Fueling the War

Most of what the South Vietnamese know about military tactics they learned from their American advisers. They learned so well that today ARVN corps commanders flit about the countryside in their personal helicopters, and some unit commanders bounce around in their own high-gloss, jet-black Jeeps. Even the lowliest enlisted man honors the American way of war: never walk when you can hitch a ride in a truck, never hitch in a truck when a Jeep is available, never ride in a Jeep when a helicopter is going your way. These profligate habits cost considerable fuel, as does the legitimate business of fighting a lingering war with a mechanized military force.

The Vietnamese air force flies strafing missions in F-5 jets that consume 575 gal. of JP4 per hour, and it carries men and supplies aboard C-130 transports that burn 785 gal. of the same fuel per hour. The army rides into battle on armored personnel carriers that get three miles to the gal. and in M48 tanks using 1 1/3 gal. per mile. By U.S. Defense Department reckoning, the South Vietnamese military goes through fuel at a rate of more than 5 million bbl. per year --a huge amount by Southeast Asian standards.

Until the Arab embargo, South Vietnamese forces never had to worry about where that oil might come from. When the Americans were in residence, Vietnamese units drew their supplies from U.S. depots. Afterward the U.S. Defense Fuel Supply Center contracted with Esso and Shell in Singapore and Caltex in Saudi Arabia for shipments to the same depots, now under local management. But early in November the Saudis warned that Singapore's refineries might be cut off from Arab crude if the refineries continued to fulfill U.S. military contracts--and that included fuel ordered for America's allies. Rather than let South Viet Nam's internal-combustion war machine run out of gas, the Defense Department began siphoning fuel from its own reserves in the Pacific. In November and December, 400,000 bbl. were transferred to Viet Nam from fuel-short U.S. units. (The transfers have recently stopped.)

Scrupulous Neutral. Meanwhile, South Vietnamese Foreign Minister Vuong Van Bac visited Saudi Arabia to remind King Faisal that on Middle East issues the Thieu government has been scrupulously neutral. The point was well taken, and South Viet Nam was certified as a customer. The Vietnamese would have to do their own contracting for the oil, but the U.S. could continue to pay for it at the higher prices. U.S. officials estimate that 10% of this year's $813 million in military aid for Viet Nam will flow into fuel.

If a North Vietnamese offensive ever takes place, that cost will quickly multiply. The Communists demonstrated their ability to knock out South Viet Nam's reserves when sappers last month blew up the Nha Be petroleum depot near Saigon, destroying about 50% of the civilian stores. Attacks on the military's reserves of 2 million bbl. might well be part of a major Communist drive. Even if the military reserves remained intact, the drain would be great. If the war steps up again, the South Vietnamese will open the throttle, the Singapore refineries will be urged to open the taps, and the U.S. may well have to open up still more on its military aid flow.

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