
The Mobile Strike Force Command, or MIKE Force, was a key component of
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
Special Forces
Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
. They served with indigenous soldiers selected and trained through the largely minority
Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) and were led by American
Special Forces
Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
and Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) personnel. MIKE Force was a force multiplier, operating what is today called a
foreign internal defense
Foreign internal defense (FID) is a term used by the military in several countries, including the United States Armed Forces, United States, French Armed Forces, France and the British Armed Forces, United Kingdom, to describe an integrated or ...
mission.
History
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
Special Forces
Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
had been in
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...
since 1957; by 1964, over 1400
Green Berets were in-country, with their headquarters at
Nha Trang. Their primary mission was to train and advise CIDG groups, many of whom were hostile to
Viet Cong (VC) efforts to promote socialist revolution in the countryside.
In late 1964, there was increasing Viet Cong activity in the area surrounding Saigon, a zone officially controlled by the South Vietnamese
III Corps; this suggested a need for CIDGs with more mobile capabilities, and able to move to encampments and villages under VC attack. Mike Force was established in summer 1965 as a direct outgrowth of "Eagle Flight" Detachment formed on October 16, 1964 to react to emergency combat situations at Special Forces camps in the western highlands. The first such force, known as "Mike Force" was named for Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel
Miguel de la Pena. It was initially principally composed of
Nung people, an ethnic group that had migrated from southern
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
in the 4th century. Many of the Nùng fighters were ex-French Foreign Legion. The name Mike Force later came to be applied to other locally recruited mobile forces that operated throughout South Vietnam. These organizations were later composed of
Bahnar,
Hmong,
Nung,
Jarai, and
Khmer Krom minorities, and other members of the
Degar peoples, also known as
Montagnards.
Mike Force's missions were intended as multipurpose reaction units and to act as a country-wide
quick reaction force for securing, reinforcing, and recapturing CIDG A Camps, as well as to conduct raids, special
reconnaissance
In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...
patrols. Mike Force also conducted operations gathering intelligence, disrupting/eradicating VC/NVA activities in remote areas,
search and destroy missions and bomb damage assessments (BDA). Mike Forces were specifically designed for employment under short reaction time conditions and short duration missions, not prolonged combat engagements. The conventional unit alternative to Special Forces detachments like Mike Force was
Tiger Force, which was primarily tasked with
counter-guerrilla warfare against enemies from behind their lines that emphasized body-count rather than force multiplication.
Mike Force was active under
MACV,
5th Special Forces Group, from 1965 to 1970 and under
ARVN until 1974. The unit waged special warfare against the
Viet Cong and
People's Army of Vietnam
The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national Military, military force of the Vietnam, S ...
(North Vietnamese Army) forces in various detachments. By 1968, each Corps Tactical Zone had a Mike Force assigned including Detachment B-16 Mobile Strike Force under
I Corps, Detachment B-20 Mobile Strike Force at Pleiku for
II Corps; Detachment B-36 Mobile Strike Force under
III Corps; Detachment B-40 Mobile Strike Force under
IV Corps and Detachment B-55 Mobile Strike Force based Nha Trang operating under 5th Special Forces Group Headquarters for country wide missions. The command and control of each Mike Force was provided by an A-Team detachment typically composed of two or three officers and 16-18 enlisted Army Special Forces soldiers. Each rifle company was commanded by a senior Special Forces soldier, usually a
Master Sergeant or
Sergeant First Class and assisted by two or three other SF soldiers including a medic. Mike Forces distinguished themselves at famous battle locations such as Ashau, the Plei Trapp Valley, Nui Giai, Nui Coto, Duc Lap, Nui Khet and others.
Nung people from Mike Force manned
Hurricane Aircat airboats in the Mekong Delta under American Special Forces command starting in late 1966. One base was at the A-414 SF camp in Moc Hoa just south of the Cambodian border. There was an accidental incursion into Cambodia on November 20, 1966, involving these airboats, helicopter insertion of South Vietnamese troops and
PACVs (hovercraft) that resulted in the deaths of 56 communist soldiers caught by surprise in the open.
General Abrams arrived the following day for a debriefing. The
King of Cambodia objected a week later.
Mike Force had a critical role in the
search and rescue
Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
of downed American pilots because they were mobile and often in close proximity to the DMZ. MIKE Force also designated drop zones and landing zones, conducted bomb-damage assessments, called in air strikes on high-value targets, and collected intelligence during recons, much like the American
LRRPs.
In 1971 MIKE Force was disbanded during
Vietnamization.
See also
*
Montagnard
*
Kit Carson Scouts
*
Vietnamese Rangers
*
Civilian Irregular Defense Group program
*
Detachment 101
*
Project DELTA
*
Project GAMMA
*
LRRPs
*
Operation Phoenix
*
MACV
*
Tiger Force
*
Role of United States in the Vietnam War
References
External links
Save the Montagnard People CMH Publication 90-23, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C. 1989 (First Printed, 1973)
''MIKE Force: An Element of Impact''by Ed Sprague
MIKE Force Association MIKE Force Assn.
MIKE Force History
{{US Army SFG
Military units and formations of the United States Army in the Vietnam War
Military of South Vietnam