Chapter 3, Part III Khe Sanh Summary and Analysis

The Khe Sanh Combat Base starts in 1962 when a Special Forces A Team, consisting of about a dozen Green Berets, joins with four hundred indigenous troops and occupy what was once a French base. Tactically, the base has little importance at its beginning other than as a token outpost to keep an eye on NVA troops moving into the south.

In 1966, Khe Sanh reports a buildup of NVA troops around the base, which results in a battalion of Marines being sent as reinforcements. A year later more reinforcements arrive. The buildup continues throughout the summer while talk circulates among reporters that compares the Khe Sanh situation with one that the French encountered in 1954, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, during which the French take a serious beating. The ratio of enemy attackers to...