9 Things the Marines Did in Vietnam That the US Army Never Taught Its Grunts

Thirteen-man squads, a rifle range at five hundred yards, pilots who trained as infantry officers first, four-man teams calling down the artillery, former Viet Cong walking point as scouts, and Marines who moved into the villages and stayed. The Marines and the Army fought the same war in Vietnam, and they did not fight it the same way. Chapters: 0:00 The Marines asleep in the village 1:47 The thirteen-man squad 3:17 Five hundred yards on the rifle range 5:07 Pilots who trained as infantry officers 6:51 To war from the sea: Operation Starlite 8:30 The snipers on Hill 55 9:57 Sting Ray: four men and the artillery 11:45 The Kit Carson Scouts 13:19 County Fair 14:48 The Combined Action Platoons 17:23 What became of it 18:50 Back in the village Your turn: Marine or soldier, what did your service teach you that saved your life in Vietnam? Unit, place and year, one line is enough. Sources: - Marine Corps History Division, U.S. Marines in Vietnam: The Landing and the Buildup, 1965 and An Expanding War, 1966 - Marine Corps University, "The Creation of the Marine Corps Combined Action Platoons" (Marine Corps History, Winter 2018) - Lewis W. Walt, Strange War, Strange Strategy (Funk & Wagnalls, 1970) - Leatherneck, "The Making of Chu Lai Airfield" - Marine Corps Times, "Back to 13-Marine squads" (April 2025) #VietnamWar #USMC #VietnamVeterans