Publisher's Synopsis
This unique report provides a fascinating glimpse at military public relations efforts during the early years of the Vietnam War. The origin of this pamphlet lies in the continuing program at all levels of command to keep Marines informed of the ways of combat and civic action in Vietnam. Not limited in any way to set methods and means, this informational effort spreads across a wide variety of projects, all aimed at making the lessons learned in Vietnam available to the Marine who is fighting there and the Marine who is soon due to take his turn in combat. Our officers and men in Vietnam are deeply involved in efforts to improve the situation of the Vietnamese people. This pamphlet tells the story of the first formative year of civilian-aid policies, programs, and actions of the III Marine Amphibious Force. To write the study and to perform the extensive and involved research necessary to document its text, the Marine Corps was able to call upon a particularly well-qualified reserve officer, Captain Russel H. Stolfi, who volunteered for several months of active duty in the spring of 1967 for this purpose. In civilian life, Captain Stolfi, who holds a doctor of philosophy degree in history from Stanford University, is Assistant Professor of History at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. Chapter I * The Changing Pattern of War: Marine Corps Civic Action * Chapter II * The Governing Institutions of the Republic of Vietnam: March 1965-March 1966 * Chapter III * Military Civic Action in Vietnam * Chapter IV * The Landing of Major Marine Corps Air and Ground Forces in South Vietnam and the Early Development of Civic Action: March-July 1965 * Chapter V * The Turning Point in Civic Action: August 1965 * Chapter VI * Accelerating the Pace of Civic Action: The Challenge of support for Rural Construction (September-December 1965) * Chapter VII * A New Calendar Year: Patterns of Civic Action in January-March 1966
