People's Self-Defense Force
by Christopher James
Title
People's Self-Defense Force
Artist
Christopher James
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
The People's Self-Defense Force (Vietnamese: nhân dân tự vệ) was a South Vietnamese part-time village level militia during the Vietnam War. The People's Self-Defense Force mainly protected homes and villages from attacks by the Viet Cong (VC) and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN).
In the aftermath of the Tet Offensive a joint session of the South Vietnamese legislature agreed on a military mobilization law which was promulgated on 19 June 1968. The bill lowered the military draft age from 20 to 18 and allowed the government to conscript males between the ages of 18 and 38 for service in either the regular Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) or the territorial Regional Force and Popular Forces. The term of service was made indefinite, or as long as the war lasted. In addition, the legislation specified that youths of 17 and men between the ages of 39 and 43 could be conscripted for noncombat military service, and all other males between 16 and 50 were to serve in a new paramilitary organization, the People's Self-Defense Force, a part-time hamlet militia.
The PSDF force structure consisted of two components: combat and support. The basic building block of the combat PSDF was the 11-man team made up of a team leader, a deputy, and three 3-man cells. Three such teams formed a section of 35 men under a section leader and a deputy. If a locality had more than one section, then two or three sections could be assembled into a group which was the biggest PSDF combat unit led by a group leader and a deputy. All team, section, and group leaders and deputies were elected by PSDF members on the basis of their leadership qualities. Support elements were all volunteers. They were also organized into teams, sections, and groups but separated into different categories: elders, women, and teenagers, as dictated by traditional Vietnamese culture. These supporting elements provided such services as first-aid, education, social welfare, and entertainment. Able-bodied young women could join the combat PSDF if they so desired, on a voluntary basis. In rural areas, many peasant girls volunteered as combat members and were organized into separate cells. Combat PSDF groups were issued rifles, carbines, submachine guns and shotguns. Some groups even received automatic rifles in limited numbers during the later stages of the war.
During my time as an advisor, I was intricately involved in the implementation and training of these forces in the Delta region of South Vietnam, under the direction of the Dept of Defense (DOD). 1969-70
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September 7th, 2021
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