The present rules of engagement in Afghanistan and in Iraq, under the Obama Administration, seem to have been established to make the US and coalition forces lose the war against terrorism rather than winning it. Here is an excerpt from a report. "…occasionally there are riveting communications, such as a recent e-mail from a noncommissioned officer (NCO) [...]

The hammer and anvil is a classic military tactic which has been used since the beginning of organized warfare. From the ancient world, in which it was used by Alexander the Great and the Roman Generals, to the Vietnam War it has been used by Generals from every empire and nations. In ancient times the [...]

Operation Plan 34A was a classified US program of covert military actions against North Vietnam. It called for raids to be carried out by South Vietnamese commandos inserted deep withing enemy territory, operating under American orders, and sabotage against North Vietnamese coastal and island installations. Operation Plan 34A was officially initiated in 1961 by the [...]

Seek and Destroy, or S&D, is a military strategy which was used intensively by the US forces during the Vietnam War. This military tactic entailed inserting ground forces into hostile territory, searching for the enemy, destroying them, and then withdrawing immediately afterwards. Thus, the Seek and Destroy strategy envolved the use of Special Forces, or [...]

Australian troops entered the Vietnam War with their own counter-insurgency tactics, and this was often in conflict with US concepts of a counter-insurgency war. The 1ATF light infantry tactics such as patrolling, searching villages without destroying them, and ambush and counter ambush drew criticism from some US commanders. General William Westmoreland is reported to have complained [...]

The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a logistical system of jungle routes that ran from North Vietnam (communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam) to South Vietnam (the Republic of Vietnam) and through the neighboring kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia, which were used as sanctuaries into which the Viet Cong guerrillas ran when they were attacked during [...]