| Title: |
Records About the Ground Combat Operations by the Army During the Vietnam War, created, 5/20/1966 - 3/12/1973,
documenting the period 5/20/1966 - 3/12/1973 |
| Creator: |
Department of Defense. Defense Communications Agency. National Military Command System Support Center. (1/1/1963 - ca. 1977). (Predecessor)
Department of Defense. Joint Chiefs of Staff. J-3 (Operations) Directorate. Data Processing Division. (ca. 1970 - ca. 1975)
(Most Recent)
|
| Type of Archival Materials: |
Data Files
Textual Records |
| Level of Description: |
Series from Record Group 218: Records of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| Other Titles: |
Situation Report Army (SITRA) |
| Location: |
Electronic and Special Media Records Services Division (NWME), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001 PHONE: 301-837-0470, FAX: 301-837-3681, EMAIL: cer@nara.gov |
| Inclusive Dates: |
5/20/1966 - 3/12/1973 |
| Coverage Dates: |
5/20/1966 - 3/12/1973 |
| Date Note: |
This series has records containing four date fields: Message Sent, Date of Last Update, Initiation Date, and Termination Date. The series and file date spans are derived from the Message Sent field, which was intended to document the date a message about an action was sent. Generally, the date entered in the Date of Last Update is later than the Message Sent date and was intended to document the date the record was last updated in the active system. Generally, the date entered in the Initiation Date is before the Message Sent date and was intended to document the date of the start of the action. Generally, the Termination Date is before or equal to the Message Sent date and was intended to document the date of the end of the action. All records contain a Message Sent Date and Date of Last Update. Not all records contain the Initiation Date and/or the Termination Date. Records have inconsistencies and errors in the data found in some date fields. |
| Part of: |
Record Group 218: Records of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| Function and Use: |
The agency created the files to provide information on combat operations in Southeast Asia. The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) extracted information from Operations Reports (OPREP) that the field commands submitted to MACV. The command transmitted the data on punch cards to the agency where they were converted to electronic form. Components for the Office of the Secretary of Defense used the files and created several reports including "Attacks on Population Centers," "SEA Ground Losses," and "Battalion Size and Larger Operations." |
| Scope & Content Note: |
This series contains records of ground combat operations in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. A record may contain information on a specific combat operation, or it may contain a weekly summary of information on the combatants and the loss of personnel and military supplies resulting from combat operations. Records of specific combat operations are categorized into one of three types: 1) large unit operations or named operations involving three or more companies; 2) small unit actions involving less than three companies but not less than a fire team (generally, the lowest level infantry unit); and 3) enemy initiated acts against friendly personnel or property. Records that contain summary information are of two types: 1) weekly statistical summaries, and 2) weekly summaries of small unit actions. Specific combat operations and statistical summaries from specific weeks may have more than one record. If the operation or weekly summary has more than one record, then data in the first five fields (message date, data type, paragraph number, military region, and part) repeat in each related record.
Records of specific combat operations include information on the type of military operation, nationalities of the armed forces involved, the province in which the operation took place, and the starting and ending times and dates of the operation. Additional information includes the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) grid coordinates and mission objective data (e.g., military sites, geographical features, structures, personnel, equipment and supplies); the number and size of the units involved; the identification of battalions, brigades/regiments, and divisions; and the personnel and property losses suffered by both enemy and friendly forces. Operations categorized as large unit operations also include the name of the operation; additional provinces in which the operation took place; "battalion days" calculated from the number of days of operation and the total number of battalions involved; the number of days in which friendly forces were in contact with enemy forces; and the number of air missions, including type of aircraft, and naval missions supporting the operation, if applicable.
Weekly statistical summaries of combat operations include the time period, the total number of enemy attacks, enemy terrorist incidents, enemy sabotage incidents, enemy propaganda incidents, enemy harassment incidents, anti-aircraft incidents, and the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) Corp Area in which the incidents occurred. Other statistics include the ratios of friendly weapons lost and casualties versus enemy weapons lost and personnel killed, manpower statistics for regular, regional, and popular RVN armed forces, and total personnel losses in the four RVN Corp Areas. Records that focus specifically on weekly summaries of small unit actions include the number of actions, size of the units involved in the actions, identity of the forces involved, the number of actions which result in either contact with the enemy or daytime contact with the enemy, and the number of actions which resulted in either no contact with the enemy or night-time contact with the enemy.
|
| Access Restrictions: |
Unrestricted |
| General Note: |
The files were in a computerized application using the National Military Command System Information Processing System or NIPS, a report generator software product. The NIPS software had three types of records: Control Set, Fixed Set, and Periodic Set. The Control Set contained the record identification data. The Fixed Set contained constant information about the action. Seven possible periodic sets were also included in the data. While each mission had one Control Set and Fixed Set, it had as many Periodic Sets as needed. The agency transferred the records to NARA in a NIPS format. NARA staff created files independent of the NIPS software by creating a single record for each action and allowed for each record to contain all seven Periodic Sets. If an action in the NIPS version did not have a particular periodic set, the columns related to that Periodic Set are blank in the NARA version.
|
| Finding Aid Type: |
Technical Information
|
| Finding Aid Source: |
NARA and Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| Variant Control Number(s): |
Declassification Project Number: NND-023093. |
| Extent: |
8 data files, 2 electronic documentation files, and 1 linear foot, 6 linear inches of paper documentation |
 |
|