Pause?

This is coolbert:

From my previous blog entry:

That list of things that "worked during the Vietnam War [including] * ACAV [armored cavalry]. * Riverine task force. * AC gunships [AC-47/AC-119/AC-130]. * Phoenix.". After reading this particular entry from the wiki concerning what was called "Speedy Express" and reconsider the list.

"The U.S. military claimed 10,889 enemy [VC] dead, with only 40 soldiers [American] killed in this operation from the period of December 1968 to 31 May 1969 (a kill ratio of 272.2:1), but only 748 weapons were recovered (a ratio of enemy killed to weapons seized of 14.6:1). The U.S. Army after-action report attributed this to the fact the high percentage of kills made during night hours (estimated at 40%), and by air cavalry and other aerial units, as well as admitting that 'many of the guerrilla units were not armed with weapons'."

This all a result of Speedy Express. The American Ninth Infantry Division [9th ID] operating in the Mekong Delta, a Viet Cong stronghold, causing a "big time hurt" to the enemy during the Vietnam War, the 9th ID part and parcel of the riverine task force, that brown-water navy, the absolutely correct combination of task-tailored infantry and naval assets able to cruise the waters of the Mekong River, seeking out and attempting to destroy the armed combatants of the VC insurgents.

The concept of the riverine task force and the purported success of same is largely based upon INFLATED AND SPECIOUS CLAIMS OF DAMAGE DONE TO THE ENEMY THAT COULD NOT BE VERIFIED? After reading that wiki entry I too have doubts. Such figures of enormous numbers of enemy dead but so very few weapons captured in comparison leads even the most casual observer even if with just a single glance to conclude that something is not right here?

That "concept" and implementation of the brown water navy during the Vietnam War was valid and worthy! Battalion sized floating base camps, fire bases and "heliports" able to move freely up and down the Mekong River and various delta tributaries allowed allied units during the war to penetrate and achieve access to enemy strongholds in a manner hitherto impossible. That Mekong river during the monsoon season and during flood stage is an international waterway, such is the deluge that the width and depth of the Mekong allows for warship navigation normally deemed out of the question

coolbert.