Kit Carson Scouts - Expansion

Expansion

Early in the war and the life of the Kit Carson Scout Program, the most obvious barrier to expansion was that few Americans could speak the language, however the program developed despite this problem and quickly gained command level interest throughout the 1st Marine Division and the 3rd Marine Division. By midyear of 1967, the U.S. Army forces operating in I Corps had become aware of the program and soon after the Kit Carson Scout Program expanded to other American units throughout Vietnam. As the program evolved, recruitment of non-military Viet Cong cadre and defecting North Vietnamese officers were added, and these Kit Carson Scouts also became valuable sources of intelligence in the conduct of the war.

General Westmoreland issued an order in September 1967 directing all infantry divisions in Vietnam, including U.S. Army units, to begin using Kit Carson Scouts in conjunction with friendly operations. He directed that a minimum of 100 scouts per division was necessary to ensure effectiveness. The 3rd Marine Division organized its own Chieu Hoi recruitment and training program for placing Kit Carson Scouts with units extending all the way north to the DMZ. When the division's fourth Kit Carson Scout class graduated from a school in Quang Tri City during December of 1967, the 3rd Marine Division became the first American unit in Vietnam to reach General Westmoreland's targeted level for Kit Carson Scout deployment. From 17 Kit Carson Scouts at the end of 1966, the number of returnees countrywide choosing to become scouts rose to 247 at the end of 1967 and over 2,200 by the end of 1969. A report given to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in February, 1970 listed 230 Kit Carson Scouts killed in action and 716 wounded.