[quote=@idlehands]
Oh, I'm aware of who the Montegnards are and the SF men that trained them are, some hard SOBs. I was specifically speaking about the ARVN, I just remembered reading about the culture shock to the Americans when they'd see them walking arm in arm which I guess was a thing in Vietnam. 
[/quote]

Yeah, lots of cultures have super different cultural norms than we do. In the Middle East, for example, "polite conversation space" is about one or two feet. It can be really awkward for an American, since we prefer three or even four.

The men there also routinely hold hands, or walk arm-in-arm, as a show of affection between friends. Seriously, I've seen Afghan National Army soldiers walking through a FOB holding hands and chattering away. Over there it's completely normal.