________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
French and this was simply another group of people they had to deal with, or do you think
they felt differently about the Americans, responded differently during this period?
A:
No, we weren't just another group they had to deal with, certainly not. First, they were
strongly anticommunist and strongly supportive of their government. Of course, I'm talking
about the officers now, and they're part of the government. They appreciated the Americans
being there. They liked the French, though, too. I mean, there wasn't an anti-French thing.
Captain Tri liked the French, and he spoke fluent French, taught by the French. He was
strongly nationalistic; Lieutenant Can the same way. I ran into Lieutenant Can on my later
tour. I'd say they were Vietnamese--make it South Vietnamese--patriots.
The kind of negative aspects I mentioned were probably due to the cultural differences
between the East and the West. They looked at things more for the long haul, "We're going
to be doing this day in, day out. Yes, I know that we need to do this; however, I don't
necessarily need to do it today."
Second, they had to win in their own environment. They didn't want to lose. They didn't
want to fail in their structure. If we recommended something that put them at risk, then they
in a rather human nature kind of way would push that aside. They might not tell you, "No,"
but they wouldn't do it because they knew it was against "policy." They would be at risk for
something in their own hierarchy.
I got along famously with Captain Tri and Lieutenant Can. I thought we saw eye-to-eye on
the world and doing things. Their understanding of what could be done over a period of time
and mine were quite different because I had been places and I had seen what equipment and
troops could do. They hadn't been places where they could see that same kind of thing. So,
that's why I was there to advise them. "If we give you this amount of equipment, we ought to
be able to achieve this result." They didn't have that perspective.
So, as long as I remembered that they had their own chain of command that was giving them
orders too, then I could keep things in perspective. I thought with Tri and Can that I was
respected for what I brought them. Certainly when Lieutenant Can, years later, came back to
me and gave me a plaque, he was disturbed that they had never done such a thing for me
when I left the battalion. So, I think we had the kind of professional rapport that you would
have with soldiers anywhere.
The group commander, though, was as sinister as you could get. I think he respected me for
whatever talent I had and more respected me because I represented the Americans and was
the source of the money that came in to his arena and the wherewithal they had. He wanted to
use my position to help what he wanted done, and then keep me out of the way of things that
he wanted to meet their agenda. The higher levels, Major General Khanh, the Corps
commander, I think certainly had his own aspirations for the country. But, yes he was a pretty
good Corps commander and got around in all kinds of ways, thinking, providing leadership,
and was certainly more dynamic and made decisions where others hadn't.
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