By Spring of 1971 they were whipped. They wouldn’t stand and fight. The ones we captured were in pitiful physical condition and their gear was in a deplorable state.
Your comment about the USAID worker fits my recall exactly in our AO (NE of Saigon in the old War Zone D). The roads were full of cars, motos, and buses. The people were moving around freely. All of those little towns like Gia Ray were experiencing a building boom with new houses, stores, etc. Six months before you wouldn’t go outside the gates w/o full gear. By April of ‘71 I’d take a jeep out by myself with just a .45.
War can be fun when you’re kicking ass.
Just a little reminder. The 3rd Marine Division departed I Corps Vietnam in November 1969 and moved to Camp Courtney, Okinawa. It was not replaced. Some thought the move was crazy, but in 70-71 there was a very substantial reduction in fighting in the five northern provinces and that included the Arizona Territory, Hiep Duc, Quang Tri, and the always troublesome Quang Ngai. The ThirdMarDiv was in fact not needed. ThirdMarDiv intell had confirmed that thousands of Vietnamese that had left the South in 1954 had returned to II Corps. With the Tet Offensive they raised up and were then slaughtered. Another example of pacification: The Chieu Hoi leader in Quang Tin claimed in 70 that of a large book of local insurgents that had once existed in that province less than 60 were thought to be still alive. In sum the indigenous Cong were extirpated. In the end, the war in Viet Nam was won by invading NVA.
Finally, the whole business could have been ended in a week had we started to take out the Red river dikes and dams (which took centuries to build) and threatened to leave the heavily populated northern provinces under water unless the North gave up the war. In the end, we never really meant business despite the large loss of life.