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Auto Defense Choc
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Auto Defense Choc
The Auto Defense de Choc (ADC) was a militia training program for the Royal Lao Armed Forces. Begun by a French military mission in 1955, its 100-man companies were placed under command of the local Military Region commander when trained. By 1 September 1959, 20 ADC companies were in training, and there were 16,000 ADC soldiers nationwide. When Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives Theodore Shackley, James William Lair and others slipped into the Kingdom of Laos in the early 1960s, they instituted an American version of the ADC dependent on pre-packed airdropped materiel. Using a three-day training schedule in Operation Momentum, Shackley, Lair and others, worked with Vang Pao to raise a guerrilla force of 5,000 troops in several months.
The ADC concept's success helped it spread. The Royal Lao Government (RLG) set up its own version. U.S. Special Forces (USSF) copied the ADC for Operation White Star and Operation Pincushion, and to organize the Degar in South Vietnam. In 1967, Royal Thai Special Forces belatedly began their own ADC program along the Thai-Lao border. As the Laotian Civil War continued, ADC troops began to assume the role of regular light infantry. They were gathered into larger units such as ad hoc battalions. In many cases, the village militia was transferred away from their home villages. They were assigned to such non-guerrilla tasks as defending or attacking fixed positions. They were conscripted into regular units of the RLA. Their numbers dwindled in the confusion of warmaking; the ADC faded in importance until only 6,000 remained in service by war's end.
Although the French lost the First Indochina War, they were bound by the 1954 Geneva Agreement to provide the newly independent Kingdom of Laos with a trained military. As part of the Lao military establishment the French raised a paramilitary force, the AD Corps, in 1955. They disbanded it in 1958, only to reconstitute it the following year. The AD Corps was supposed to be a nationwide network of 16,000 volunteers for local village self-defense. Assets from an earlier Garde Nationale (National Guard) and some prior commando companies were rolled into the new organization. The Royal Lao Government (RLG) planned to use most of the AD Corps for part-time village self-defense; these were the Auto-Defense Ordinaire (Ordinary Self Defense) troops. However, some members of the new Corps were designated for full-time service against a burgeoning Pathet Lao communist movement; these were designated Auto Defense de Choc (Self-Defense Shock) troops. The 4,000 Hmong located in Xam Neua between the Pathet Lao and their North Vietnamese backers were such.
The AD Corps was designed to consist of 100 man companies. These companies contained four platoons. In turn, each platoon was supposed to have three assault squads and one heavy weapons squad. AD Corps companies were under the command of their local military region.
On 1 September 1959, RLG plans called for creation of 20 Auto Defense companies by month's end, with an additional 20 companies trained by the end of October. The various military regions of Laos were training recruits: Military Region 1 had 5,000 trainees; MR 2 had 3,700; MR 3 had 3,000; MR 4 had another 3,000 recruits; MR 5 had 1,300.
The Central Intelligence Agency's undercover entry into Laos would result in an American version of the ADC. CIA agent Bill Lair contacted Vang Pao in early January 1961. The Hmong officer offered to raise and train a clandestine army of 10,000 hill tribes guerrillas via the ADC program. Lair, who had trained the Thai Police Aerial Resupply Unit to Special Forces standards, got permission from his seniors to staff Operation Momentum and supply it from the Programs Evaluation Office. The first CIA-backed training session for ADC was at Padong, located back in the hills 17 kilometers south of the communist-occupied Plain of Jars. Key to the success of this ADC program was the pre-packed supplies that could be parachuted into obscurely located training camps. The ADC program was relatively inexpensive; for instance, the Lao soldiers were paid about ten cents per day.
Because the training was located a three-day march from the nearest People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) troops, a three-day curriculum was set up. On day one, three parachuted pre-packed loads were broken down and issued to recruits; they then learned to use rifles and light crew-served weapons. Day two saw the new soldiers learn the skills of ambushing the enemy; first they practiced setting squad-size ambushes, then moved up to using platoons. The third day covered squad, platoon, and company-size ambushes, as well as booby traps. The first two ADC companies in Momentum graduated on 20 January 1961. The following day, 20 of the graduates ambushed and killed 15 Lao communist soldiers. By the 22nd, both companies cut Route 4 20 kilometers south of Xieng Khouang.
Building on that success, more ADC companies began training, while more American support was poured into the ADC program. As ADC companies graduated, they dispersed and trained other troops. More training camps were opened, being located to surround the Plain of Jars and to interpose between the PDJ and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam border. On 24 February 1961, 385 Thai technicians and specialists were authorized to be in Laos by the end of the month. PARU teams were rapidly infiltrated into Laos to serve as trainers. Six more CIA agents arrived to aid Bill Lair in supervising the PARU. Among them were Tony Poe, Bill Young, and Tom Fosmire.
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Auto Defense Choc
The Auto Defense de Choc (ADC) was a militia training program for the Royal Lao Armed Forces. Begun by a French military mission in 1955, its 100-man companies were placed under command of the local Military Region commander when trained. By 1 September 1959, 20 ADC companies were in training, and there were 16,000 ADC soldiers nationwide. When Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives Theodore Shackley, James William Lair and others slipped into the Kingdom of Laos in the early 1960s, they instituted an American version of the ADC dependent on pre-packed airdropped materiel. Using a three-day training schedule in Operation Momentum, Shackley, Lair and others, worked with Vang Pao to raise a guerrilla force of 5,000 troops in several months.
The ADC concept's success helped it spread. The Royal Lao Government (RLG) set up its own version. U.S. Special Forces (USSF) copied the ADC for Operation White Star and Operation Pincushion, and to organize the Degar in South Vietnam. In 1967, Royal Thai Special Forces belatedly began their own ADC program along the Thai-Lao border. As the Laotian Civil War continued, ADC troops began to assume the role of regular light infantry. They were gathered into larger units such as ad hoc battalions. In many cases, the village militia was transferred away from their home villages. They were assigned to such non-guerrilla tasks as defending or attacking fixed positions. They were conscripted into regular units of the RLA. Their numbers dwindled in the confusion of warmaking; the ADC faded in importance until only 6,000 remained in service by war's end.
Although the French lost the First Indochina War, they were bound by the 1954 Geneva Agreement to provide the newly independent Kingdom of Laos with a trained military. As part of the Lao military establishment the French raised a paramilitary force, the AD Corps, in 1955. They disbanded it in 1958, only to reconstitute it the following year. The AD Corps was supposed to be a nationwide network of 16,000 volunteers for local village self-defense. Assets from an earlier Garde Nationale (National Guard) and some prior commando companies were rolled into the new organization. The Royal Lao Government (RLG) planned to use most of the AD Corps for part-time village self-defense; these were the Auto-Defense Ordinaire (Ordinary Self Defense) troops. However, some members of the new Corps were designated for full-time service against a burgeoning Pathet Lao communist movement; these were designated Auto Defense de Choc (Self-Defense Shock) troops. The 4,000 Hmong located in Xam Neua between the Pathet Lao and their North Vietnamese backers were such.
The AD Corps was designed to consist of 100 man companies. These companies contained four platoons. In turn, each platoon was supposed to have three assault squads and one heavy weapons squad. AD Corps companies were under the command of their local military region.
On 1 September 1959, RLG plans called for creation of 20 Auto Defense companies by month's end, with an additional 20 companies trained by the end of October. The various military regions of Laos were training recruits: Military Region 1 had 5,000 trainees; MR 2 had 3,700; MR 3 had 3,000; MR 4 had another 3,000 recruits; MR 5 had 1,300.
The Central Intelligence Agency's undercover entry into Laos would result in an American version of the ADC. CIA agent Bill Lair contacted Vang Pao in early January 1961. The Hmong officer offered to raise and train a clandestine army of 10,000 hill tribes guerrillas via the ADC program. Lair, who had trained the Thai Police Aerial Resupply Unit to Special Forces standards, got permission from his seniors to staff Operation Momentum and supply it from the Programs Evaluation Office. The first CIA-backed training session for ADC was at Padong, located back in the hills 17 kilometers south of the communist-occupied Plain of Jars. Key to the success of this ADC program was the pre-packed supplies that could be parachuted into obscurely located training camps. The ADC program was relatively inexpensive; for instance, the Lao soldiers were paid about ten cents per day.
Because the training was located a three-day march from the nearest People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) troops, a three-day curriculum was set up. On day one, three parachuted pre-packed loads were broken down and issued to recruits; they then learned to use rifles and light crew-served weapons. Day two saw the new soldiers learn the skills of ambushing the enemy; first they practiced setting squad-size ambushes, then moved up to using platoons. The third day covered squad, platoon, and company-size ambushes, as well as booby traps. The first two ADC companies in Momentum graduated on 20 January 1961. The following day, 20 of the graduates ambushed and killed 15 Lao communist soldiers. By the 22nd, both companies cut Route 4 20 kilometers south of Xieng Khouang.
Building on that success, more ADC companies began training, while more American support was poured into the ADC program. As ADC companies graduated, they dispersed and trained other troops. More training camps were opened, being located to surround the Plain of Jars and to interpose between the PDJ and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam border. On 24 February 1961, 385 Thai technicians and specialists were authorized to be in Laos by the end of the month. PARU teams were rapidly infiltrated into Laos to serve as trainers. Six more CIA agents arrived to aid Bill Lair in supervising the PARU. Among them were Tony Poe, Bill Young, and Tom Fosmire.