ABSTRACT
The arrival of North Vietnamese and American combat forces in the summer of 1965 transformed the nature of the war in South Vietnam. William C. Westmoreland's concept of operations and the growing responsibility of American forces to fight the war for the South Vietnamese worried policymakers. In March 1965, at the start of the troop buildup, the president recognized that pacification needed more American support and wanted to redress the imbalance between the other war and an expanding military conflict. The mobility and firepower of American units enabled Westmoreland to station them in base camps and firebases away from population centers and near probable infiltration routes to engage enemy forces in remote areas. One American report on village government concluded that revolutionary development teams seldom coordinated their work with the village chief or with other groups of cadres. Military operations of American and South Vietnamese forces hampered pacification by generating refugees.
