Kit Carson Scouts

The Kit Carson Scouts (also known as Tiger Scouts' or Lực Lượng 66) belonged to a special program initially created by the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War involving the use of former Viet Cong (VC) and combatants as intelligence scouts for American infantry units. VC and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) cadre and combatants who defected and rallied to become aligned with the South Vietnamese government were known as Chiêu Hồi or Hồi Chánh Viên, the latter being a term loosely translated as "members who have returned to the righteous side". Only a very small number of these Chiêu Hồi were selected, trained, and deployed with U.S. infantry units as Kit Carson Scouts.

Kit Carson Scouts
A "Tiger Scout" as the Kit Carsons were called in the U.S. 9th Infantry Division
Active1966-1972
CountrySouth Vietnam
AllegianceUnited States of America
Size~2,300 (peak strength)
EngagementsVietnam War

Program origins

The concept of using soldiers and cadre who had previously fought on the enemy side in this way originated in late 1966 with the 5th Counterintelligence Team, which had counterintelligence tasks within the Danang Chiêu Hồi Center as one responsibility.

Most Hồi Chánh Viên recruited into the fledgling Kit Carson Scout program had defected to Saigon's side in the war because they suffered either from malaria or grave wounds beyond what could be medically treated with the rudimentary medical care available on the VC/PACN side. Those Chieu Hoi (Hồi Chánh Viên) who volunteered for selection and training as Kit Carson Scouts had, during their service with the enemy, little or no contact with anyone speaking English. Few had any knowledge at all of the English language, creating a communication challenge as they were deployed with American units. A further complication was that almost all Hồi Chánh Viên had a distrust of Vietnamese soldiers and interpreters because of the degree to which friendly forces had been infiltrated by enemy agents.

Major General Herman Nickerson Jr., commanding the 1st Marine Division at the time, named them Kit Carson Scouts after Kit Carson the American frontiersman.[1]:246[2]:102

The first six Kit Carson Scouts were placed in the field with the 1st and 9th Marine Regiments as part of a trial program in October, 1966. All but one of the original group of six would later be killed in action.[2]:102 The VC defectors initially recruited to work as intelligence scouts with U.S. Marine infantry units were paid by the U.S. and were treated as staff non-commissioned officers with a nominal rank (not official) of staff sergeant.

History
Marines, led by a Vietnamese Kit Carson Scout during Operation Oklahoma Hills. Circa March 31,1969

From October to December 1966 III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF) credited Kit Carson Scouts with killing 47 VC, capturing 16 weapons and discovering 18 mines and tunnels.[1]:247

By the end of 1966 19 Kit Carson Scouts were serving with the 1st Marine Division. In February 1968 General Lewis William Walt ordered the program to be adopted throughout III MAF and a Kit Carson training center was established at Danang to standardize training. By the end of 1967 132 scouts served with the Marines in I Corps and were credited with killing 58 VC, capturing 37 and 82 weapons.[3]

On 29 April 1967, the Intelligence Section of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) published a procedural document detailing the expansion of the Kit Carson Scout Program for all active U.S. Army units in country, including the scout's terms of service and wages.[4][2]:102[5] As the program evolved, recruitment of non-military VC cadre and defecting PAVN officers were added, and these Kit Carson Scouts also became valuable sources of intelligence in the conduct of the war. General Westmoreland issued an order in September 1967 directing all infantry divisions in Vietnam, including U.S. Army units, to begin using Kit Carson Scouts in conjunction with friendly operations.[2]:102 He directed that a minimum of 100 scouts per division was necessary to ensure effectiveness with a target of 1,500 scouts by the end of 1968.[2]:102

In 1968 the number of scouts increased from 132 to 476 with 102 serving with the 1st Marine Division, 106 with the 3rd Marine Division, 153 with the 101st Airborne Division and 115 with the 23rd Infantry Division with a further 22 undergoing training. Throughout the year scouts were credited with killing 312 VC/PAVN, apprehending 851 suspects and locating 720 tunnels and supply caches and over 1300 booby-traps.[6]

During 1969 the number of scouts working with III MAF grew from 476 to 597 despite the redeployment of the 3rd Marine Division during the year. The scouts were credited with killing 191 VC/PAVN, capturing 539 and 195 weapons and locating 143 tunnels and caches and 518 booby-traps.[7]

In January 1969 scouts began being assigned to Allied forces starting with the 1st Australian Task Force, followed by the Royal Thai Army Expeditionary Division in August 1969 and South Korean forces in December 1970.[2]:103

A report given to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in February, 1970 listed 230 Kit Carson Scouts killed in action and 716 wounded.

At the beginning of 1970 over 2,300 scouts served with U.S. forces, with 165 serving in III MAF. III MAF recruited potential scouts from Chiêu Hồi centers in Danang and Hoi An. An experienced Marine NCO investigated the background of motivation of each potential recruit and those who passed would then go to a training center west of Danang for 28 days of training and evaluation. Class sizes were small, usually consisting of no more than eight men. Training including fieldcraft, field sketching, use of sensors and basic English. As the Marines redeployed from South Vietnam the number of scouts serving with III MAF dropped to 111 in July and 95 in December. During 1970 III MAF scouts were credited with killing 43 VC and capturing 313 and 96 weapons.[8]

In June 1970 as part of the Vietnamization program, the Kit Carson Program name was changed to Lực Lượng 66 (Vietnamese for Force 66), but scout numbers declined as U.S. forces withdrew from South Vietnam with only 400 scouts serving by the end of 1970.[2]:105–6

References
  1. Shulimson, Jack (1982). U.S. Marines in Vietnam: An Expanding War 1966. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. ISBN 978-1494285159. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. Jeannette Koch (January 1973). "The Chieu Hoi Program in South Vietnam, 1963-1971". RAND Corporation. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  3. Telfer, Gary; Rogers, Lane; Fleming, Keith (1984). U.S. Marines in Vietnam: Fighting the North Vietnamese 1967. U.S. Marine Corps. p. 192. ISBN 978-1494285449. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. Tovy, Tal (2006). "From Foe to Friend: The Kit Carson Scout Program in the Vietnam War". Armed Forces & Society. 33 (1): 78–93. doi:10.1177/0095327X06289816.
  5. "NAVFORV & NAVDGRP MACV Instruction 3410.7A Luc Luong 66 (Kit Carson Scout) Program" (PDF). U.S. Naval Forces Vietnam and Naval Advisory Group, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. 16 March 1971. Retrieved 23 February 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. Shulimson, Jack; Blasiol, Leonard; Smith, Charles; Dawson, David (1997). U.S. Marines in Vietnam: 1968, the Defining Year. History and Museums Division, USMC. p. 610. ISBN 0160491258. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. Smith, Charles (1988). U.S. Marines in Vietnam: High Mobility and Standdown 1969. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. p. 287. ISBN 978-1494287627. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  8. Cosmas, Graham (1986). U.S. Marines in Vietnam: Vietnamization and redeployment, 1970-1971. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. p. 165. ISBN 978-1494287498. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Further reading
  • Quiroga, Stefan Aguirre. "Phan Chot’s Choice: Agency and Motivation among the Kit Carson Scouts during the Vietnam War, 1966–1973," War and Society 39#2 (2020) pp. 126-143,
  • "After Crossing Over". TIME. 1968-08-23. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
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