Word: cons
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Foxholes. Savage as it is, the potency of Communist firepower in the DMZ has been exaggerated-partly because casualties from artillery and every other cause have been lumped together by the military and reported as though they were all inflicted by the big guns. Of 158 Marines killed around Con Thien during the first 24 days of September, 44 died in artillery, rocket and mortar attacks, the rest in firefights with North Vietnamese infiltrators. One captured Communist reported that Red casualties were so heavy in the DMZ area that aid stations were overflowing...
When the northeast monsoon begins pelting Con Thien with 20 to 25 inches of rain a month, the Marines and the enemy will both have trouble preventing their sodden fortifications from crumbling. Within three days last month, 18 inches of rain poured down on Con Thien, caving in foxholes. Continuing rains and Communist pressure last week closed the resupply route from Cam Lo-at a time when most of the CH-46 choppers used to airlift material were grounded for defective tail assemblies. The low monsoon clouds will hinder U.S. air strikes, but the rain will also cause problems...
...officers believe that the difficulty of supplying tons of munitions for their great guns has already limited the Communist artillery buildup. "Were it not for our air strikes on the lines of communication in North Viet Nam," says Westmoreland, "the number of artillery pieces north of Con Thien would be several-fold and the number
Shock Value. Thus the Marines feel that they have already stood and taken practically the hardest punch that North Viet Nam can throw at them until the monsoon ends next April. All the same, military men express considerable doubt about the concept of static defense embodied in Con Thien. Some would prefer to see the Marines make more forays to spike any Communist guns below the North Viet Nam border-as the Israelis did with the Syrian artillery atop the Golan Heights. U.S. military doctrine holds that a force assumes a defensive position only when it is not strong enough...
...willing to call up the reserves and step up draft calls. Otherwise, the present force is likely to remain stable. To ease pressure on the Marines at the DMZ, the U.S. could stage an Inchon-style landing north of the 17th parallel, silence the guns that are raking Con Thien and Gio Linh, and pull out again. And, as the Joint Chiefs unanimously recommend, bombers could mine Haiphong harbor-a proposal that has consistently been rejected by Johnson, Mc-Namara and Dean Rusk. Were Haiphong choked off, argues Joint Chief Chairman General Earle Wheeler, most of the $1-billion...