The 30th volume in Osprey's  Battle Orders series is on the Mobile Strike Forces (MIKE Forces) in Vietnam during America's involvement in the Vietnam War.

These forces were made up of indigenous troops, along with US and Free World advisors. I would suppose that one could equate these forces to a militia as much as anything else. These men were not provided with the intense training that was given to standard Army troops and their participation in the force was voluntary. Of course, opting out may well have meant being drafted into ARVN forces, so this was an impetus that kept many in service.

Men who were in the MIKE force were not on continual duty and were supposed to be called out for specific tasks and operations. After which they were allowed to return home to farms and family. These units also had little in the way of heavy equipment. Few vehicles, no aircraft, no artillery and basically little more than standard infantry weapons. Yet they were a vital part of the war in the south, butting up against VC and NVA forces with great regularity. They were generally successful in their missions and so much so, that they were eventually disbanded as their need was no longer required. Members of this force were then allowed to go into the Border Guard or perhaps the regular army if they desired.

Author Rottmann has been quite prolific as of late, authoring books for Osprey in a variety of their various series, mostly on the conflict in Vietnam.

In this book he does a superb job of telling the story of MIKE forces, something that was initially quite confusing to this reader who knew nothing about them, aside from hearing the name from time to time. In common with other books in this series, there are sections on the combat mission, doctrine and training, organization, weapons and equipment, C3 and intelligence and the evolution of MIKE an special recon forces. This is followed by several examples of the combat operations carried out by these forces and an assessment of how well these forces worked. Apparently they worked quite well and the author wonders why this particular method has not been used in current Army operations.

It all makes for a superb read and one that I personally found quite interesting. I'm sure you will as well and can recommend this one to you without reservation.

May 2007

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