Under the 720th the duties assigned to the 615th were, Long Binh Post security patrol, including four to six access gates, perimeter security, combined discipline, law and order patrols in Bien Hoa with members of the 3rd Quan Canh Battalion (Vietnamese Military Police) and 307th Canh Sat Battalion (Vietnamese National Police), Tan Hep, Tam Hi and the surrounding area, and convoy escorts to bases south of the post. The 615th also had a platoon size detachment stationed in Vung Tau.

     By this time Long Binh Post was almost an empty shell. Because of the troop reductions of the Vietnamization program most of the buildings were empty and dilapidated or assigned to ARVN units. Scavengers were constantly being chased from the base, and a small squad of local Viet Cong was alleged to be living within the post perimeter.

     Before the summer was over the duties of Long Binh Post patrol would be reassigned to A Company, 720th MP Battalion. Some of the MP’s from the 615th were also transferred to B Company on Long Binh Post for a brief period until B Company stood down.

     The following personnel from C Company were promoted from Private First Class (PFC) to Specialist Fourth Class (SP/4), William M. Bennett, David M. Dragich, James Johnson, Donald S. Thiemann and Kermit L. Buggs.

     CPT Peter C. Miles, Company Commander, was appointed as the custodian of the C Company Unit Fund.

Stateside In a conversation with National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger President Nixon discussed a variety of options for stepping up the war effort, such as bombing power plants and docks in North Vietnam. “I’de rather use the nuclear bomb,” President Nixon responded. “That, I think, would just be too much,” Mr. Kissinger replied. “The nuclear bomb, Does that bother you?” President Nixon asked. “I just want you [Kissinger] to think big.”

Managers Note: Of course none of this conversation became public knowledge until an interview in 1985. Mr. Nixon acknowledged that he had considered “the nuclear option.” He told Time Magazine: “I rejected the bombing of the dikes, which would have drowned 1 million people, for the same reason that I rejected the nuclear option. Because the targets presented were not military targets.