THE AMERICAN MILITARY ADVISOR AND HIS FOREIGN COUNTERPART: THE CASE OF VIETNAM

Abstract

There are great variations in the extent to which advisors and counterparts understand each other's personalities, motives, and problems, and therefore in the degree to which the Americans are successful in exercising their advisory function. The purpose of this study is to suggest ways in which the relationship could be improved, so that Vietnamese military authorities would be more likely than they are at present to understand, accept, and act upon American advice. The author's analysis of advisor-counterpart relations and his suggestions for possible improvements are based largely on interviews he conducted with about 320 U.S. advisors in Vietnam over a 10-month period in 1964. His talks were spread over some 70 locations.