True, but Irrelevant (Miles to Vietnam #7)

In this seventh novel of the series, the Vietnam War odyssey of Captain Jif Miles, US Army, continues as he returns to the war twice, serving tours in 1971 and 1972 as a MACV evaluator and advisor to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, the ARVN. Despite the administrative sound of the job title, his new mission is a perilous struggle to make the American political panacea of Vietnamization actually succeed, shifting all combat operations to the ARVN as US political will evaporates and its combat forces depart, never to return.

Jif is constantly forced into the role of combatant and ad hoc commander, as much of the ARVN officer corps repeatedly collapses under pressure. It’s no secret that the hands-on American guidance—with its abundant access to devastating airpower—will keep South Vietnam alive a few more years. But repeatedly snatching victory from the jaws of defeat is not enough. At the Paris Peace Talks, that lesson is expressed by a North Vietnamese general who, when told by an American counterpart,
You never defeated us in battle,
replies, That is true, but it is also irrelevant.

For Jif and the brotherhood of career officers, it’s time to heed the lesson while they resurrect the Army from the ashes of Vietnam and rebuild it for the next conflict, wherever that might be.