Was to extend the DMZ all the way to the Thai border, cutting off the VC from the NVA and starving them out while letting the South Vietnam Army do all the counterinsurgency work while the US dug into prepared positions on the DMZ to keep the NVA out. Would have dramatically reduced US casualties and kept us away from the general population for most part. Use the 101st and 173rd airborne as the QRF for the vietnamese and basically create a fortified corridor from port of Da Nang up to the DMZ and then west. Possible but no idea if it would have worked. Definitely better than body counts. Counterinsurgency literature emphasizes cutting off the base of support of insurgents is key. Why the actions of the government of Pakistan helped doom Afghanistan for one reason.