secondly, I appreciate your clarity and detailed response backing your reason. Appreciate the clarity and in-depth S/D missions within the 3d Plt, Co D, 1/503 Infantry, 173 Abn Bde.
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CPT Gary Jugenheimer
I see you were commanding D Co, 1/50th....we on occasion had support fro 1/50th and I believe Dusters were from that unit....used at night for Harassment and Interdiction fires...in the morning the cheu hoi's would come out of the mountains with their hands up but never any weapons...I imagine once interrogated at Bde or higher, they were released and went back to their previous location to get the weapon and gear they left behind....also had elements of the 1/50 guarding bridges on QL 1.....our platoon was located at LZ Uplift.....
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Thanks for sharing the video Search and Destroy SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL.
Long before Vietnam, search and destroy operations were used in WWII by Germans and Russians in the eastern front warfare on the steppes and in the cities as well as by US Army and Marines against Japanese forces in jungles and on islands from the Solomon's, New Guinea, the Gilberts, the Caroline's, Marianas and Philippine Island groups.
Long before Vietnam, search and destroy operations were used in WWII by Germans and Russians in the eastern front warfare on the steppes and in the cities as well as by US Army and Marines against Japanese forces in jungles and on islands from the Solomon's, New Guinea, the Gilberts, the Caroline's, Marianas and Philippine Island groups.
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Very interesting background on S&D, can't recall being taught this at Infantry OCS but it might have been mentioned. Do recall after every class the instructor would end with..."..but you won't see this in Vietnam." Also, not sure this tactic was being used by the time I got there in Sept 70 till Aug 71. Full disclosure, didn't serve as infantry officer, I escaped to the Signal Corps. However, do know that early in the war McNamara was all about body count which infuriated the media. Recall a briefing at the 5 o'clock follies (by then I was with AFVN Saigon) where a NY Daily News reporter went ape after the Vietnamese briefer reported that ARVN forces killed some 1200 VC/NVA but would give no details. The briefer was lying of course, which was SOP for the US Govt, US Military spokesperson, as well as Vietnamese Gov't and Military spokesperson. Few years after SVN fell I met the Col who was the ARVN spokesperson at a restaurant in Virginia.
Once again, very interesting info.
Once again, very interesting info.
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