375. Memorandum From Secretary of Defense McNamara to President Johnson1
SUBJECT
- Equipping, Training, and Deploying Royal Thai Army Expeditionary Division to South Vietnam
During your Canberra discussions with Prime Minister Thanom,2 you stressed the importance of the earliest possible deployment to Vietnam of the additional Thai forces. Thanom agreed and we understood him to guarantee the deployment would be completed in a maximum of 90 days from the receipt in Thailand of the necessary equipment. Subsequently, Embassy Bangkok reported that the Prime Ministerʼs thinking was that 90 days was a minimum period.
Meanwhile, we requested the Joint Chiefs of Staff to undertake on an urgent basis an analysis of our current timetable for providing the human and material resources needed to train the Thai force to determine the feasibility of accelerating its deployment.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff have concluded that the presently planned training cycle is estimated to be the minimum time required to produce a Thai force capable of accomplishing the specified mission in the Vietnam area of employment without accepting unnecessary risk. Urgency, consistent insofar as possible with sound military practices, was a controlling consideration in the development of the present training plan. I agree with the JCS view that the current timetable provides for the most practicable deployment of the Thai Division.
As it now stands, the first of the two increments comprising the Division will begin training on 8 January and will deploy to Vietnam starting 15 July. This schedule would give the Thai force, composed mainly of green troops, a maximum of about 180 days training, in contrast to a U.S. Division which normally receives nine to twelve months preparation. Moreover, the latter is formed around a solid cadre of experienced professional personnel, whereas the opposite is true in the Thai case. As a matter of interest, current legislation precludes assignment of any U.S. Servicemen to duty on land outside of the United States until he has completed a minimum of 120 days training.
With respect to the delivery of equipment, maximum use is being made of material already prepositioned in-country. Items not on hand [Page 834] will be airlifted. The Department of the Army has assigned a priority for the Thai Division equal to U.S. combat forces in South Vietnam. In short, equipment is and will be provided just as soon as the training schedule permits the Thai to absorb it.
We have also investigated the possibility of completing the training cycle of elements of the first increment in South Vietnam, which would mean the arrival of the element in June instead of July. It is the judgment of General Westmoreland and the Joint Chiefs of Staff that this course of action is militarily undesirable. If elements of the Division arrive before they are capable of combat, they would require a protective force which would be a drain on COMUSMACVʼs resources. There would also be the danger of their sustaining an early defeat which could negate the political significance of their presence.
The Department of Defense will continue to take all those actions needed to secure the earliest practicable deployment of this force. I will give this matter my personal attention.
- Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OSD Admin Files: FRC 73 A 1250, Thailand 370. Secret.↩
- See Document 374.↩