Script and campaign scenery / Alternate history

[Pyros]

For the Platoon (platoons) level of command (theatre of Operations) ToO No1, I propose:

Nam Dong, Lang Vei, Dak To, A Shau, Plei Mei - these were just some of the places Special Forces troops fought and died for during their 14-year stay in South Vietnam. It was a stay that began in June 1956 when the original 16 members of the 14th Special Forces Operational Detachment entered Vietnam to train a cadre of indigenous Vietnamese Special Forces teams. In that same year, on October 21, the first American soldier died in Vietnam - Captain Harry G. Cramer Jr. of the 14th SFOD.

Throughout the remainder of the 1950s and early 1960s, the number of Special Forces military advisors in Vietnam increased steadily. Their responsibility was to train South Vietnamese soldiers in the art of counterinsurgency and to mold various native tribes into a credible, anti-communist threat. During the early years, elements from the different Special Forces groups were involved in advising the South Vietnamese. But in September 1964, the first step was taken in making Vietnam the exclusive operational province of 5th Group when it set up its provisional headquarters in Nha Trang. Six months later in February, Nha Trang became the 5th's permanent headquarters. From that point, Vietnam was mainly the 5th's show until 1971 when it returned to Fort Bragg.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...c-history4.htm

AFTER ACTION REPORTS

163 pages of after action reports. Reports include:

After Action Report for 5th Special Forces Group - February 17, 1963: This Report covers the establishment of Civilian Irregular Defense Group.

After Action Report for Operation CORONADO X, January 18 through February 12, 1968: Just before the 1968 lunar new year (Tet) truce, the 2nd Brigade of the 9th Infantry Division launched riverine operations in the marshlands of the Mekong Delta under the code name CORONADO X. An Army-Navy mobile riverine force searched out the Viet Cong's main force and local battalions in a combination of riverine, search and destroy, patrolling, and interdiction operations. When the Viet Cong violated the temporary truce by attacking eight major cities in the delta, the mission of the mobile riverine force was refocused toward crushing the Tet offensive. In Operation CORONADO X new equipment and techniques had to be developed for tactical mobility and fire support in the delta area, where conventional techniques were only marginally effective. The terrain was, for the most part, inundated. Swamps, rice paddies, irrigation ditches, rivers, and canals, while inhibiting the mobility of regular U.S. forces, had been used to advantage by the enemy.
http://www.specialoperations.com/His...m/Default.html
http://newark.rutgers.edu/~natalieb/vietnam.htm
http://www.militaryunits.com/vietnam.htm

[narwan]

Nothing against special forces, on the contrary. The main reason I felt it might not best suit this campaign as the base formation is because that there already is a campaing that starts out like that if I'm not mistaken (your greek campaign).

Also special forces already start out at high experience levels and I would prefer to see the troops start out 'green' and advance to 'special' status. With enough experience, regular forces can act much like special forces.

I don't mean the entire campaing to be limited to just one of the different option I suggested, a combination can work just fine. For example the airmobile and Mekong delta concepts work better at the lower end (platoon and company size core force) while the marines v NVA regular battles work better at the larger end (company and battallion sized core force). I can easily imagine the core formation advancing through the different concepts (from patrolling to airmobile operations to large scale battles).

Personally I like the Mekong idea because it can offer something quite new, the use of boats as more than just off shore support weapons.

Don't worry about criticizing or shooting holes in my ideas, I'm just thinking out loud here. Just throwing things out there and see where they lead. I'm trying to get a better feel of what this campaign is going to be like (and trying to look at it from an end-users point of view).

Remco

[Boonierat]

Ok, here's a couple of random thoughts:

-Marine campaign: I think we should scrap the idea right away, they fought only in I CTZ (execpt for a few SLF ops) which offers very few changes of scenery and no connection possible with army units.

So go for either :
-An "elite" unit campaign, airborne-oriented. It could start in the 1st Cav 1965-66 in II CTZ with battle in the highlands of Nam (Ia Drang) and the Coastal province of Binh Dinh (Op. Masher etc...), then switch to the 173d Airborne Brigade (1966-1967) with the major operations around Saigon III CTZ (Attleboro, Cedar Falls, Junction City - we could even squeeze the sole major airborne drop of the war here), then I CTZ and the 101st Airborne and the A Shau valley campaign of 1968-69.

-A Grunt campaign, with the likes of the 4th Infantry in the Highlands, the 25th Infantry around Saigon and the 9th Infantry in the Delta (which would offer a great variety of terrain and ops - but maybe with less appeal)

but maybe I'm wrong to articualte this campaign around three tours of service?