Ironically one critical factor undermining morale was the administration’s policy of troop withdrawals.33 From a public relations standpoint, each new increment of returned soldiers was craftily orchestrated so as to reduce domestic dissent. What no one anticipated was how this would impact the soldiers who remained in Vietnam. For those in the field, who typically regarded the army of South Vietnam as cowardly and incompetent, the obvious conclusion was that if American withdrawals continued, then sooner or later the enemy would win.34 Given that likelihood, why should they continue to fight?
