In other instances the Vietnamese Marine battalions were ordered to serve as the reserve force for one of the three corps tactical zones. The 1st Battalion, for example, accompanied by Captain Bradley S. Snell, assumed the mission as II Corps reserve on 16 May and remained in that role until mid-September. Based at Ban Me Thuot deep in the Central Highlands, the battalion provided security for government installations while remaining ready to react to enemy threats. As the corps reserve it conducted one heliborne operation and several search-type missions. In one of these searches the Vietnamese Marines uncovered and destroyed a Viet Cong small arms factory. During its assignment in II Corps, the 1st Battalion accounted for only four Viet Cong dead and one wounded while suffering 16 dead and 28 wounded. These statistics attested both to the grim effectiveness of enemy sniper fire and mines and to the enemy’s elusiveness. [Illustration: VNMC (MARINE BRIGADE) TABLE OF ORGANIZATION AS OF 1 JANUARY 1962 AUTHORIZED STRENGTH 5,483] The newly activated 4th Battalion, advised by Captain Don R. Christensen, entered combat for the first time during an operation in Binh Thuan Province in the first week in August. Supported by Battery A (a 75mm howitzer unit) of the artillery battalion, it joined the 43d ARVN Infantry Regiment in an attempt to locate and destroy Viet Cong forces operating around Phan Thiet, the provincial capital, located on the coast 95 miles east of Saigon. Following the conclusion of this operation on 22 August, the Marine units reverted to the control of the Binh Thuan province chief. In this capacity they assisted in clearing and resettlement operations being conducted in conjunction with the Strategic Hamlet Program. Between 4 August and 15 October, when its assignment in the province ended, the 4th Battalion reported 12 Viet Cong killed and seven captured. Vietnamese Marine casualties were one killed and five wounded. During the assignment the Marines resettled some 600 civilians in fortified hamlets.[4-2][4-C] [4-C] Major Croft, the Assistant Senior Marine Advisor during this period, later recalled that province chiefs tended to misuse the Marine units by assigning them unproductive missions such as static security. (Col Alfred J. Croft, Comments on 2d Draft MS, Whitlow, “Marine Activities in Vietnam, 1954–1964,” hereafter _Croft Comments_.) [Illustration: _Vietnamese Marines search dense jungle for Viet Cong base areas. (Photo courtesy of Lieutenant Colonel Michael J. Gott, USMC)._]