(2 of 2)
"Phantom Soldiers." As in any army, morale is largely the result of the quality of leadership. Good junior officers are lacking in the ARVN, which has been fighting for years and was virtually beaten in mid-1965 when the U.S. buildup began. Though a tough new law cut the desertion rate in half in 1967, it is still disappointingly high: more than one in ten ARVN soldiers go permanently AWOL, accounting for 70% of the ARVN's personnel losses. Draft dodging remains a national sport; even if caught, an affluent youth can buy his way out for $750 or less.
Some 20,000 "phantom soldiers" are still in the ranks—soldiers who have defected to civilian life but still remain on the active rolls in exchange for letting their officers pocket their pay. Graft runs right up the command line in many units. The going price for a province chief's chair can be $25,000, an investment quickly earned back via shakedowns of the local population and kickbacks on licenses and shipments of goods.
Taking Over Con Thien. Still, the ARVN today is a lot better than it used to be. One measure: it is doing more operating at night, denying the Viet Cong their sanctuary of darkness. When a big fight looms, as at Dak To, Westmoreland no longer hesitates to have the ARVN participate in the action— and in the responsibility. The defense of Saigon is now largely in Vietnamese hands. Even more significantly, the U.S. Marines are beginning to turn over the task of manning the strongpoints along the Demilitarized Zone to the ARVN. Already the first units of the ARVN 1st Division are in place on the eastern anchor. Newly armed not only with the M-16 but also with M-60 machine guns (as will be all the ARVN this year), the Vietnamese 1st will soon take over Gio Linh, Con Thien and all the exposed positions where the Marines have taken such heavy casualties in the past year. This changing of the guard along the vital DMZ line is a measure of the new respect for the ARVN. It is also an earnest omen of the responsibilities that it must some day assume everywhere in South Viet Nam.