4 - The Black Vault

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THE BDM CORPORATION
i assigned to CORDS. 49/ Several senior Vietnamese officers described the US
advisor and his training in these terms:
The requirements for US Army officers assigned to
advisory duties in Vietnam seemed to ba based on three
major criteria: language ability, branch of service,
and training. Some degree of fluency in Vietnamese,
for exc.mple, was required of officers assigneil to the
RF/PF, particularly those advising the PF training
centers and the district chiefs. Experience, however,
showed that this lingjistic requirement was seldom
restrictive and that these advisers rarely achieved a
desirble fluency for effective professional communication.
US Army officers selected for staff or technical
service adviso'ry duties were usually matched branch for
branch, but here again, this requirement was sometimes
not s~rictly observed, chiefly when the advisory position
-as classihied as branch-immaterial. The training
criterion applied mostly to key advisory po3it 4 -ns or
specialized areas of duty. Dopending cn the level,
graduates of the National or Army War Colleges, Command
and General Staff Cellege, branch Career or Advanced
courses were required. Specialized areas of duty
usually related io such courses as Counterinsurgency
and Special Warfare, Psychological Operations, Speciei
Forces, Civil Affairs, etc. Tha majority of advisory
positions, however, required graduates of the Military
Assistance Institute or Military Assistance Training
Advisory Course But regardless of position or specialization,
the one-year tour seemed not conducive to more
extensive preparation of US officers ft.r advisory
duties other than perfunctory requirements and a brief
orientation course p:-ior to field deployment. 50/
E. Aviation Trainini
COMUSMACV established a requirement in February 1964 for a heavy
armed/armored helicopter, an off-the-shelf aircraft that could be refitted
to meet the survivability and firepower needs of the US advisory and support
perso,,nel already in country. 51/ After US combat forces entered
Vietnam, a steady expansion occurred in the use of heticopters of all
4 types. The active inventory of aircraft reached 8,098 in FY5c ard 9,375 in
'Y67, requirirg 12,908 trained aviators by the close of FY67. Auout 500
aviators were assigned to the Army training base as instructors to meet the
expanding requirements. 52/
However, the requirements for aviatnrs in FY67
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