Download the SEAFA unit location dataset

Downloads and caches the Southeast Asia Forces Activity (SEAFA) dataset recording monthly locations of American, South Vietnamese, and Allied maneuver battalions in Southeast Asia from 1966 to 1972.

Usage

get_seafa(cache = TRUE, force = FALSE)

Format

A data frame with 15 variables (row count varies by version). Key variables include:

unit_number

Unit number.

record_date

Date of the location record.

unit_name

Unit name.

province

Province.

lat, lng

Geographic coordinates.

vc_military_region

Viet Cong military region.

Source

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, MD. Electronic records collected by the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV). Source file: Southeast Asia Forces Activity (SEAFA). See Smith (2025) and its Online Appendix for full archival accession details.

Arguments

cache

Logical. If TRUE (default), the downloaded file is saved locally and reused on subsequent calls without re-downloading.

force

Logical. If TRUE, re-downloads the file even if a cached copy already exists. Default is FALSE.

Value

A data frame with 15 variables. Row count varies by version.

Details

Each row is a unit location record.

References

Smith, Gregory L. (2025). "Beyond body counts: Vietnam war ground combat data." Conflict Management and Peace Science. doi:10.1177/07388942251391081

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
  seafa <- get_seafa()
  head(seafa)
} # }