 The human and material cost to South Vietnam was staggering . The number of civilian dead was estimated by the government at 14 @,@ 300 with an additional 24 @,@ 000 wounded . 630 @,@ 000 new refugees had been generated , joining the nearly 800 @,@ 000 others already displaced by the war . By the end of 1968 , one of every twelve South Vietnamese was living in a refugee camp . More than 70 @,@ 000 homes had been destroyed in the fighting and perhaps 30 @,@ 000 more were heavily damaged and the nation 's infrastructure had been virtually destroyed . The South Vietnamese military , although it had performed better than the Americans had expected , suffered from lowered morale , with desertion rates rising from 10 @.@ 5 per thousand before Tet to 16 @.@ 5 per thousand by July . 1968 became the deadliest year of the war to date for the ARVN with 27 @,@ 915 men killed . 
