whenever possible—has been challenged by later commanders. One other—planning and conduct of combined operations—has been one of the chief sources of criticism of the Koreans, who are very reluctant to enter into truly combined operations.
General Peers, who succeeded General Rosson, stated that it took some learning and understanding but that he found the Koreans highly efficient and a distinct pleasure to work with. He also stated that every effort was made to support Korean operations by providing additional artillery, helicopters, APC's, and tanks and that this practice proved of immense value in developing co-operation between the Koreans and adjacent U.S. units.
A slightly different point of view was provided by Lieutenant General Arthur S. Collins, Jr., who was Commanding General, I Field Force, Vietnam, from 15 February 1970 through 9 January 1971. General Collins stated that the Koreans made excessive demands for choppers and support and that they stood down for too long after an operation. He equated the total effort from the two Korean divisions to "what one can expect from one good US Brigade."
General Collins, for the first eight months of his time, followed the policy of his predecessors in that he went to great lengths "to ensure that the ROK forces received the support they asked for." He felt that it was in the interest of the United States to do so. His final analysis, however, was that this was a mistake in that in spite of all-out support the Koreans did not conduct the number of operations they could and should have. He felt that a less accommodating attitude might have gained more respect and co-operation from the Koreans but did not venture to guess whether such a position would have made them any more active.
General Collins' successor, Major General Charles P. Brown, deputy commander and later commanding general of I Field Force, Vietnam, and commanding general of the Second Regional Assistance Command during the period 31 March 1970—15 May 1971 made this statement:
The ROK's spent relatively long periods planning regimental and division sized operations, but the duration of the execution phase is short.
The planning which leads to requests for helicopter assets to support airmobile operations is poor. This assessment is based on the fact that the magnitude of their requests for helicopters generally is absurdly high. Without disturbing their tactical plan one iota, their aviation requests can always be scaled down, frequently almost by a factor of one-half....
