Our war was different
Subtitle: Marine combined action platoons in Vietnam
By: Al Hemingway.
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Published: 1994
Place of publication: Annapolis, Md
Language: eng
Number of pages: 189
Subjects: United States. Marine Corps -- History -- Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975.; Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975 -- Personal narratives, American.
Description: This book reveals an aspect of the Vietnam War rarely written about: the select U.S. Marine forces that lived and fought beside their Vietnamese counterparts in an effort to sabotage the Viet Cong infrastructure. Their approach, called the Combined Action Program (CAP), is now considered one of the few successes of the Vietnam War, though at the time it was highly controversial because it ran contrary to the high command's search-and-destroy mentality. A collection of oral histories, Our War Was Different is told in the unmetered words of those who undertook this task. The voices presented range from the sober overview of the first CAP director to the street-smart assessments of an infantryman from Harlem.

Together, their testaments form a chorus of dissent against the dictates of a campaign that did not take into account the unique imperatives of Vietnam. Almost from the moment of their arrival in Vietnam in 1965, the CAP Marines emphasized the critical importance of gaining the confidence and support of the people in the villages. The corps had done this sort of thing before - in Haiti, Santo Domingo, and Nicaragua - but never in such a severe combat environment. The basic premise of their innovative strategy was to bring peace to the Vietnamese villages by consolidating the local knowledge of the volunteer forces with the professional skills of the Marines.

The CAP Marine veterans featured in Our War Was Different capture the promise as well as the pitfalls of their efforts, posing a fascinating object lesson for future conflicts. This powerfully direct book conveys an incredible range of wartime experiences that will absorb all readers interested in reckonings with the truth.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [183]-184) and index.