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In October 1966, 3rd Battalion was deployed to combat the threat from the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) in Quảng Trị Province. This would be a largely conventional fight, known as the “war against professionals”, that would continue until late 1968. Supplies were in constant short supply, and Marines were constantly scavenging helmets, clothes, armor, and ammunition from their dead. In December, the battalion experienced a case of friendly fire when a pair of F-4 Phantoms dropped several bombs in the middle of Mike Company, killing seventeen Marines and wounding a dozen others. Navy Corpsman Donald Rion was awarded a posthumous Silver Star for his efforts to treat the wounded, despite suffering a fatal wound himself. From February through April, the battalion took part in Operations Prairie II, III and IV, which were a series of sweeps throughout Quảng Trị Province. On 2 March 1967, Lima Company—then under the command of Captain John Ripley—stumbled into a PAVN regiment trying to cross the DMZ. Twelve Marines were killed and twenty-eight severely wounded with every other Marine additionally hit. The PAVN suffered heavy casualties and retreated across the border.

In April, 3rd Battalion participated in a series of bloody engagements near Khe Sanh known as The Hill Fights. Activity near Khe Sanh had increased dramatically that spring. On 24 April, Bravo Company 1st Battalion 9th Marines was engaged by elements of the PAVN 18th Regiment dug in on Hills 881 North, 881 South, and 861. 3rd Battalion—then a hybrid unit with companies from multiple battalions—was sent to assist.3rd Battalion’s commander, LtCol Gary Wilder, believed he was only facing a small PAVN unit and counterattacked.Throughout the 25th, 3rd Battalion launched a series of piecemeal attacks on the hills, only to be repulsed with heavy losses. The 3rd Marine Division committed its reserve to the fighting and took Hill 861 on 26 April. On the night of 29 April, the PAVN replaced the battered 18th Regiment with the fresh 95th Regiment. The following day the Marines dropped 250 bombs and more than 1300 artillery rounds on Hill 881. Mike Company was allowed by the PAVN to advance partially up the hill before opening fire. By the end of the battle, 46 marines from the battalion were killed, half of them from Mike Company.

Throughout the late spring and early summer of 1967, the battalion helped keep open Route 9, the supply route between Ca Lu Combat Base and Khe Sanh. After a firefight between a PAVN battalion and Mike Company in late July, the road was closed until 1968. The battalion was also stricken by malaria during this time; 206 3rd Battalion Marines contracted it. In the fall the battalion was put to work building and defending the McNamara Line, a series of fixed fortifications along the DMZ in an area known as Leatherneck Square (The four corners were Cam Lộ, Con Thien, Gio Linh and Đông Hà). The PAVN repeatedly attacked the positions and twice 3rd Battalion had to come rescue elements of 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines that were in danger of being overrun. 3rd Battalion would occupy several of those positions through May 1968. From 29 December to 12 January, elements of the battalion participated in the construction and defense of strongpoint Alpha 3.