You know you are the only person I have seen on this forum other than myself that has pointed out the massive game changer that was the 1965 purge of the Communists in Indonesia.
I would go so far as to say if the US had been paying proper attention to what had just happened in Indonesia in 1965/66 they would never have got so fully involved in the Vietnam war.
The whole Domino Theory was that all the dominoes would fall until the last big prize at the end, the only domino that mattered, Indonesia, with its vast mineral wealth, strategic sea lanes, huge population and proximity to Australia. But once the quiet man Suharto wiped out the Commies (and in fairness the Brits had stabilized Malaysia and Singapore) SE Asia was secure and it didn’t matter a tinker’s curse what happened to IndoChina (which went red eventually and made no difference).
The stunning victory inflicted by Suharto on the Communists has never been truly appreciated by anyone other than the hard left who never forgave him and demonised him ever since. To the extent that when he died even posters here on FreeRepublic were hostile to his memory.
Thanks for the kind words. The RVN failed to overcome their Communist cadre because the recruits enjoyed sanctuary in the Communist North until they were fully armed and trained, and ready to reinfiltrate their native country by battalions as a powerful enemy army.