[quadrant]

I agree that for all intents and purposes the Viet Cong ceased to exits after Tet and that the military
proficiency of the ARVN increased during the early years of the first Nixon presidency.
However, the ARVN never developed the skill necessary to cope with the North Vietnamese army without a US help. Perhaps the ARVN could have developed this skill over time,
but by 1970-71, a significant percentage of the people of the US, especially those people who wielded great influence over public opinion, were war weary and wanted out of the conflict, regardless of the consequences.
This unwillingness to support the ARVN had tragic consequences for the US troops who were required to serve in Vietnam and especially for the Vietnamese who had put their trust in the word of the US.

[aculeus]

Morning bump.

[brazzaville]

Good morning.

We will never know whether or not South Vietnam possessed the military skill to defeat the communists because those opinion-makers you wrote about made sure they were deprived of any support, of any kind, while Hanoi was armed and supplied by the entire communist world.

ARVN was crushed by mumbers, not skill.

Michael Frazier