Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History Volume 9 Issue 2 Article 8 11-2019 Martial Brilliance or Marine Corps Propaganda? The Combined Action Platoon in the Vietnam War Beta Scarpaci Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/aujh Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Scarpaci, Beta (2019) "Martial Brilliance or Marine Corps Propaganda? The Combined Action Platoon in the Vietnam War," Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History: Vol. 9 : Iss. 2 , Article 8. DOI: 10.20429/aujh.2019.090208 Available at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/aujh/vol9/iss2/8 This article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Scarpaci: Martial Brilliance or Marine Corps Propaganda? Martial Brilliance or Marine Corps Propaganda? The Combined Action Platoon in the Vietnam War Bret Scarpaci Marquette University (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Historians and military thinkers alike are fascinated with the Vietnam War given its status as one of the few engagements in American military history in which the United States failed to achieve its strategic and political policy objectives. Much attention is paid to the military policies implemented during the war aimed at neutralizing the guerilla threat, propping up the government in Saigon, and pacifying South Vietnam. The prevailing strategy during the war, Search and Destroy, was championed by political and military leaders alike. The strategy is nearly self-explanatory; conventional line units would conduct operations throughout the jungles, hills, and rice paddies of South Vietnam with one goal in mind: to make contact with and destroy the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong (VC) units operating in the region.