<P> The Phoenix Program, a counterinsurgency program executed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), United States special operations forces, and the Republic of Vietnam's security apparatus, killed 26,369 suspected NLF operatives and informants . </P> <P> For historian Christian Appy, "search and destroy was the principal tactic; and the enemy body count was the primary measure of progress" in Westmoreland's war of attrition . Search and destroy was coined as a phrase in 1965 to describe missions aimed at flushing the Viet Cong out of hiding, while the body count was the measuring stick for the success of any operation . Competitions were held between units for the highest number of Vietnamese killed in action, or KIAs . U.S. Army and marine officers knew that promotions were largely based on confirmed kills . The pressure to produce confirmed kills resulted in massive fraud . One of the most thorough studies found that American commanders exaggerated body counts by 100 percent . </P> <P> Casualties as of 11 September 2017: </P> <Ul> <Li> 58,318 KIA or non-combat deaths (including the missing & deaths in captivity) </Li> <Li> 153,303 WIA (excluding 150,332 persons not requiring hospital care) </Li> <Li> 1,602 MIA (originally 2,646) </Li> <Li> 766--778 POW (652--662 freed / escaped *, 114--116 died in captivity) </Li> </Ul>

Number of soldiers killed in vietnam by state