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Conflicts > Vietnam
The U.S. Army Special Forces had a 14-year long history of
involvement in Vietnam. The first members of Special Forces to
serve in Vietnam were from the 14th Special Forces Operational
Detachment. This 16-man detachment entered Vietnam in 1956 to
train a cadre of Vietnamese Special Forces teams. The first
Special Forces Soldier to die in Vietnam (1956) was Captain
Harry G. Cramer, Jr. Throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s many
Special Forces detachments would deploy to South Vietnam.
5th Special Forces Group. In September 1964, the 5th Special
Forces Group set up its headquarters in Nha Trang. The 5th Group
would stay in Vietnam until it re-deployed to Fort Bragg, North
Carolina in 1971.
MACV-SOG. The Military Assistance Command Vietnam - Studies
and Observations Group or
MACV-SOG
conducted reconnaissance, intelligence, and special operations
during the Vietnam War. This secretive organization ran several operations
within South Vietnam and into the neighboring countries of North
Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. One of the earliest operations was
the implementation of
OPLAN 34A.
Operation DANIEL BOONE. This was a cross-border operation
into Cambodia conducted by Special Forces soldiers assigned to
MACV-SOG. See
Operation DANIEL BOONE.
Special Forces Camps in Vietnam
List of Special Forces Camps, 1961-1971, Center for Military
History, U.S. Army
www.history.army.mil/books/Vietnam/90-23/90-23ac.htm
Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG)
U.S. Army Special Forces ODAs, assigned to the CIA's cover
organization, MAAG's Combined Studies Division (CSD), provided
support in the form of training and advising to Montenard
villagers belonging to the Civilian Irregular Defense Group
(CIDG) program. Teh program began in 1961. The belief of the CIA
and military at the time was that a paramilitary force of
minorities in the central highlands would expand South Vietnam's
counterinsurgency efforts into remote areas.
Buon Enao Experiment. The forerunner to the CIDG program was
an experiment in village defense conducted in the Central
Highlands village of
Buon Enao.
Village Defense Program (VDP). CIDG was originally called the
Village Defense Program - the name was changed to CIDG when
MAAG, Vietnam was restructured and changed its name to the U.S.
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV).
In July 1962 U.S. DoD directed that all overt Special Forces
paramilitary activities be transferred from the CIA to MACV.
1.
Piasecki, Eugene G. "Civilian Irregular Defense Group: The
First Years: 1961-1967", Veritas, Vol. 5, No. 4, posted
on website of Small Wars Journal.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/cidgprogram.pdf
Notable Events
Son Tay Raid. On the night of November
20-21, 1970 a group of U.S. Army Green Berets conducted a
helicopter insert into a prisoner of war camp located near
Hanoi, North Vietnam. The
Operation
IVORY COAST was intended to rescue over 70 U.S. prisoners of
war held by the North Vietnamese.
Websites with Information about Special Forces in Vietnam
Running Agents into North Vietnam. There
were a number of programs mounted by the Central Intelligence
Agency and U.S. Army Special Forces to infilitratrate
intelligence agents and resistance fighters into North Vietnam.
Most of these were unsuccessful and resulted in the capture and
execution of the operatives. Some were 'turned' by the North
Vietnamese intelligence service and used as 'doubles'.
2.
Vietnam - Army Special Operations by GlobalSecurity.org
www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/arsoc-history4.htm
Military Assistance Command Vietnam - Studies and
Observations Group (MACV-SOG)
macvsog.cc
Website managed by Robert Noe (CCN 69-70).
Project Delta, Detachment B-52. The small clandestine
organization of about 100 Special Forces Soldiers proved to be
one of the most successful special reconnaissance operations of
the Vietnam War. The unit was formed in May 1964 as a covert
organization; and it lasted for about six years - deactivating
in July 1970. It was tasked with training the Civilian Irregular
Defense Group and the South Vietnamese Special Forces (known as
Luc Luong Dac Biet) in conducting long-range reconnaissance
patrols deep in enemy territory. The activities of Project Delta
were classified until years after the wars conclusion. About 600
men total served in Project Delta. For more information visit
https://sogsite.com/project-delta/
SF Casualties in Vietnam
Coffelt Database of Vietnam Casualties. This
online database provides the names of individuals who died in
the Vietnam Conflict. The unit of assignment and circumstances
of death are detailed with each individual's entry.
http://coffeltdatabase.org/index.php
Publications about Special Forces in Vietnam
Razzano, Jr., MAJ Frank D., The Necessity for the
Military Assistance Command - Vietnam Studies and Observations
Group, U.S. Army CGSC, Fort Leavenworth, KS, 2015, PDF, 72
pages.
https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a623987.pdf
Department of the Army, Vietnam Studies: U.S. Army Special Forces 1961-1971,
CMH Publication 90-23, Washington, D.C. 1989 (First
Printed, 1973).
www.history.army.mil/books/Vietnam/90-23/90-23C.htm
Department of the Army, US Army Special Forces and
Similar Internal Defense Advisory Operations in Mainland
Southeast Asia, 1962-1967 (U), AD502694, Research Analysis
Corporation Technical Paper RAC-TP-354, McLean, Virginia, June
1969.
http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/ . . . /438.pdf
White House, Guerrilla Operations in Viet-Minh Territory,
National Security Action Memoradum No 26, March 9, 1961.
President Kennedy directed the DoD and CIA to launch guerrilla
operations in Viet-Minh territory at the earliest possible time.
NSAM No 26 posted on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
and Museum.
www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/T6F6HW7rs0i_yrHDA0I4vg.aspx
Videos about Vietnam
Vietnam: Training ARVN | Foreign Internal Defense (FID).
“Training ARVN” examines US Foreign Internal Defense (FID)
doctrine through the early years of the Army of the Republic of
Vietnam. ARVN came to look like a mirror image of the US Army of
the 1960s. Under American advisement, South Vietnam developed
its abilities in its war against North Vietnam and the National
Liberation Front. Yet ARVN’s deficiencies contributed to the
United States’ decision to introduce American combat forces in
1965. Army University Press, YouTube, November 2, 2023, YouTube,
29 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAOUnPOUzoQ&t=2s
SOGCast, YouTube, by John Stryker Meyer. Chronicles and
stories of MAC-V SOG.
Playlist
Endnotes
1. This was directed in National
Security Action Memoradum Number 57: responsibility of
Paramilitary Operations, June 28, 1961.
www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/0HL2ndLn7UapKJRwZ1H2XQ.aspx
2. On the turning of intelligence
operatives by the North Vietnamese read "New Vietnam Spy Tale
Sheds Light on How the U.S. Lost the War", Newsweek, by
Jeff Stein, April 30, 2015.
www.newsweek.com/vietnam-cia-40th-anniversary-327033
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