Vietnam II: A War Novel Episode 2 (V2) by C.R. Ryder Read Free Book Online

Navy and PAVA or PAF for People's Air Force.  The reasons for this can be traced to the 1954 Geneva Agreements.  The treaty said that the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was permitted to keep such armed forces as it already possessed and could create no others.  In order to follow the agreements, Vietnamese leaders created a navy and air force, but listed them as part of the army.  After V1 separate naval and air forces evolved, however, and traditional interservice rivalries, much like the ones that hampered the American military pre-Goldwater-Nichols, quickly began to rear their ugly heads.
    The PAVs were organized into three basic categories of troops.  First, the PAV Regular Force consisting of the army, the navy, and the air force.  The Army Regular Force consisted of around 1.2 million officers and enlisted personnel; the Navy, about 15,000; and the Air Force, about 20,000.  Second, the Regional Force was an organized group of reserves arranged geographically and consisted chiefly of army infantry units.  The Regional Force consisted of about 500,000.  Third, the Militia Self-Defense Force was a local militia reserve with limited training organized by community, in the agricultural village or city precinct, or organized by economic enterprise, in the communes and factories.  The Militia had about 1.2 million troops.
    The bulk of the military was made up of conscripts.  A compulsory two years of service was required of all able bodied males.  Women had registered for military service prior to 1975 as well.  Mandatory military service for females had been abandoned at the end of the nation’s civil war.  Much like the former American draft young people could defer based on education and certain trades that supported the economy.
    The Vietnamese military suffered from interservice rivalries like any nation’s military, but the army reigned supreme.  Their status as the dominant force was by design.  The mandates of the Communist Party of Vietnam made them so and specified that they not be challenged by the air and naval services.  This was changing however as Vietnam's strategic environment was becoming increasingly complicated.  The nation’s interest in the Spratly Islands and the threat of China meant the Vietnamese government had to place greater emphasis on the capabilities that allowed them to engage and protect their offshore claims.
    To meet more extensive air and naval-based requirements, Vietnam had been making some moves towards modernization and improvement; however, due to financial constraints and other priorities these moves were at times little more than symbolic.  Additionally, the army leadership fought any material or financial moves that did not benefit them directly.  This left Vietnam as a military with a disproportionately large regular and reserve army and an air force and navy of limited strength.
    The late President Ho Chi Minh was a big proponent of the Army.  He said “Our army, loyal to the Party, pious to the people and ready to fight and sacrifice their lives for independence and freedom of the Homeland, and socialism, will fulfil any tasks, overcome any difficulties and defeat any enemies.”
    That continued to make the PAV army first among not so equals.
    Of course warfare was a different thing in the world Ho Chi Minh grew up in.
    The Vietnamese believed in the concept of total mobilization.  The theory had been so successful in keeping Vietnam's enemies at bay, France, America and China and little deviation from it could be expected.  The immediacy of a second Chinese invasion alone kept the Vietnamese army on high alert and the nation continued to keep virtually the entire nation under arms.   As of 1990, one out of every three Vietnamese males was in the armed forces including the active duty army as well as part-time militia, reserve, local or regional force units, indoctrinated with the concepts of total mobilization.  They depended on conscripts, lathered