Military Forces in Vietnam Fighting for the Survival of...

The term â€Å"ARVN† many times is used to describe all military forces in Vietnam fighting for the political survival of South Vietnam. It refers to the army within the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF), which includes the air force, navy, marines, rangers, regional and popular forces, and civil defense forces. There are four conventional field divisions and six light divisions which the ARVN were structured into in 1956. In 1959 this was reorganized into seven infantry divisions and three corps headquarters. This reorganization was to essentially better deal with the communist-led insurgency and to make the most of U.S. advisory efforts. From there, there was an increase in the ARVN force structure which was comprised with ten infantry†¦show more content†¦Meanwhile, the ARVN lived up to these negative views. They lost over 200,000 men in combat, some of whom must have been committed to counterrevolutionary alternatives. Ground commanders treated the notion o f rotation the ARVN units to the frontlines as a joke of sorts. For example, an attempt was made to transfer the ARVN 18th Division in July 1969 to â€Å"hot† delta border regions for invaluable combat experience. This meant that the ARVN were secondary players in terms of strategy, tactics, and logistics. In other words, like Huei (2006) states the ARVN simply just did what they were told (Huei, 2006). Based on the books we were provided about the Vietnam War, I wanted to focus on the relationship the Americans and NVA had with the ARVNs. More specifically, I wanted to examine how the ARVNs relationship with both sides of the war shaped our perception of the Vietnam War. I was inspired not only for personal reasons but to also see it through the lenses of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) in South Vietnam. What were the relationships like among the American soldiers and the ARVN soldiers? What were the ARVN’s duties and did they help accomplish anything? Information about the ARVN soldiers is not clearly mentioned that we are unaware of what they did during the Vietnam War. Unfortunately, from the guest speakers in class they did not have much to say about their relationship with the ARVN nor if they even had a relationship. Instead they proudlyShow MoreRelatedAmerican Military Culture : The American Army935 Words   |  4 PagesIV. American Military Culture The American Army s history, composition, and structure predisposed the leadership to a rigid fixation on conventional warfare. In contrast to the British army-as-force-projection model, the American Army found its first task a matter of national survival. This historical trend - the continued perception of the Army fighting a war of annihilation - helped in many ways to keep the Army purely focused on its military objectives. 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