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eppur_se_muova

(41,612 posts)
8. Hmmm ... sounds like what happened to the ARVN ...
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 12:46 PM
Apr 2013

(Army of the Republic of Viet Nam)

In Asia (and in Europe, centuries ago) the tradition was that commanders were given a payroll based on the number of men under their command; it was up to them to distribute the money. If a commander wanted to claim he had more men than he really did, he could pocket the difference. The problem was ... that when serious fighting broke out his troops were under strength, and tended to lose disastrously. If he was willing to bet that other units would come to his rescue, and didn't care too much about casualties, the temptation to skim the payroll proved irresistible to many, and the ARVN was slowly 'infiltrated' by non-existent troops.

Kind of a stretch comparing Wal-Mart to Viet Nam, I know, but ...

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