CHAPTER VI
Unconventional Operations
With the formation of the mobile
guerrilla force and Projects Sigma and Omega in the period August through
October 1966, the ability of the Special Forces in South Vietnam to conduct
unconventional operations was significantly increased. One of the chief
characteristics of Special Forces units is their capacity to conduct brief or
extended operations inside territory dominated or controlled by enemy forces.
The conduct of these operations was one of the most significant contributions of
the Special Forces to the war effort in Vietnam. Unconventional operations were
planned and executed in furtherance of programs to fill three major needs of the
government of South Vietnam and its supporting Free World Military Assistance
Forces. The requirements were intelligence; denial, through harassment and
interdiction, to the enemy of unrestricted use of various human and material
resources essential to carrying out his strategic and tactical plans; and
recovery of American, Free World forces, and Vietnamese soldiers missing in
action.
Apart from ad hoc recovery attempts,
the unconventional operations most frequently conducted in enemy-controlled
areas were long-range reconnaissance patrols and mobile guerrilla actions.
Fundamental to both types was the concept that, with proper training,
organization, guidance, and support, soldiers who were indigenous to the area of
operations would achieve the greatest success in locating enemy troops, bases,
and auxiliary facilities. The concept of operations also held that, by virtue of
the irregular status of the mission forces and their dependence on Special
Forces advice, assistance, and special logistic and administrative support as
organized in the CIDG program, unconventional operations were best conducted
within the framework of that program.
Mobile guerrilla forces were created in
the fall of 1966 in refinement and amplification of the mobile strike concept.
These guerrilla units were organized, trained, and equipped to operate in remote
areas previously considered to be Viet Cong or North Vietnam Army havens.
Usually almost no reconnaissance or clearing operations had been carried out in
such territory. Instituted
