The Only Viable Option Left...

[Warrior-Mentor]

"The only way to infuse ARVN with strong leadership immediately would have been by taking the top U.S. studs out of U.S. units or advisory jobs and giving them command of ARVN companies, battalions, regiments and divisions. They in turn could have selected the best men - based on ability, not connections - who would then OJT under the American officers until they got it right, at which point the Americans could go home.

"The process might have taken four to six years, so all studs would have to be 'combat bums'* (that generic, derogatory term, generally used by the tourists to describe officers who "copped out" by volunteering for repeated tours in Vietnam rather than returning to stateside duty and the multitudinous career-related activities that were expected of a modern duty officer), but that was alright - what we needed, what we'd always needed, to win this war were combat bums.* And volunteers would have queued up for the long-term command/advisory jobs.

"The technique itself was a proven one, having worked time and again for the British in their Ghurka and other colonial units, even at this late stage, the plan here in Vietnam would have been well worth the effort. For my money, it was really the only viable option left."

- COL David Hackworth
About Face (p.767)

[Warrior-Mentor]

"* Combat Bums came in two main (albeit overlapping) varieties: those who would have marched to the sound of the guns wherever they were blazing (and/or had become, as I had, obsessed with figuring out a way to win this particular conflict) and/or those who had gone native.

"The natives were most easily identifiable. these were guys, many from Special Forces, who'd been there so long that the place had become a way of life for them. They loved the food, they spoke the language...

"As a body, almost by definition, the Special Forces in Vietnam were combat bums and the best guys to fight the G in this war. But the Special Forces were also animals, which offended the prancers, and they considered themselves an elite force, which offended almost everybody else. General Abrams hated them.

"Yet, if these Green Berets had been alowed to run the show, there's little doubt in my mind that the outcome of the war would have been quite different."

[Roycroft201]

Very interesting, as I have not read that book. Thanks for posting, WM.