Search and Destroy

Search and Destroy missions was a strategy as a way for American soldiers to wear down military forces and the military efforts of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army. Even with the superior technology, the US had over the Viet Cong and North the S&D missions still cost a lot of American lives. There were flaws in these operations such as American having to go to South Vietnamese villages to look for signs of Viet Cong members. When S&D missions were conducted they would result in American forces The consequences of this lead to the villages being burned down and those people being sent to other villages set up by Americans, as well as massacres occurring. The actions the Americans took lead to South Vietnamese to despise Americans and made it harder for Americans to gain villagers trust. Due to this, the Viet Cong was able to gain more territory in the South thanks to the villagers as they often help Viet Cong forces by giving them food and places for them to hide. Many Americans patrols would still go to villages and Viet Cong forces would leave and would return with more reinforcements as soon as American patrols left. Many of the American "victories" were determined based on how many Viet Cong were killed in S&D missions. Even with the bombings, S&D missions were ineffective due to the fact that it made a low impact on using guerilla warfare tactics successful against the Viet Cong.