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MACV Pocket Card, "Guidance for Commanders in Vietnam"

1.) Make the welfare of your men your primary concern with special attention to mess, mail, and medical care.

2.) Give priority emphasis to matters of intelligence, counter-intelligence, and timely and accurate reporting.

3.) Gear your command for sustained operations: keep constant pressure on the enemy.

4.) React rapidly with all force available to opportunities to destroy the enemy; disrupt enemy bases, capturing or destroying his supply caches.

5.) Open up methodically and use roads, waterways, and the railroad; be alert and prepared to ambush the ambusher.

6.) Harass enemy lines of communication by raids and ambushes.

7.) Use your firepower with care and discrimination, particularly in populated areas.

8.) Capitalize on psywar opportunities.

9.) Assist in "revolutionary development" with emphasis on priority areas and on civic action wherever feasible.

10.) Encourage and help Vietnamese military and paramilitary units; involve them in your operations at every opportunity.

11.) Be smarter and more skillful than the enemy; stimulate professionalism, alertness and tactical ingenuity; seize every opportunity to enhance training of men and units.

12.) Keep your officers and men well informed, aware of the nine rule for personnel of MACV, and mindful of the techniques of communist insurgency and the role of free world forces in Vietnam.

13.) Maintain an alert "open door" policy on complaints and sensitivity to detection and correction of malpractice.

14.) Recognize bravery and outstanding work.

15.) Inspect frequently units two echelons below your level to insure compliance with the foregoing.

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