Again, I have highest respect for individual Marines. But the Marines were still fighting Korea. They did not have effective utilization of artillery or rotary wing avitation. In WWII, the army perfected the time on target method of massing the fires of up to dozens of batteries to land on a single target at the same instant, with devestaging effect. The Marines had not mastered this doctrine and could participate in TOTs in their area in conjunction with army and allied batteries. Their helicopters were obsolete junk. They would not "launch" a mission if it was dark, if it was raining or there was ground fire. Those are prime times when you need helo support. Marine FOs and experienced NCOs could not call for or adjust air strikes. They had special parties of Marine and Navel personnel called ANGLO teams that were the only parties that could direct air strike and they were never where they were needed. When the army launched Operation Pegasus to relieve the Marines at Khe Sahn, there were 400 helicopters in the air. Each had two crewmen trained to call for and adjust artillery fire or air strikes. The 26th Marines had 12 FOs who could adjust only the battery they were assigned to. By contrast, our division had almost a thousand personnel who could call for and adjust air strikes. After three days of our 400 helicopters searching out enemy and destroying them with artillery and air strikes, there was no one left to fight. The enemy retreated to Laos. After evacuating over 2,000 marines from the base, we secured the base with 400 grunts from the 5th Cav.
They dumped a battalion of the 26th on a hill in the middle of our firebase on LZ Sharon in Quang Tri. After a couple of days a truck load of C rations and water showed up for their troops. They were reduced to begging us for food and medics. Our brigade commander got extra rations and we opened our mess up them for breakfast and dinner. After two weeks on our hill, the marines were still wearing the uniforms that they had not changed in three months. we built a shower point and issued them clean clothes. All this took place less than 10 miles from the 3d Marine Division Headquarters. I still cannot believe how the Marines treated their troops like animals after enduring three months on Khe Sahn.