US soldiers on a search-and-destroy patrol in Phuoc Tuy province, South Vietnam.

US soldiers on a search-and-destroy patrol in Phuoc Tuy province, South Vietnam.

Search and Destroy, Seek and Destroy, or even simply S&D, refers to a military strategy that became a notorious component of the Vietnam War. The idea was to insert ground forces into hostile territory, search out the enemy, destroy them, and withdraw immediately afterward. The strategy was the result of a new technology, the helicopter, which resulted in a new form of warfare, the fielding of air cavalry, and was thought to be ideally suited to counter-guerrilla jungle warfare. The complementary conventional strategy, which entailed attacking and conquering an enemy position, then fortifying and holding it indefinitely, was known as 'clear and hold' or 'clear and secure'. In theory, since the traditional methods of taking ground could not be used in this war, a war of attrition would be used, eliminating the enemy by the use of searching for them, then destroying them, and the 'body count' would be the measuring tool to determine the success of the strategy. Despite the awesome destructive power of the US forces, the strategy ultimately failed, at least in Vietnam.

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