Background
For more details on this topic, see Cambodian Campaign. For more details on this topic, see Operation Lam Son 719.The Ho Chi Minh trail, the logistical system that supplied the manpower and materiel for the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam and the People's Army of Vietnam, ran not only through the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Republic of Vietnam, but also through the neighbouring countries of Laos and Cambodia. Via the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group, the US military aimed to work outside of Vietnam and General Westmoreland's jurisdiction:
"to execute an intensified program of harassment, diversion, political pressure, capture of prisoners, physical destruction, acquisition of intelligence, generation of propaganda, and diversion of resources, against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam."
On 21 September 1965 the JCS authorized MACV-SOG to begin cross-border operations within Laos in areas contiguous to the South Vietnam's western border.
Typically the 20th SOS carried unconventional forces across the border for secret missions into North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, such as the special operations group inserted by CH-3C/E helicopter across the Vietnamese border on June 30, 1968. Most of these SOG recon teams were made up of personnel indigenous to the population, reducing American combat casualties.
Read more about this topic: Operation Pony Express
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)