Word: combative
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Robert McCloskey, a State Department public information officer, told reporters that U.S. forces were prepared to give "combat support" to Vietnamese troops at the discretion of General William C. Westmoreland, the U.S. commander in South Viet Nam. McCloskey's statement triggered an outcry that this represented a new and reckless U.S. policy...
...statement. As it turned out, the presidential denial was a confirmation. It said that there has been "no change" in the "primary mission" of U.S. ground troops-that of guarding such installations as the Air Force at Danang. Of course, it continued, General Westmoreland is empowered to send U.S. combat units into battle, "if help is requested" by Vietnamese commanders...
Westmoreland has had that authority since last March, when U.S. Marines landed in Viet Nam. From the time of their arrival, the Marines have been moving through a five-stage plan geared to get them into full combat, side by side with the Vietnamese. In the first stage, they constructed a defense perimeter at Danang airbase; second, they sent out small patrols a mile or so beyond the defense line; third, they moved bigger patrols as far as five miles out, seeking to find and fight the Viet Cong; fourth, they moved out eight miles or more, accompanied by small...
Despite the stakes and the growing American commitment, South Viet Nam is still a long way from being a Korea. U.S. forces ashore in Viet Nam total just 53,500. Only 13,000 U.S. troops are actually part of organized combat components-including 9,500 Marines and 3,500 men of the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade. At the peak of the fighting in Korea, U.S. combat forces totaled a quarter of a million...
...fought Communist guerrillas side by side with Malayan nationals, throwing thousands and thousands of British soldiers into the war until it was finally and totally won in 1960. Because Malaya was a British colony, there was no problem of diplomatic etiquette, of waiting for an invitation before plunging into combat, such as the U.S. has had to face in Viet...