III Marine Amphibious Force was conceived as a division command for a small Marine Corps commitment to Vietnam. Within four years it had grown to a reinforced corps of two divisions, an air wing, and the division-sized Force Logistics Command. This organization was unique in Marine Corps history in that it merged combat and major logistical functions under a single field command. This book examines the origins and constantly changing organizational structure of III MAF, and demonstrates how it conducted its savage struggle against Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese Army regular forces in the northern provinces of Vietnam.

Ed Gilbert was a Marine Corps artilleryman and an NCO instructor in the USMC Reserve. He is the author of oral and operational histories of Marine Corps tank units in World War II and the Korean War, and he has written Osprey's Warrior 90: 'US Marine Corps Tank Crewman 1965-70'. He is currently at work on an oral history of Marine tank units in Vietnam, and a study of the mechanization of the Marine divisions in World War II. He lives in Texas, USA.