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Conclusion THE LIVES OF Pham Van Dinh and Tran Ngoc Hue were both dominated and defined by the Vietnam War. Choosing similar paths, Dinh and Hue embraced a noncommunist nationalism fueled largely by a fundamental Vietnamese value: family. Driven by the tenants of on and hieu, as well as by an almost paternalistic devotion to their fledgling nation, the two comrades fought hard and prospered within the context of a war dominated by American, not South Vietnamese, military and political needs. Although Dinh and Hue realized, as did so many other U.S. and South Vietnamese combat officers, that both the war and the South Vietnamese systems were flawed, they fought on, exhibiting a level of stoicism and resilience that are among the hallmarks of Vietnamese martial history. Pham Van Dinh and Tran Ngoc Hue were Vietnamese warriors, in the best tradition of their ancestors. The life stories of Pham Van Dinh and Tran Ngoc Hue also reflect an ARVN that was a complex institution, that, although all too often either ignored or portrayed as a hapless victim of history in the West, played an integral role in the Vietnam War. Hue’s sterling career, ranging from his efforts to recapture Hue City in 1968 to his final moments in command during Lam Son 719, represented the best of the ARVN: dedication, honor, and duty. While Dinh also fought well, from the founding of the Hac Bao to Tun Tavern, the conclusion of his career seems to represent only the archetypal traits ascribed to the ARVN: cowardice and duplicity. The actions of Dinh and Hue seem simple on the surface, but a fuller understanding of the context of their actions as their careers in the ARVN came to an end reveals profound lessons about the ARVN and its war. Within a broader context, although the tenacity displayed by Hue’s 2/2 during Lam Son 719 highlights the best characteristics of the ARVN, the destruction of the battalion also represents both the American construct of the war and the ARVN at their worst. Due in part to issues of American politics, the operation took place two years 298 too late, and the ARVN, having long functioned as an adjunct of an American war, proved to be both tactically and politically lacking. Without advisers, much less the support of U.S. combat forces, the ARVN demonstrated that it was not ready to shoulder the burden of war alone, yet the withdrawal of U.S. forces only accelerated. Problems ranging from tactical tinkering by President Thieu to outright insubordination by powerful and politically motivated generals also demonstrated that the pace of South Vietnamese military and political reform had been far too slow. Dinh’s end, too, was far from simple, and fits into a broader understanding of the Vietnam War. The historian Robert Brigham has argued that the South Vietnamese leadership did not provide the national identity required to support a long and grueling war. He contends: Over time the ARVN created a subnational culture that focused the war’s meaning on family survival. Servicemen arrived at a shared understanding that the war was no longer about “the national question ” but about something more elemental. Drawing on cultural and historical traditions, the ARVN redefined the meaning of the war. What held it together in the face of enormous difficulties was a growing belief among soldiers that military service was actually a way to increase the odds that their individual families would survive intact. . . . Still, most soldiers accepted (and continue to accept) an unfavorable reputation as a small price to pay for accomplishing their main objective: saving their families.1 Over time, Dinh’s men, the long-suffering soldiers of the ARVN, became even more important to him than his blood family. In that context , Dinh’s decision both to save his family of soldiers and to ensure the futures of their own families can be seen as a very Vietnamese act. The events that led to Dinh’s defeat atop Camp Carroll were also part of the legacy of a bifurcated war. An attempt to compensate for the departure of American forces from the DMZ and a politicized ARVN high command combined in the creation of the deeply flawed 3rd ARVN Division. The decision to assign the new formation to defend one of the most dangerous areas of South Vietnam, command gaffes at I Corps, and supply and communications problems all conspired to leave Dinh and his...

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