search and destroy mission

1. 1.

   an operation developed for United States troops in Vietnam; troops would move through a designated area destroying troops as they found them

   Broadermission

Questions about search and destroy mission

What does search and destroy mission mean?

search and destroy mission means "an operation developed for United States troops in Vietnam; troops would move through a designated area destroying troops as they found them".

Is search and destroy mission a common word?

search and destroy mission is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.