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Elite - US NAVY SEALS - Operation Game Warden - Superb Original Piece
PBR Recon - (River Patrol Boat)
US NAVY - TF 116 - Task Force 116 - Elite Recon
TF 116 - Task Force 116 - Measures - 4.2 x 3.8 inches (10.5 x 9.5)
Original Vietnam War Patch - Excellent Condition
Task Force 116 – Operation Game Warden
Operation Game Warden was a joint operation conducted by the United States Navy and South Vietnamese Navy in order to deny Viet Cong access to resources in the Mekong Delta.
Game Warden and its counterpart Operation Market Time are considered to be two of the most successful U.S. Naval actions during the Vietnam War.
Operation Game Warden commenced in December 1965.
The Navy discontinued Operations Game Warden, Market Time in March 1973.
The efficiency of Game Warden is largely hard to determine, although the operation successfully accomplished most of its main objectives. Viet Cong defectors, referred to as \"Hồi Chánh Viên\", recurrently confirmed that Task Force 116\'s patrols greatly hindered movement in and around the Mekong Delta.
One Hồi Chánh Viên stated that PBR patrols restricted the movement of supplies so much that troops in the Delta often went multiple days without food.
Another Hồi Chánh Viên described a two-week period in which the VC were completely unable to transport their units across a river due to frequent PBR patrols.
According to Admiral S. A. Swartztrauber, an average month of Game Warden operations would account for:
- 65,000 to 70,000 patrol hours by PBRs
- 1,500 hours of flight missions by Seawolves
- 80 engagements by PBRs
- 75 minesweeping patrols
- 60 missions by Navy SEALs
- 20 LST gunfire support missions
- 125 enemy structures destroyed
- 80 enemy watercraft destroyed
Game Warden forces lost 200 Sailors in the boats from its inception to its discontinuation, however Task Force 116\'s kill ratio (approximately 40 enemy KIA to every 1 American KIA) was one of the highest of U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.
Nevertheless, the VC did not cease operations in the Mekong Delta but instead began focusing on disrupting traffic on the rivers and ultimately redirected their sampans and other watercraft to smaller rivers and canals to avoid combat with the more powerful PBRs.
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