Clip, Clop, and Buddies: Vietnamization and Operational Level Logistics 1968-1971
Abstract
US Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) logisticians and logistics advisors faced a difficult problem set in transferring operational-level logistics tasks to the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF) after US President Richard Nixon announced his Vietnamization Policy. US logisticians had to sustain combat operations while retrograding US personnel and equipment, transferring materiel to the RVNAF, and handing over logistical tasks. The RVNAF grew rapidly in size and complexity around a fledgling administrative infrastructure, deeply reliant on US support for logistics. MACV published the Combined Logistics Offensive Plan and the Country Logistics Improvement Plan to Vietnamize operational level logistics. While these plans demonstrated critical thought by MACV, they were late in coming, lacked synchronization, and failed to leverage the natural potential of operational-level support commands to train the RVNAF in the art and science of logistics. General Joseph Heiser, Jr.'s Project Buddy in the 1st Logistical Command represented the untapped potential. As withdrawal schedules increasingly demanded logisticians' attention throughout South Vietnam, the RVNAF's capabilities, and the Vietnamization plans, faced difficult tests. An analysis (using the Generate-Transport-Sustain-Redeploy construct) of the operational-level logistics supporting Operation Lam Son 719, the incursion into Laos in 1971, revealed the RVNAF's heavy reliance on US logistics support.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 10, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1019884
Entities
People
- Andrew P. Betson
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College