Search and destroy
From Free net encyclopedia
Search and Destroy, or Seek and Destroy, or simply S&D, refers to a military strategy that became a notorious element of the Vietnam War.
The idea is to insert ground forces into hostile territory on a special mission to destroy enemy forces and withdraw them immediately afterwards, a strategy that seemed to be ideally suited for guerrilla / jungle warfare. The complementary, and more conventional, strategy, which entailed attacking an enemy position, conquering, fortifying and holding it indefinitely, was called Clear and Hold.
S&D missions entailed sending out a group of soldiers from a fortified position, generally into the jungle, to find and destroy the enemy. Most of the time, the S&D mission involved hiking out into the boonies and laying an ambush in the brush, near a suspected trail.
The S&D mission ambush typically involved use of fixed Claymore antipersonnel mines, crossing lines of small arms fire, mortar support, and possibly additional artillery support called in via radio from nearby firebases.