Ed Gilbert was a Marine Corps artilleryman, and an NCO instructor in the USMCR. He is currently a senior geological advisor involved in oil and gas exploration in Asia, the Middle East, West Africa and Latin America. Ed is the author of oral and operational histories of Marine Corps tank units in World War II (Marine Tank Battles In The Pacific) and the Korean War (Marine Corps Tank Battles In Korea). He is currently at work on a third volume covering the Vietnam War, and a study of the mechanization of the Fleet Marine Force divisions in World War II.

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.