Word: arvn
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...better part of a decade, U.S. military men have regularly been called upon to explain the pathetic performance of their hapless protégé, the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam. Now Pentagon press officers are no longer apologizing. Instead, they are speaking delightedly of a "new" ARVN, joking about its resemblance to the rugged Koreans or even Israelis, reassuring reporters that, no, Saigon was not about to annex Cambodia. Perhaps not, but Saigon's newly ferocious forces were exulting in their unaccustomed role of conquering heroes...
...officers were pleasantly startled by the soaring spirits of ARVN units in Cambodia. "It was something," reported an American who watched the ARVN 21st Division roll into Can Tho after three weeks across the border. "They were throwing handfuls of Viet Cong money to the people from their trucks and armored personnel carriers as they came through town. They were sky-high." ARVN armored columns were blithely plunging 50 or more miles into Cambodia. Streaking across the Cambodian flatlands like so many pocket Pattons, they liberated towns and hurtled far beyond the range of their U.S. advisers, artillery and helicopter...
...Cambodian high," as the phenomenon was beginning to be called, had a dramatic effect on ARVN morale. "When we went across the border," says President Nguyen Van Thieu, "I had almost every general in the country calling me on the phone, saying 'I want to go to Cambodia.'" Ordinarily, 600 ARVN troops would show up for a 4th Marine Battalion roll call in Saigon; last week, after word arrived that the 4th was headed for Cambodia, all 800 showed...
...Easy Way. Operating with a full complement of U.S. hardware and a minimum of U.S. advisers and logistical support, ARVN units have employed their new-found mobility to the fullest. Saigon's armored task forces in Cambodia have roamed as far as the port of Kompong Som (formerly Sihanoukville) in the south and Chup, site of Indochina's largest rubber plantation, in the north. Attacking the Chup plantation, whose 64,000 acres had become a haven for elements of the Viet Cong 9th Division, South Vietnamese Skyraiders reduced the latex plant to a smoking ruin. Trouble is, they...
...Celebration. In some quarters, including the U.S. State Department, there is deep concern that prolonged ARVN involvement in Cambodia could eventually upset Vietnamization. The Communists, meanwhile, have yet to substantiate a related criticism−that the Cambodian operation will directly imperil South Viet Nam. Across South Viet Nam last week, the enemy did try to mount a special one-day "high point" with rocket and mortar attacks on 64 towns and outposts. But even with nearly 60,000 U.S. and ARVN troops off in Cambodia, the sputtering high added up to a very low-key celebration of Ho Chi Minn...