Combined Action Program

[Applause] [Applause] radio right here Serge frequency 4475 now check you got any smoke two of them that's good okay this is where we're going now we're going over in that tree line where we had all of trouble last week right now in case and tell Li now and tell him so he can tell his P that's where we're going and in case we get into a jam again we've got supporting arms I've got artillery pre pre-plotted out there I've got concentration 0 one0 Alpha right on the edge of tree line Bravo is right in the center about where that grave is Charlie's right on the end of the tree line there telling me [Applause] [Music] this is a civilian casualty of the Vietnam War shot by the Viet Kong in their Terror campaign against the populace of South Vietnam the crime courage and a desire for Freedom such tactics are designed to instill fear into the hearts and minds of these people but this grip of Fear is being broken throughout the first core area by a combined action program a unique Partnership of handpicked Marines and Vietnamese militian known as popular forces or PFS the PF is a part-time Soldier whose mission is to defend the village in which he lives in the past the PFS were not able to put up more than a token opposition to the Viet call in most cases they lack the aggressive leadership and necessary military knowledge it's a safety right here it's these two ingredients leadership and knowledge that the Marines contribute to the combined Action Partnership put it down you cannot fire the successful combined Action Marine is a mixture of warrior Diplomat teacher and engineer he's a volunteer with at least 6 months combat experience in South Vietnam after he's selected for the combined Action Program the prospective Marine is sent to a special school for 9 days of intensive instruction much of this time is spent in learning a basic Vietnamese vocabulary [Music] also Vietnamese C here tell me what should have happened when this Patrol came into the village what's the first thing that should have happened go for the Hamlet Chief exactly exactly here's the Hamlet Chief over here with the bonds now you may recall that we talked about the fact that age is important here in Vietnam the oldest person is is venerated is particularly the male and so the first person that this Patrol should have contacted was the village Chief or the oldest person around of course today I'm going to teach you the Oriental chess game the Vietnamese called Kone there are two reasons that I'm going to teach you this game the first reason is because this is a part of Vietnamese custom and part of their culture and you as members of the cap will want to be able to become part of the village by knowing some of their customs and becoming acquainted with their culture you'll be able to get a lot closer to them Sergeant Carol of Dallas Texas leads a combined action team in the village of Wu about 15 mil outside of danan he's lived there for more than a year with 13 other Marines and a Navy hospital Coran W Fu's defense is his responsibility Sergeant soap is operational military commander of the village advisor to the Village Chief and chief instructor in military skills what I want you to tell them when I'm going to give this little class on uh after the incident the other night I want to be sure that uh at least some of these nein here understand how to uh call in mortars and so we just want to get real Basics on this The Interpreter is another marine sergeant John Fitzpatrick a h through classes like these and on the job training during daily Patrols the Marines hope the PFS of Wu someday will be able to defend their Village by themselves Sergeant soap and his men are working hard to win acceptance by the villagers the close association with their PF counterparts help so our marine attempts to learn more about the Vietnamese way of life [Music] part of their job in this Village is trying to make life a little bit better for the People The Village had never had regular medical attention before Navy hospital Corman Richard arish opened up [Music] shop doc arish treats as many as 50 patients a day most for cuts and skin ulcers there's also the difficult cases War wounds serious illnesses and even child birth Sergeant Fitzpatrick believes neighbors should be able to communicate with each other is is an an English English this this is is an an English English the Marines instruct in other ways by creating the initiative that leads the villagers to help themselves the village of Wu never had a playground for their school the marinees showed them how and in accomplishing this simple act along with their numerous others began to win friend but trust was slow in coming these people had been promised security before by the French by hin Men by earlier Saigon governments even by the vietcom it was a slow process but gradually the people began to understand the personal commitment of each Marine to fight perhaps die in defense of his adopted Village w fu is considered a secure village now what does this mean to the people who live there it means open schools where children can gain the knowledge necessary for a free and prosperous future security means medical care for the sick and injured anytime it's needed how long ago he at the hospital he how many days he at the [Music] hospital security has meant free elections the first in Village history a chance for men to make their voices heard at the local and National level to choose their own leaders [Music] [Applause] security means freedom from Terror from the midnight visits of the VC tax collector the Farmer's Rice is now his own Wu stays secure because Sergeant soap and his men are willing to pay the price golf six golf six Quebec 4 Quebec 4 out their day and night patrols and ambushes have made it risky for the Viet Kong to try to enter this Village this is a typical combined action Patrol actually using these popular Force troops makes it easier for us to to do our job these uh people are raised around this area they know where the Viet Kong are they know who the Viet Kong are they know the trails they know the places where the ambushes have been held in the past 3 or 4 months past two years the past three years also this uh combined action program has grown into a tremendous intelligence resource we get help from these people all the time every day every night they're continuously coming into our area giving us ideas where the VC might be where they might be working uh for example about two weeks ago there was platoon of Viet Kong in our area several people came into my IP here let me know where they are I mounted out of Patrol and we met the enemy surprisedly and chased them completely out of the area we couldn't do this without the help of these Vietnamese popular Force troops uh these people are great they're professionals they don't get paid much money they don't get much recognition and they don't have a lot of prestige outside of their own village but they are protecting their own village and as far as I'm concerned they're the real heroes of this War uh they can lay in an ambush s for two or three hours without moving they know their job they know who the VC are they know who's left home who's left their Village area and become VC and without these people help it'd be awfully hard for us to do our job the Marines of the combined action program Believe In what they're doing they're young most in their late teens or early 20s but they know what they want and they're willing to do what is necessary to get the job done to keep South Vietnam free e [Music]