The results of civic action are not always easy to measure. In this "other war" there are no body counts—the enemy may be soundly defeated with the results remaining intangible for weeks or even months. But there are definite success stories. The re-birth of An Nhut Tan, located 20 miles southwest of Saigon in Long An Province, is a testimony to civic action.
     In March the village was a ghost town with only 13 residents. The decline of the village began more than five years ago when the Viet Cong infiltrated Tan Tru District and gripped An Nhut Tan in a stranglehold. At that time it was the second largest rice market in the district. Under the heel of the Viet Cong, An Nhut Tan began to die. Residents fled the VC's outrageous taxes and headed for urban areas. Village shops and schools closed. Rice fields lay fallow.
     Then the Old Reliables moved in. Company B, 2d Battalion, 60th Infantry—located on the outskirts of the village—conducted civic action programs between fire-fights with the enemy. The village school was repaired and stocked with new school supplies. A dispensary began operating out of an Army tent. A cable-drawn cargo ferry was put back into service. Gradually the village residents—including a hamlet chief who had not lived in the village since 1962—began moving back. At the time of the re-birth ceremonies in July, the population of An Nhut Tan had risen to 250.

The Many Faces

 

The art work in this publication was furnished by the Combat Art Section of the 19th Military History Detachment.

 

COMBAT ARTISTS SGT Donald Orosz SP4 Robert Anton SP4 David Wickstrom PFC Edward Rohrbach

     Apples, milk, penicillin, and technology, like howitzers and miniguns, are powerful counterinsurgency weapons of the 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam. Through extensive civic action programs, the 9th Division has launched and pursued a vigorous attack on disease, poverty and isolation. Results of the battle waged with aid and friendship, though often difficult to measure, are encouraging.
     Teams organized at the battalion and company level, and directed by brigade and Division Civil Affairs sections, carry the resources and know-how of the United States into Vietnam hamlets and villages. Teaching programs, healing clinics and construction projects reach out to better the Vietnamese standard of living  and to reinforce the Government of Vietnam's (GVN) pacification program.
     Spearheading the Old Reliables' effort is the Division's G-5 Civil Affairs section. Through civic action, medical civic action programs (MEDCAPs) and psychological operations (PSYOPs) the 9th, supporting pacification efforts of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam  (ARVN), reaches out with aid to Vietnamese civilians. Thousands of Vietnamese have received 9th Division medical aid during the past year. The 250,000th patient was treated during November. Special projects, such as road and bridge construction, commodity distribution and the repair of schools and dispensaries, aid the loyal. Psychological operations have often been directed at the disloyal, but also help to overcome isolation by disseminating information.
     The number of Hoi Chanhs, former VC who rally to the government of Vietnam under the Chieu Hoi or "Open Arms"  program, has more than doubled. And the Hoi Chanh figures are doubly important since the number of loyal Vietnamese increases as the number of VC declines. Since the 9th Division began operation in four populous provinces of Vietnam—Bien Hoa, Dinh Tuong, Long An and Long Khanh—the number of Vietnamese living in areas free of Viet Cong influence has risen steadily.
     On Dec. 30, 1966, just 11 days after the Division's first increment landed on the beaches of Vung Tau, the 9th conducted its first MEDCAP. In one afternoon, 350 residents of Tam Phuoc hamlet were treated for respiratory ailments, diarrhea, malaria and eye and skin infections. Two weeks later soldiers from the 9th Military Police Company drove into Cau Xeo hamlet with 25 gallons of paint. With hamlet teenagers doing much of the work, the weathered hamlet dispensary received a new coat of paint.
     In February the Viet Cong blew up a bridge on Highway 15 several miles south of Long Thanh. A 15th Engineer Battalion task force moved out with bulldozers and 15 dump trucks. Two hours later the highway—a vital link between Vung Tau and Long Binh—was again open to traffic.

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MEDCAPs, civic action programs and construction programs soon became common. Day after day, week after week, the Division's civic action hand reached out. As the units gained experience and became adept at conducting civic action programs, innovations were added. When the 3d Battalion, 39th Infantry conducted a MEDCAP in Puoc Loc hamlet, the capital of Long Thanh District, 200 shy and curious youngsters gathered in a shady part to hear tunes such as "Hello, Dolly" and "Alley Cat" by the Division band. That day  the band also gave its first public performance of the Vietnamese national anthem. From then on, the band frequently participated in civic action programs and soon the phrase "music to MEDCAP by" was born.      At times, civic action became a concerted effort to improve over-all living conditions of a specific village. Such was Operation FRIENDSHIP launched by the 2d Brigade in the Mekong Delta village of Binh Duc. The operation included a MEDCAP for scores of the villagers, road building, bridge construction and market place repair. Before the Old Reliables left, Binh Duc had a new well—its first supply of fresh water for drinking and cooking—and pagoda that had been refurbished.