Arming the subs

Andrew Bacevich elaborates on my recent post relative to our lack of military success since WWII.  He talks about our efforts to arm the soldiers of the nation we couldn't really help militarily. Some questions:

Given a weak state with dubious legitimacy, how feasible is it to expect outsiders to invest indigenous forces with genuine fighting power?

How do differences in culture or history or religion affect the prospects for doing so?

Can skill ever make up for a deficit of will?

Can hardware replace cohesion?

Above all, if tasked with giving some version of Vietnamization another go, what did U.S. forces need to do differently to ensure a different result?