Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
Be interested to see what you turn up. My recollection is that those with a flair for languages did okay and those the pulled multiple tours where they interfaced with the Viet Namese daily did so as well. For most others, it was a smattering and little more. I suspect your 'host' and 'many' will be overstatements with respect to total numbers deployed to SEA and even to Advisory duty but there's no question that the numbers exceed today's spotty efforts on a per capita as well as a raw basis.
My research tends to support Ken's observations. There were SOME Americans in Vietnam who did well with the language, but they tended to be focused in very specific areas. I would never say there was a 'host' or even 'many' for that matter, and certainly not in the line units, but there did seem to be a more conscious attempt to put the resources out there.