Post by Anonymous Vet on Nov 30, 2003 11:04:45 GMT -5
Part-time
Troops, US Led, Aid Saigon
It was an odd-looking squad that set out on patrol today from this village 12 miles inland from Danang.
There were three brawny American marines and nine wiry little Vietnamese whose
gold teeth flashed in the sun when they smiled. Together, they form part of Hoaphu's combined action company, one of 50 operating in villages within the three Marine Corps perimeters in South Vietnam.
The combined companies are trying to rid the villages of Vietcong guerrillas and develop local defense forces so that United States marines can be freed for operations against enemy main-force units.
There are those who think that organizations of Americans and South Vietnamese, living and working and fighting side by side produce the best possible hope of uprooting the Vietcong in this nation's thousands of villages.
Called Underrated
The marines in Hoaphu and those in the other combined action companies are volunteers, men with outstanding records and with at least six months of combat experience.
Not so the South Vietnamese. They are ordinary members of the so-called Popular Forces part-time soldiers who in the past have gained no particular reputation for bravery or skill.
But Sgt. Carrol P. Soape of Dallas, the commander of the Hoaphu company, thinks they have been underrated.
"Training and leadership are what have been missing," he said. "When people say these P.F.s (Popular Forces) are no good, I've got to disagree with them," the sergeant said. If you're patient, if you're willing to take the trouble to try to see things from their point of view, they'll show you what they can do. And then you see that you've got to think a lot of them.
CIDG volunteers later they were known officially as RF/ PFs and called Ruff-Puffs played an important role in the fight for their own country. Fighting alongside American servicemen, they proved very good at their best. New York Times
Troops, US Led, Aid Saigon
It was an odd-looking squad that set out on patrol today from this village 12 miles inland from Danang.
There were three brawny American marines and nine wiry little Vietnamese whose
gold teeth flashed in the sun when they smiled. Together, they form part of Hoaphu's combined action company, one of 50 operating in villages within the three Marine Corps perimeters in South Vietnam.
The combined companies are trying to rid the villages of Vietcong guerrillas and develop local defense forces so that United States marines can be freed for operations against enemy main-force units.
There are those who think that organizations of Americans and South Vietnamese, living and working and fighting side by side produce the best possible hope of uprooting the Vietcong in this nation's thousands of villages.
Called Underrated
The marines in Hoaphu and those in the other combined action companies are volunteers, men with outstanding records and with at least six months of combat experience.
Not so the South Vietnamese. They are ordinary members of the so-called Popular Forces part-time soldiers who in the past have gained no particular reputation for bravery or skill.
But Sgt. Carrol P. Soape of Dallas, the commander of the Hoaphu company, thinks they have been underrated.
"Training and leadership are what have been missing," he said. "When people say these P.F.s (Popular Forces) are no good, I've got to disagree with them," the sergeant said. If you're patient, if you're willing to take the trouble to try to see things from their point of view, they'll show you what they can do. And then you see that you've got to think a lot of them.
CIDG volunteers later they were known officially as RF/ PFs and called Ruff-Puffs played an important role in the fight for their own country. Fighting alongside American servicemen, they proved very good at their best. New York Times