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STAGES OF HMONG CULTURAL ADAPTATION 17(Barney 1957a,b).Some Hmong also began to make use of Western medicineas administered in Lao hospitals to a much greaterdegree than before, although Western medicalstill treatmenttended to be a solution of last resort, andqualitytheof the medical treatment available was not good(Dooley 1958:192ff; Halpern 1961).In the Laos resettlement stage, modern war came tolarge apercentage of the Hmong population in Laos withcruel force and disruption. The Hmong participation inthe war became intense. Hmong suffered terrible casualties,many villages being uprooted, some several times;and large parts of the population were resettled in ref u-gee conglomerations, often around military centers.12Normal agricultural and economic activity were often impossibleon any adequate scale, and in many of the centersHmong were forced to live by external aid plus whatevernew economic skills they could learn. Traditionalsewing skills were adapted to make items directly salableto Westerners.13For many Hmong, war and conglomerate life broughtparticipation in some forms of modern technology. Instrumentsof warand in some areas, those of transportationand agriculturebecame more widely known.tary Mili-participation and life in the conglomerationsbrought new social structures that overlaid thetionaltradi-ones still in place. Many military learned anEnglish-based code for communication with American officersand civilian pilots, while some Hmong learned tocommunicate in everyday English.-Westernization and adaptation to Lao culture wasintensified for some Hmong as they participated with Laoand Americans in the war effort, lived in the same conglomerationswith Lao and other ethnic groups, and in afew cas,ss became more educated in Lao.Hmong literacy increased slightly. In addition tothe rnmanized orthograthy, two Lao-based writing systemswere in use during the period. One was developed by theHmong who sided with theparts Pathet Lao and the otherof bythe Protestant church (Smalley 1976; Lemoine1972a). As economic and cultural deprivationtaryand mili-stress increased, there developed the Chao"Lord of the Sky") MessianicFa (Lao:movement, an attempt to recreatea golden past mixed with elements of the changingpresent, something which was uniquely Hmong. With it was. .t40On