The Buon Enao experiment and American counterinsurgency
By: J. P. Harris
Contributors: Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Central Library
Series: Sandhurst occasional papers -- no. 13; Sandhurst occasional paper -- no. 13.
Publisher: Central Library, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Sandhurst
Language: eng
Number of pages: 40
ISBN-13: 9781907628122
Copyright date: 2013
Subjects: Counterinsurgency; Irregular warfare; Special forces (Military science)
Description: In the aftermath of withdrawal from Vietnam the US military tended to turn its back on insurgency/counterinsurgency. Events since 2001 have, however, thrust this type of warfare back onto its institutional agendas. How long the trend will continue is unclear but so far the early 21st Century has been another "counterinsurgency era" in American military history. This may, therefore, be an appropriate moment to take a fresh look at the Buon Enao experiment: one of the most sophisticated counterinsurgency efforts that Americans have ever conceived and mounted. A small village in South Vietnam's Central Highlands, Buon Enao became the starting point for a defence complex that embraced much of Darlac, amongst the country's largest provinces, checking the Communist surge there and, to a considerable degree, rolling it back. The Buon Enao experiment, moreover, initiated the Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) programme: the biggest programme involving US Army Special Forces personnel during the Second Indochina War. It would be inaccurate to suggest that the Buon Enao experiment has been forgotten. It is, at least in broad outline, familiar to those with a substantial knowledge of the history of American counterinsurgency and that of US Special Forces. Yet, though recognized as important and referred to in a plethora of publications, it lacks the full scholarly treatment it deserves and most of the brief published accounts available contain inaccuracies that require correction. The present article is intended as a modest step towards a thorough academic appraisal: a reasonably detailed, accurate record of events accompanied by some tentative analysis of Buon Enao in relation to the further development of the CIDG program in Vietnam and subsequent US Army approaches to counterinsurgency.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 36-42).

Also available online in PDF format from Royal Military Academy Sandhurst web site.
Table of contents: title: The importance of the central highlands in the Second Indochina War : developments there to 1961; title: The communist challenge in Darlac Province in 1961; title: The origins of the Buon Enao experiment; title: The Buon Enao experiment begins; title: Leadership and management; title: Civic action; title: Buon Enao's militias and their enemies; title: The expansion of the Buon Enao program; title: The fighting; title: Public relations; title: Termination; title: Consequences and reflections.