Village Defence: Initial Special Forces Operations in Vietnam [Hardcover]

Ronald A. Shackleton (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Phoenix Assoc (July 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0685164098
• ISBN-13: 978-0685164099
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,895,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars VILLAGE STABILITY OPERATIONS PRIMER, February 3, 2012

By 

Troy A. Lettieri "Professional Warrior" (NC, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Village Defence: Initial Special Forces Operations in Vietnam (Hardcover)

Village defense is a deceptively simple title to most complicated campaign conducted during the formative and standard-setting years of U.S. Army Special Forces (AKA Green Berets), with a tradition that continues today in combat operations in Afghanistan with the Village Stability Operations (VSO). Of note the author states in the book that Village Defense should not be confused with the "village defense programs," a term of latter vintage that came into vogue during later Vietnam years.

This book outlines a very detailed account of tactics and techniques developed to operationalize a strategic program of population denial and interdiction. To deny the communist (NVA/VC etc.) access to a distinct and isolated ethnic/minority group. This same concept holds true with the VSO in Afghanistan, but with a focus on the dynamics of tribal and village lines.

This book lays out myriad of details associated with organizing and conducting a remote-area campaign, including the very important aspect of the human dimension problems and solutions. Many of the organizational and operational concepts that have been developed over the years began with this experience in Vietnam. The principles remain valid and applicable to most unconventional warfare and/or counter-insurgency environments. These lessons learned from experience and put down in this manual are here for all to study and apply to the VSO in Afghanistan.

CONTENTS:

- Introduction
- Acknowledgment
- Foreword
Chapter 1: Area of Operation
Chapter 2: The People
Chapter 3: The Enemy
Chapter 4: Village Defense
Chapter 5: Command and Control
Chapter 6: The Concept
Chapter 7: The Operational Base
Chapter 8: The Strike Force
Chapter 9: Village Defenders
Chapter 10: The Training Program
Chapter 11: Administration
Chapter 12: Logistics
Chapter 13: Communications
Chapter 14: Intelligence
Chapter 15: Medical
Chapter 16: Operations
Chapter 17: Air Support
Chapter 18: Civic Action
Chapter 19: Psychological Operations
Chapter 20: Pre-deployment Training
Chapter 21: Affairs of U.S. Personnel
- Concluding Statement
- An Overview
- Epilogue
- Glossarry of Terms
- Abbreviations
(Page count is over 140 pages and is profusely illustrated)