1.
South Vietnam
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South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam, was a state governing the southern half of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. It received international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam, the term South Vietnam became common usage in 1954, when the Geneva Conference provisionally partitioned Vietnam into communist and non-communist parts. The Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed on 26 October 1955, with Ngô Đình Diệm as its first president and its sovereignty was recognized by the United States and eighty-seven other nations. It had membership in several committees of the United Nations. After the Second World War, the Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh, in 1949, anti-communist Vietnamese politicians formed a rival government in Saigon led by former emperor Bảo Đại. Bảo Đại was deposed by Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm in 1955, after Diệm was killed in a military coup led by general Dương Văn Minh in 1963, there was a series of short-lived military governments. General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu led the country from 1967 until 1975, the Vietnam War began in 1959 with an uprising by Viet Cong forces armed and controlled by Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Fighting reached a climax during the Tet Offensive of 1968, when there were over 1.5 million South Vietnamese soldiers and 500,000 U. S. soldiers in South Vietnam. Despite a peace treaty concluded in January 1973, fighting continued until the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong armies overran Saigon on 30 April 1975, the creation of this republic, during the Indochina War, allowed France to evade a promise to recognise Vietnam as independent. This pre-Vietnam government prepared for a unified Vietnamese state, but the countrys full reunification was delayed for a year because of the problems posed by Cochinchinas legal status, Nguyễn Văn Xuân 1949–55 State of Vietnam. Roughly 60% of Vietnamese territory was controlled by the communist Việt Minh. Vietnam was partitioned at the 17th parallel in 1954, once highly lauded by America, he was ousted and assassinated in a U. S. -backed coup. In 1963–65, there were numerous coups and short-lived governments, several of which were headed by Dương Văn Minh or Nguyễn Khánh, Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ was the top leader in 1965–67. Surrendered to Communists when others abandoned their posts, 1975–76 Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam. Huỳnh Tấn Phát Before World War II, the third of Vietnam was the concession of Cochinchina. Between Tonkin in the north and Cochinchina in the south was the protectorate of Annam, Cochinchina had been annexed by France in 1862 and even elected a deputy to the French National Assembly. It was more evolved, and French interests were stronger than in parts of Indochina. During World War II, Indochina was administered by Vichy France, japanese troops overthrew the French administration on 9 March 1945, Emperor Bảo Đại proclaimed Vietnam independent
2.
Military
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The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their body and to defend that body. Armed force is the use of armed forces to achieve political objectives, the study of the use of armed forces is called military science. Broadly speaking, this involves considering offense and defense at three levels, strategy, operational art, and tactics, all three levels study the application of the use of force in order to achieve a desired objective. In most countries the basis of the forces is the military. However, armed forces can include other paramilitary structures, the obvious benefit to a country in maintaining armed forces is in providing protection from foreign threats and from internal conflict. In recent decades armed forces personnel have also used as emergency civil support roles in post-disaster situations. On the other hand, they may harm a society by engaging in counter-productive warfare. Expenditure on science and technology to develop weapons and systems sometimes produces side benefits, although some claim that greater benefits could come from targeting the money directly
3.
Vietnam War
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It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war. As the war continued, the actions of the Viet Cong decreased as the role. U. S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery, in the course of the war, the U. S. conducted a large-scale strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam and they viewed the conflict as a colonial war and a continuation of the First Indochina War against forces from France and later on the United States. The U. S. government viewed its involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and this was part the domino theory of a wider containment policy, with the stated aim of stopping the spread of communism. Beginning in 1950, American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina, U. S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and again in 1962. Regular U. S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965, despite the Paris Peace Accord, which was signed by all parties in January 1973, the fighting continued. In the U. S. and the Western world, a large anti-Vietnam War movement developed as part of a larger counterculture, the war changed the dynamics between the Eastern and Western Blocs, and altered North–South relations. Direct U. S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973, the capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities, estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 to 3.8 million. Some 240, 000–300,000 Cambodians,20, 000–62,000 Laotians, and 58,220 U. S. service members died in the conflict. Various names have applied to the conflict. Vietnam War is the most commonly used name in English and it has also been called the Second Indochina War and the Vietnam Conflict. As there have been several conflicts in Indochina, this conflict is known by the names of its primary protagonists to distinguish it from others. In Vietnamese, the war is known as Kháng chiến chống Mỹ. It is also called Chiến tranh Việt Nam, France began its conquest of Indochina in the late 1850s, and completed pacification by 1893. The 1884 Treaty of Huế formed the basis for French colonial rule in Vietnam for the seven decades
4.
United States Armed Forces
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
5.
People's Army of Vietnam
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The Peoples Army of Vietnam, also known as the Vietnamese Peoples Army, is the military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The PAVN is a part of Vietnam Peoples Armed Forces and includes, Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Border Defence Force, however, Vietnam does not have a specific separate Ground Force or Army branch. The military flag of the PAVN is the flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, during the French Indochina War, the PAVN was often referred to as the Việt Minh. In the context of the Vietnam War, the army was referred to as the North Vietnamese Army and this allowed writers, the US military, and the general public, to distinguish northern communists from the southern communists, or Viet Cong. However, both groups ultimately worked under the command structure. According to Hanois official history, the Viet Cong was a branch of the VPA, in 2010 the PAVN undertook the role of leading the 1, 000th Anniversary Parade in Hanoi by performing their biggest parade in history. Under the guidelines of Hồ Chí Minh, Võ Nguyên Giáp was given the task of establishing the brigades, the first formation was made up of thirty one men and three women, armed with two revolvers, seventeen rifles, one light machine gun, and fourteen breech-loading flintlocks. The group was renamed the Vietnam Liberation Army in May 1945, in September, the army was again renamed the Vietnam National Defence Army. At this point, it had about 1,000 soldiers, in 1950, it officially became the Peoples Army of Vietnam. On 7 January 1947, its first regiment, the 102nd Capital Regiment, was created for operations around Hanoi. Over the next two years, the first division, the 308th Division, later known as the Pioneer Division formed by the 88th Tu Vu Regiment. By late 1950 the 308th Division had a full three infantry regiments, when it was supplemented by the 36th Regiment, at that time, the 308th Division was also backed by the 11th Battalion that later became the main force of the 312th Division. The first six divisions became known as the original PAVN Steel, in 1954 four of these divisions defeated the French Union forces at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, ending 83 years of French rule in Indochina. At about the time, Group 579 was created as its maritime counterpart to transport supplies into the South by sea. Most of the infiltrators were members of the 338th Division. Those PAVN formations were seen as extremely brave forces by the US forces and we had to change our plan and make it different from when we fought the Saigon regime, because we now had to fight two adversaries — the United States and South Vietnam. We understood that the U. S. Army was superior to our own logistically, in weapons, so strategically we did not hope to defeat the U. S. Army completely. Our intentions were to fight a time and cause heavy casualties to the United States, so the United States would see that the war was unwinnable
6.
Viet Cong
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It had both guerrilla and regular army units, as well as a network of cadres who organized peasants in the territory it controlled. Many soldiers were recruited in South Vietnam, but others were attached to the Peoples Army of Vietnam, although the terminology distinguishes northerners from the southerners, communist forces were under a single command structure set up in 1958. North Vietnam established the National Liberation Front on December 20,1960, many of the Việt Cộngs core members were volunteer regroupees, southern Viet Minh who had resettled in the North after the Geneva Accord. Hanoi gave the military training and sent them back to the South along the Ho Chi Minh trail in the early 1960s. The NLF called for southern Vietnamese to overthrow the colonial regime of the American imperialists. The offensive riveted the attention of the media for weeks. Later communist offensives were conducted predominantly by the North Vietnamese, the organisation was dissolved in 1976 when North and South Vietnam were officially unified under a communist government. The term Việt cộng appeared in Saigon newspapers beginning in 1956 and it is a contraction of Việt Nam Cộng-sản, or alternatively Việt gian cộng sản. The earliest citation for Việt Cộng in English is from 1957, American soldiers referred to the Viet Cong as Victor Charlie or V-C. Victor and Charlie are both letters in the NATO phonetic alphabet, Charlie referred to communist forces in general, both Việt Cộng and North Vietnamese. The official Vietnamese history gives the name as the Liberation Army of South Vietnam or the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam. Many writers shorten this to National Liberation Front, in 1969, the Viet Cong created the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, abbreviated PRG. Although the NLF was not officially abolished until 1977, the Viet Cong no longer used the name after PRG was created, members generally referred to the Viet Cong as the Front. Todays Vietnamese media most frequently refers to the group as the Peoples Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam, by the terms of the Geneva Accord, which ended the Indochina War, France and the Viet Minh agreed to a truce and to a separation of forces. The Viet Minh had become the government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam since the Vietnamese 1946 general election, military forces of non-communists regrouped in South Vietnam, which became a separate state. The political forces was not compulsory to regroup, elections on reunification were scheduled for July 1956. A divided Vietnam angered Vietnamese nationalists, but it made the country less of a threat to China, Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the past and Vietnam in the present do not recognise that Vietnam was divided into two countries. Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai negotiated the terms of the ceasefire with France, about 90,000 Viet Minh were evacuated to the North while 5,000 to 10,000 cadre remained in the South, most of them with orders to refocus on political activity and agitation
7.
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
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It is estimated to have suffered 1,394,000 casualties during the Vietnam War. After the fall of Saigon to the invading North Vietnamese Army, the VNA fought in joint operations with the French Unions French Far East Expeditionary Corps against the communist Viet Minh forces led by Ho Chi Minh. The VNA fought in a range of campaigns including but not limited to the Battle of Nà Sản, Operation Atlas. Benefiting from French assistance, the VNA quickly became a modern army modelled after the Expeditionary Corps and it included infantry, artillery, signals, armored cavalry, airborne, airforce, navy and a national military academy. After the 1954 Geneva agreements, French Indochina ceased to exist and by 1956 all French Union troops had withdrawn from Vietnam, Laos, in 1955, by the order of Prime Minister Diệm, the VNA crushed the armed forces of the Bình Xuyên. On October 26,1955, the military was reorganized by the administration of President Ngô Đình Diệm who then established the Army of the Republic of Vietnam on December 30,1955. The air force was known as the Vietnamese Air Force, early on, the focus of the army was the guerrilla fighters of the Vietnam National Liberation Front, formed to oppose the Diệm administration. The United States, under President John F. Kennedy sent advisors, in 1963 Ngô Đình Diệm was killed in a coup détat carried out by ARVN officers and encouraged by American officials such as Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. In the confusion that followed, General Dương Văn Minh took control, during these years, the United States began taking more control of the war against the NLF and the role of the ARVN became less and less significant. They were also plagued by continuing problems of corruption amongst the officer corps. Although the US was highly critical of the ARVN, it continued to be entirely US-armed and funded. S, there were also many circumstances in which Vietnamese families had members on both sides of the conflict. Slowly, ARVN began to expand from its role to become the primary ground defense against the NLF. From 1969 to 1971 there were about 22,000 ARVN combat deaths per year, starting in 1968, South Vietnam began calling up every available man for service in the ARVN, reaching a strength of one million soldiers by 1972. In 1970 they performed well in the Cambodian Incursion and were executing three times as many operations as they had during the American war period. However, the ARVN equipment continued to be of lower standards than their American and South Korean allies, however, the officer corps was still the biggest problem. Leaders were too often poorly trained, corrupt, lacking morale, however, forced to carry the burden left by the Americans, the South Vietnamese Army actually started to perform rather well, though with continued American air support. In 1972, General Võ Nguyên Giáp launched the Easter Offensive, the assault combined infantry wave assaults, artillery and the first massive use of armored forces by the PAVN. Although T-54 tanks proved vulnerable to LAW rockets, the ARVN took heavy losses, the PAVN and NLF forces took Quảng Trị Province and some areas along the Laos and Cambodian borders
8.
Vietnamese boat people
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Vietnamese boat people refers to refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship after the Vietnam War, especially during 1978 and 1979, but continuing until the early 1990s. The term is often used generically to refer to all the Vietnamese who left their country by any means between 1975 and 1995. This article uses boat people to only to those who fled Vietnam by boat. The number of people leaving Vietnam and arriving safely in another country totalled almost 800,000 between 1975 and 1995. Many of the failed to survive the passage, facing danger and hardship from pirates, over-crowded boats. The boat peoples first destinations were the Southeast Asian countries of Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, several tens of thousands were repatriated to Vietnam, either voluntarily or involuntarily. Programs and facilities to carry out resettlement included the Orderly Departure Program, the Philippine Refugee Processing Center, most of the evacuees were resettled in the United States in Operation New Life and Operation New Arrivals. In 1975, communists took over in Cambodia and Laos. After the Saigon evacuation, the numbers of Vietnamese leaving their country remained relatively small until mid-1978, a number of factors contributed to the refugee crisis, including economic hardship and wars between Vietnam, China, and Cambodia. In addition,1 million people, mostly city dwellers, volunteered to live in New Economic Zones where they were to survive by reclaiming land, repression was especially severe on the Hoa, the ethnic Chinese population of Vietnam. Because of increasing tensions between Vietnam and China, which resulted in Chinas 1979 invasion of Vietnam, the Hoa were seen by the Vietnamese government as a security threat. They also controlled much of the trade in South Vietnam, and the communist government increasingly levied them with taxes, restrictions on trade. In May 1978, the Hoa began to leave Vietnam in large numbers for China, the Vietnamese government and its officials profited from the outflow of refugees, especially the often well-to-do Hoa. The price for obtaining exits permits, documentation, and a boat or ship, often derelict, to leave Vietnam was reported to be the equivalent of $3,000 for adults and these payments were often made in the form of gold bars. Many poorer Vietnamese left their country secretly without documentation and in boats. There were many methods employed by Vietnamese citizens to leave the country, most were secret and done at night, some involved the bribing of top government officials. Some people bought places in boats that held up to several hundred passengers. Others boarded fishing boats and left that way, one method used involved middle-class refugees from Saigon, armed with forged identity documents, traveling approximately 1,100 km to Danang by road
9.
United States Department of Labor
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The department is headed by the U. S. Secretary of Labor. In carrying out this mission, the Department of Labor administers and enforces more than 180 federal laws and these mandates and the regulations that implement them cover many workplace activities for about 10 million employers and 125 million workers. The U. S. Congress first established a Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1884 with the Bureau of Labor Act, to information about labor. This bureau was under the Department of the Interior, the Bureau started collecting economic data in 1884, and published their first report in 1886. Later, the Bureau of Labor became an independent Department of Labor and it became a bureau again within the Department of Commerce and Labor, which was established February 15,1903. President William Howard Taft signed the March 4,1913, bill establishing the Department of Labor as a Cabinet-level Department, William B. Wilson was appointed as the first Secretary of Labor on March 5,1913 by President Wilson. Secretary Wilson chaired the first meeting of the International Labour Organization in October 1919, the Federal Employees Compensation Act, signed Sept.7,1916, provided benefits to workers who are injured or contract illnesses in the workplace. Frances Perkins, the first female member, was appointed to be Secretary of Labor by President Roosevelt on March 4,1933. Perkins served for 12 years, making her the longest serving Secretary of Labor, during the John F. Kennedy Administration, planning was undertaken to consolidate most of the departments offices, then scattered around more than 20 locations. Construction on the New Labor Building began in the mid‑1960s and finished in 1975 and it was named in honor of Perkins in 1980. President Lyndon Johnson asked Congress to consider the idea of reuniting Commerce and he argued that the two departments had similar goals and that they would have more efficient channels of communication in a single department. However, Congress never acted on it, in the 1970s, following the civil rights movement, the Labor Department under Secretary George P. Shultz made a concerted effort to promote racial diversity in unions. In 1978, the Department of Labor created the Philip Arnow Award, Department officials said the program was modern and fair and that it was part of ongoing contract negotiations with the local. In August 2010, the Partnership for Public Service ranked the Department of Labor 23rd out of 31 large agencies in its annual Best Places to Work in the Federal Government list. In December 2010, then-Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis was named the Chair of the U. S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, in July 2011, the Department was rocked by the resignation of Ray Jefferson, Assistant Secretary for VETS, in a contracting scandal. On March 4,2013, the Department began commemorating its centennial, tom Perez was appointed as Secretary of Labor on July 23,2013. According to remarks by Perez at his swearing-in ceremony, Boiled down to its essence, did not earn a satisfactory overall grade. Title 20 of the Code of Federal Regulations Equal Employment Opportunity Commission National Labor Relations Board Occupational Information Network Ticket to Work Lombardi, labors Voice in the Cabinet, A History of the Department of Labor from Its Origins to 1921
10.
United States Census Bureau
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The United States Census Bureau is a principal agency of the U. S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureaus primary mission is conducting the U. S. Census every ten years, in addition to the decennial census, the Census Bureau continually conducts dozens of other censuses and surveys, including the American Community Survey, the U. S. Economic Census, and the Current Population Survey, furthermore, economic and foreign trade indicators released by the federal government typically contain data produced by the Census Bureau. The Bureaus various censuses and surveys help allocate over $400 billion in federal funds every year and help states, local communities, the Census Bureau is part of the U. S. Department of Commerce and its director is appointed by the President of the United States. The Census Bureau now conducts a population count every 10 years in years ending with a 0. Between censuses, the Census Bureau makes population estimates and projections, the Census Bureau is mandated with fulfilling these obligations, the collecting of statistics about the nation, its people, and economy. The Census Bureaus legal authority is codified in Title 13 of the United States Code, the Census Bureau also conducts surveys on behalf of various federal government and local government agencies on topics such as employment, crime, health, consumer expenditures, and housing. Within the bureau, these are known as surveys and are conducted perpetually between and during decennial population counts. The Census Bureau also conducts surveys of manufacturing, retail, service. Between 1790 and 1840, the census was taken by marshals of the judicial districts, the Census Act of 1840 established a central office which became known as the Census Office. Several acts followed that revised and authorized new censuses, typically at the 10-year intervals, in 1902, the temporary Census Office was moved under the Department of Interior, and in 1903 it was renamed the Census Bureau under the new Department of Commerce and Labor. The department was intended to consolidate overlapping statistical agencies, but Census Bureau officials were hindered by their role in the department. An act in 1920 changed the date and authorized manufacturing censuses every 2 years, in 1929, a bill was passed mandating the House of Representatives be reapportioned based on the results of the 1930 Census. In 1954, various acts were codified into Title 13 of the US Code, by law, the Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the U. S. President by December 31 of any year ending in a zero. States within the Union receive the results in the spring of the following year, the United States Census Bureau defines four statistical regions, with nine divisions. The Census Bureau regions are widely used. for data collection, the Census Bureau definition is pervasive. Title 13 of the U. S. Code establishes penalties for the disclosure of this information, all Census employees must sign an affidavit of non-disclosure prior to employment. The Bureau cannot share responses, addresses or personal information with anyone including United States or foreign government, only after 72 years does the information collected become available to other agencies or the general public
11.
Conscription
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Conscription, or drafting, is the compulsory enlistment of people in a national service, most often a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in countries to the present day under various names. The modern system of national conscription for young men dates to the French Revolution in the 1790s. Most European nations later copied the system in peacetime, so that men at a certain age would serve 1–8 years on active duty and those conscripted may evade service, sometimes by leaving the country. As of the early 21st century, many no longer conscript soldiers. The ability to rely on such an arrangement, however, presupposes some degree of predictability with regard to both war-fighting requirements and the scope of hostilities, many states that have abolished conscription therefore still reserve the power to resume it during wartime or times of crisis. Around the reign of Hammurabi, the Babylonian Empire used a system of conscription called Ilkum, under that system those eligible were required to serve in the royal army in time of war. During times of peace they were required to provide labour for other activities of the state. In return for service, people subject to it gained the right to hold land. It is possible that this right was not to hold land per se, various forms of avoiding military service are recorded. While it was outlawed by the Code of Hammurabi, the hiring of substitutes appears to have practiced both before and after the creation of the code. Later records show that Ilkum commitments could become regularly traded, in other places, people simply left their towns to avoid their Ilkum service. Another option was to sell Ilkum lands and the commitments along with them, with the exception of a few exempted classes, this was forbidden by the Code of Hammurabi. The levies raised in this way fought as infantry under local superiors, although the exact laws varied greatly depending on the country and the period, generally these levies were only obliged to fight for one to three months. Most were subsistence farmers, and it was in everyones interest to send the men home for harvest-time, the bulk of the Anglo-Saxon English army, called the fyrd, was composed of part-time English soldiers drawn from the landowning minor nobility. These thegns were the aristocracy of the time and were required to serve with their own armour. Medieval levy in Poland was known as the pospolite ruszenie, the system of military slaves was widely used in the Middle East, beginning with the creation of the corps of Turkish slave-soldiers by the Abbasid caliph al-Mutasim in the 820s and 830s. In the middle of the 14th century, Ottoman Sultan Murad I developed personal troops to be loyal to him, the new force was built by taking Christian children from newly conquered lands, especially from the far areas of his empire, in a system known as the devşirme
12.
Centurion (tank)
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The Centurion, introduced in 1945, was the primary British main battle tank of the post-Second World War period. It is widely considered to be one of the most successful tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s. The chassis was adapted for several other roles, and these have remained in service to this day. Development of the began in 1943 and manufacture of the Centurion began in January 1945. It first entered combat with the British Army in the Korean War in 1950, the Centurion later served in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, where it fought against US-supplied M47 and M48 Patton tanks and it served with the Royal Australian Armoured Corps in Vietnam. Israel used Centurions in the 1967 Six Day War,1973 Yom Kippur War, Centurions modified as armoured personnel carriers were used in Gaza, the West Bank and on the Lebanese border. The Royal Jordanian Land Force used Centurions, first in 1970 to fend off a Syrian incursion within its borders during the Black September events, South Africa deployed its Centurions in Angola during the South African Border War. It became one of the most widely used designs, equipping armies around the world. As recently as the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict the Israel Defense Forces employed heavily modified Centurions as armoured personnel carriers, the South African National Defence Force still employs over 200 Centurions, which were modernised in the 1980s and 2000s as the Olifant. Between 1946 and 1962,4,423 Centurions were produced, consisting of 13 basic marks, in British Army use it was replaced by the Chieftain. In 1943, the Directorate of Tank Design, under Sir Claude Gibb, F. R. S. was asked to produce a new design for a heavy cruiser tank under the General Staff designation A41. Initially in September 1943 the A41 tank was to no more than 40 tons, the limit for existing Mark I and Mark II transport trailers. The British railway loading gauge required that the width should not exceed 10 ft 8 in, a high top speed was not important, while agility was to be equal to that of the Comet. A high reverse speed was specified, as during the fighting in southern Italy, the modified production gearbox had a two-speed reverse, with the higher reverse speed similar to second gear. The Horstmann design did not offer the same quality as the Christie system. In case of damage by mines, individual suspension and wheel units could be replaced relatively easily, with a Rover-built Rolls-Royce Meteor engine, as used on the Comet and Cromwell, the new design would have excellent performance. The new version carried armour equal to the heaviest infantry tanks, while improved suspension, the War Office decided it would be wiser to build new trailers, rather than hamper what appeared to be a superb design. Historian David Fletcher states, But was Centurion, after all, the answer has to be a qualified negative
13.
Royal Australian Artillery
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Australia’s first guns were landed from HMS Sirius and a small earthen redoubt built, near the present day Macquarie Place, to command the approaches to Sydney Cove. The deployment of these represents the origins of artillery in Australia. These and subsequent defences, as well as guns, were operated by marines. The First World War saw the raising of 60 field,20 howitzer, the Regiment today consists of Regular and Reserve units. Unlike their British and Canadian relations, there are no regiments of artillery in the order of battle of the Royal Australian Artillery. The Australian Regular Army came into being in 1947, while prior to this artillery units were predominantly militia based, the present School of Artillery is located in Puckapunyal in central Victoria and maintains modern training facilities. The School of Artillery is co-located with the Australian Armys Headquarters Combined Arms Training Centre, 53rd Battery, Royal Australian Artillery supports courses run by the School of Artillery. Major units of the Royal Australian Artillery include, 1st Regiment and its batteries are equipped with the RBS-70 Surface to Air missile, the Giraffe Agile Multi Beam radar and the AN/TPQ-48 Lightweight Counter Mortar Radar. It is attached to the 6th Brigade, 6th/13th Light Battery, Royal Australian Artillery – This battery is attached to 9th Brigade, and is based at Launceston in Tasmania and Keswick in South Australia. It is equipped with the F2 81mm Mortar,28 Troop Dee Why 113 Troop Adamstown 23 Light Battery, Royal Australian Artillery – This is a single battery attached to 5th Brigade at Kogarah in New South Wales. It is equipped with the F2 81mm mortar, 5/11th Light Battery, Royal Australian Artillery – This a single battery attached to the 11th Brigade. Equipped with the F2 81mm mortar, the RAA applies the latest technologies to maximise the effectiveness of the extant fleet of towed guns. The RAA is further studying options to upgrade and update ammunition and fuzes to be used with the present, phase 1A has seen the selection of the towed gun replacement, the US M777155 mm Lightweight Medium Howitzer, over the Singaporean Pegasus alternative. Phase 1C was cancelled in May 2012 after down-selection to two self-propelled gun candidates, the German PzH2000, and South Korean K9 Thunder, land 17 does not allow for the purchase of new guns in sufficient quantity to re-equip the Army Reserve. Army Reserve Artillery Batteries have been re-equipped with 81mm Mortars, ground Based Air Defence has recently been equipped with additional RBS-70 systems and a significant upgrade of radar and monitoring systems. This project is forecast to meet the Armys needs until 2015 where future forecast planning calls for a significant upgrade of the longer ranging air defence capability from 2018. Recently, a new regiment,20 Surveillance and Target Acquisition Regiment, has raised for the operation of UAVs to be used in both the reconnaissance and attack roles. The new regiment incorporates the former independent 131 Surveillance and Target Acquisition Battery, the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery is the only Regiment of Artillery of the nations of the British Commonwealth to have been presented with The Banner of Queen Elizabeth II
14.
Special Air Service Regiment
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The Special Air Service Regiment, officially abbreviated SASR though commonly known as the SAS, is a special forces unit of the Australian Army. Formed in 1957, it was modelled on the British SAS sharing the motto. The regiment is based at Campbell Barracks, in Swanbourne, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia and it has taken part in operations in Borneo, Vietnam, Somalia, East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as many other peacekeeping missions. The SASR also provides a counter-terrorist capability, and has involved in a number of domestic security operations. In addition to warfighting during conventional conflicts, the regiment is tasked with maintaining a specialist counter-terrorist capability. Other capabilities include training local or indigenous forces, recovery of Australian citizens, the SASR is also trained in counter-insurgency operations. During such tasks the SASR seeks to evade rather than confront the enemy, SASR soldiers also direct fire support including air strikes to destroy enemy installations and disrupt or kill enemy forces whenever possible. SASR reconnaissance patrols can be inserted by air, land or water and have proven capable of covering large distances and staying concealed in jungle, desert, SASR patrols may also conduct sabotage and short-duration raids on high-value targets, including headquarters, airfields and communications nodes. TAG maintains a capability to conduct military operations beyond the scope of state/territory. Offensive counter-terrorist operations may include action and hostage recovery. A capability to board ships at anchor, ships underway and off-shore gas, TAG is kept at high readiness for a period of 12 months, before being replaced by another squadron in this role. The 2nd Commando Regiment provides Tactical Assault Group to respond to incidents on the east coast of Australia. The 1st Special Air Service Company was established on 25 July 1957 at Swanbourne, in 1960, the company became part of the Royal Australian Regiment and was given the responsibility for commando and special forces operations. As part of the organisation adopted by the Australian Army at the time. On 20 August 1964, the SAS gained regimental status and was expanded to two squadrons and a headquarters, severing the link with the RAR. The raising of a squadron was approved on 30 April 1965 as part of an overall expansion of the Australian Army. The SASR first saw action in 1965 as part of the British Commonwealth force stationed in north Borneo during the Indonesian Confrontation, the SASR troopers operated alongside their British and New Zealand counterparts in operations aimed at stopping Indonesian infiltration into Malaysia, taking part in Operation Claret. 1 Squadron conducted reconnaissance patrols in Sarawak from February to July 1965 and they suffered their first fatality on 2 June when a soldier was gored by an elephant
15.
1st Australian Task Force
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The 1st Australian Task Force was a brigade-sized formation which commanded Australian and New Zealand Army units deployed to South Vietnam between 1966 and 1972. At the Battle of Long Tan on 18 August 1966, units of 1 ATF defeated a Viet Cong force of at least regimental strength, other significant actions included Hat Dich in late-December 1968 and early 1969, Binh Ba in June 1969, and Long Khanh in June 1971. 1 ATF was withdrawn in late 1971, additional Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Australian Navy elements would also be deployed and with all three services total Australian strength in Vietnam was planned to rise to 6,300. Meanwhile,1 RARs attachment to US forces had highlighted the differences between Australian and American operational methods, however, with the new force given less than two months to deploy, hasty preparations began in Australia to ready it. The headquarters of the 1st Brigade was subsequently used to raise 1 ATF, as with 1 RAR, the New Zealand battery had served under US command since June 1965 and was New Zealands only military contribution to operations in Vietnam at that time. The decision was made to integrate the New Zealand battery into 1 ATF in June 1966. 1 ATF was tasked with dominating its TAOR and conducting operations throughout Phuoc Tuy as required, as well as deploying anywhere in III CTZ and neighbouring Bihn Tuy in II CTZ on order. Its principal objective was to secure Route 15 for military movement to ensure allied control of the port at Vung Tau, while politically it sought to extend government authority in Phuoc Tuy. The task force would be based in a plantation at Nui Dat,8 kilometres north of Ba Ria. Australian doctrine emphasised establishing a base and spreading influence outwards to separate the guerrillas from the population, by lodging at Nui Dat they aimed to form a permanent presence between the Viet Cong and the inhabitants. 1 ATF would then focus on destroying Viet Cong forces in the province, while security of the towns, initially,1 ATF consisted of two infantry battalions—the 5th and 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. Six 155 mm M109 self-propelled howitzers from A Battery, US 2/35th Artillery Battalion were also attached at Nui Dat. Despite these shortfalls 1 ATF had been required to rapidly deploy, the task force began arriving at Vung Tau between April and June 1966. The plan to operate independently resulted in significant self-protection requirements and 1 ATFs initial priorities were to establish a base, indeed, the security requirements of an understrength brigade in an area of strong Viet Cong activity utilised up to half the force, limiting its freedom of action. As part of the occupation all inhabitants within a 4, 000-metre radius had been removed and resettled nearby, a protective security zone was then established, the limit of which was designated Line Alpha, and a free-fire zone declared. At the Battle of Long Tan on 18 August 1966, D Company 6 RAR with considerable artillery support held off,18 Australians were killed and 24 wounded, while 245 communist dead were later recovered from the battlefield. A decisive Australian victory, Long Tan proved a major setback for the Viet Cong. Although there were other large-scale encounters in later years,1 ATF was not fundamentally challenged again, the battle established the task forces dominance over the province, and allowed it to pursue operations to restore government authority
16.
Missing in action
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Missing in action is a casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have killed, wounded, captured, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave has been positively identified, becoming MIA has been an occupational risk for as long as there has been warfare or ceasefire. Until around 1912, service personnel in most countries were not routinely issued with ID tags, as a result, if someone was killed in action and his body was not recovered until much later, there was little or no chance of identifying the remains. Starting around the time of the First World War, nations began to issue their service personnel with purpose-made ID tags and these were usually made of some form of lightweight metal such as aluminium. However, in the case of the British Army the material chosen was compressed fiber, alternatively, there could be administrative errors e. g. g. The forgotten mass grave at Fromelles, as a result, the remains of missing combatants might not be found for many years, if ever. When missing combatants are recovered and cannot be identified after a thorough forensic examination the remains are interred with a tombstone which indicates their unknown status. Although it is possible to take samples from a close relative of the missing person. It is a fact of warfare that some combatants are likely to go missing in action, however, by wearing ID tags and using modern technology the numbers involved can be considerably reduced. In addition to the military advantages, conclusively identifying the remains of missing service personnel is highly beneficial to the surviving relatives. Having positive identification makes it easier to come to terms with their loss. Otherwise, some relatives may suspect that the person is still alive somewhere. However, many of these procedures are not typically used for combatants who are members of militias, mercenary armies, insurrections. It is possible some of the combatants who took part of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC went missing in action. Certainly, the wars which followed over successive centuries created many MIAs. The list is long and includes most battles which have ever fought by any nation. This made the difficult task of identification even harder
17.
Canadian War Museum
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The Canadian War Museum is Canadas national museum of military history. There is also a storage area displaying large objects from the Museums collection, from naval guns to tanks. Much of the Museums public exhibition space is devoted to its Canadian Experience Galleries and these displays underline the profound effect that war has had on Canadas development and the significant role Canadians have played in international conflicts. Their content is a mixture of some 2,500 objects from war art to armoured vehicles, as well as scores of audio-visual displays. A changing program of temporary or special exhibitions, plus public programs and special events, besides exhibitions, the Museum also supports educational outreach such as Lest We Forget Project. Its current building opened in May 2005 and is located less than 2 km west of Canadas Parliament Buildings, the buildings architecture has received professional and public acclaim. The Museum originated in 1880 as a collection of artifacts in the possession of the Canadian federal government. Its first facility was a series of rooms in the Cartier Square Drill Hall, the collection was later adopted by the Public Archives of Canada. The Canadian War Museum was officially established in 1942, the collection of war artifacts gained its own dedicated facility in 1967 when it moved to the former Public Archives building on Sussex Drive in Ottawa. That location was too small for the Museums growing post-war collection, in the 1990s, the federal government made plans to relocate the War Museum to a new site east of central Ottawa, near the Canada Aviation Museum. The proposed site was criticized for its distance from the core. The new location allowed for ceremonial processions between the National War Memorial and the new War Museum, and was situated in an urban space soon to begin redevelopment. The new, modern building emerges from the ground just west of Booth Street and rises higher at its eastern end. The building rises in the east to a large fin, clad in copper that matches the rooftops of other prominent public buildings in the national capital, the small windows on the fin spell out in Morse code Lest we forget and its French equivalent, Noublions jamais. The copper used on the interior of the building was recovered from the Library of Parliament during refurbishment of the Librarys roof in 2004. On 6 May 2005, Canada Post issued a 50¢ stamp, designed by Tiit Telmet and Marko Barac, in its first year of operation the museum attracted 500,000 visitors and in 2010 there were 470,000 visitors. The Canadian War Museum contains several permanent galleries and other important display spaces and this gallery explores the history of war on Canadian soil and the way in which armed conflict affected the evolution of the country and its peoples. Content includes the Seven Years War, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, Canadian forces went abroad in 1899 and again in 1914 to fight in wars as part of the British Empire
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South Korea
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South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a sovereign state in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The earliest Korean pottery dates to 8000 BC, with three kingdoms flourishing in the 1st century BC and its rich and vibrant culture left 19 UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity, the third largest in the world, along with 12 World Heritage Sites. Annexed into Imperial Japan in 1910, Korea was divided after its surrender in 1945, peace has since mostly continued with the two agreeing to work peacefully for reunification and the South solidifying peace as a regional power with the worlds 10th largest defence budget. South Koreas tiger economy soared at an average of 10% for over 30 years in a period of rapid transformation called the Miracle on the Han River. A long legacy of openness and focus on innovation made it successful, today, it is the worlds fifth largest exporter with the G20s largest budget surplus and highest credit rating of any country in East Asia. It has free trade agreements with 75% of the economy and is the only G20 nation trading freely with China, the US. Since 1988, its constitution guarantees a liberal democracy with high government transparency, high personal freedoms led to the rise of a globally influential pop culture such as K-pop and K-drama, a phenomenon called the Korean Wave, known for its distinctive fashionable and trendy style. Home of the UN Green Climate Fund and GGGI, South Korea is a leader in low carbon growth, committed to helping developing countries as a major DAC. It is the third least ignorant country in the Index of Ignorance, ranking eighth highest for peaceful tolerance. It is the worlds largest spender on R&D per GDP, leading the OECD in graduates in science, the name Korea derives from the name Goryeo. The name Goryeo itself was first used by the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo in the 5th century as a form of its name. The 10th-century kingdom of Goryeo succeeded Goguryeo, and thus inherited its name, the modern spelling of Korea first appeared in the late 17th century in the travel writings of the Dutch East India Companys Hendrick Hamel. After Goryeo was replaced by Joseon in 1392, Joseon became the name for the entire territory. The new official name has its origin in the ancient country of Gojoseon, in 1897, the Joseon dynasty changed the official name of the country from Joseon to Daehan Jeguk. The name Daehan, which means great Han literally, derives from Samhan, however, the name Joseon was still widely used by Koreans to refer to their country, though it was no longer the official name. Under Japanese rule, the two names Han and Joseon coexisted, there were several groups who fought for independence, the most notable being the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Following the surrender of Japan, in 1945, the Republic of Korea was adopted as the name for the new country. Since the government only controlled the part of the Korean Peninsula
19.
Thailand
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Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, formerly known as Siam, is a country at the centre of the Indochinese peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total area of approximately 513,000 km2, Thailand is the worlds 51st-largest country and it is the 20th-most-populous country in the world, with around 66 million people. The capital and largest city is Bangkok, Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and has switched between parliamentary democracy and military junta for decades, the latest coup being in May 2014 by the National Council for Peace and Order. Its capital and most populous city is Bangkok and its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India on the Andaman Sea to the southwest. The Thai economy is the worlds 20th largest by GDP at PPP and it became a newly industrialised country and a major exporter in the 1990s. Manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism are leading sectors of the economy and it is considered a middle power in the region and around the world. The country has always been called Mueang Thai by its citizens, by outsiders prior to 1949, it was usually known by the exonym Siam. The word Siam has been identified with the Sanskrit Śyāma, the names Shan and A-hom seem to be variants of the same word. The word Śyâma is possibly not its origin, but a learned, another theory is the name derives from Chinese, Ayutthaya emerged as a dominant centre in the late fourteenth century. The Chinese called this region Xian, which the Portuguese converted into Siam, the signature of King Mongkut reads SPPM Mongkut King of the Siamese, giving the name Siam official status until 24 June 1939 when it was changed to Thailand. Thailand was renamed Siam from 1945 to 11 May 1949, after which it reverted to Thailand. According to George Cœdès, the word Thai means free man in the Thai language, ratcha Anachak Thai means kingdom of Thailand or kingdom of Thai. Etymologically, its components are, ratcha, -ana- -chak, the Thai National Anthem, written by Luang Saranupraphan during the extremely patriotic 1930s, refers to the Thai nation as, prathet Thai. The first line of the anthem is, prathet thai ruam lueat nuea chat chuea thai, Thailand is the unity of Thai flesh. There is evidence of habitation in Thailand that has been dated at 40,000 years before the present. Similar to other regions in Southeast Asia, Thailand was heavily influenced by the culture and religions of India, Thailand in its earliest days was under the rule of the Khmer Empire, which had strong Hindu roots, and the influence among Thais remains even today. Voretzsch believes that Buddhism must have been flowing into Siam from India in the time of the Indian Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire, later Thailand was influenced by the south Indian Pallava dynasty and north Indian Gupta Empire. The Menam Basin was originally populated by the Mons, and the location of Dvaravati in the 7th century, the History of the Yuan mentions an embassy from the kingdom of Sukhothai in 1282
20.
Royal Thai Army
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The Royal Thai Army or RTA is the army of Thailand responsible for protecting its sovereignty. It is the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, the Royal Thai Army is responsible for protecting the kingdoms sovereignty. It is the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, the army was formed in 1874, partly as a response to new security threats following the 1855 Bowring Treaty with Britain, which opened the country for international trade. The general retired October 2014 to concentrate on political reform which he said would take at least a year, observers have noted a power struggle in 2016 between the factions of the Thai army and their support of different heirs. On 24 December 2015 the RTA broke ground for a new auditorium, the 2.3 billion baht facility will replace an existing 58 year-old auditorium. The building is due to be completed in 2019, the ground floor auditorium will accommodate 500 people, an office, a press room, and a reception hall. The first floor include a party room for 500 people. The second floor will hold a second auditorium for 3,000 people, the basement car park is designed to accommodate 400 vehicles. The Royal Thai Army is commanded by the Commander of the Royal Thai Army, the current commander is General Chalermchai Sitthisart, who was confirmed by royal appointment to take over the top post in 2016. The Royal Thai Army headquarters is on Ratchadamnoen Nok Road in Bangkok, the Royal Thai Army today is divided into four army areas, First Army – headquartered in Bangkok and is responsible for the countrys western and central provinces including the capital city. 3rd and 6th Infantry Divisions 3rd Cavalry Division 2nd Development Division Third Army – headquartered in Phitsanulok, 4th and 7th Infantry Divisions 1st Cavalry Division 3rd Development Division. Fourth Army – headquartered in Nakhon Si Thammarat, responsible for southern Thailand, 5th Infantry Division – 15th Infantry Division – – operating Bell UH-1Hs and Sikorsky S-70-43 Black Hawks with six more on order. Gong Bin Sanub-sanoon Tua Pai – operating Boeing CH-47D Chinooks, Bell UH-1Hs, and Mil Mi-17V5s The army aviation centre is based here, types operated are Cessna T-41Bs, Maule MX-7s, and Schweizer S-300C piston trainer helicopters. The two former VIP Beechcraft 200 King Air aeroplanes, are based here. These aeroplanes were modified in the US in the late-1990s, a separate airfield within the Lopburi complex houses the 5th Aircraft Maintenance Company. This unit is responsible for maintenance and storage of army aircraft, the 5th Infantry Division operates the following aviation assets from a small airfield within the army reserve at Nakhon Si Thammarat, two Bell 206B-3s, three Schweizer TH-300Cs and two Maule MX-7s. A detachment of helicopters can be found here from the Air Mobility Companies based at Lopburi, the 6th Infantry Battalion is based near Ubon Ratchatani. The Royal Thai Army is known to operate the aircraft types
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Royal Thai Air Force
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The Royal Thai Air Force or RTAF is the air force of the Kingdom of Thailand. Since its establishment in 1913 as one of the earliest air forces of Asia, during the Vietnam War era, the air force was supplied with USAF-aid equipment. In February 1911 Belgian pilot Charles Van Den Born displayed the first aircraft in Siam at Bangkoks Sapathum Horse Racing Course, king Rama VI was sufficiently impressed that on 28 February 1912 he sent three Army officers to France to learn to fly. After receiving their wings, the returned to Siam in November 1913, bringing with them eight aircraft, four Breguets. In March 1914, Thai aviation moved from Sapathum to Don Muang then north of Bangkok, the Ministry of Defence placed the Siamese Flying Corps under the Army Engineer Inspector General Department. In 1937, it became an independent service known as the Royal Siamese Air Force, two years later, when the kingdoms name was changed to Thailand, it became the Royal Thai Air Force. During the French-Thai War, the Thai Air Force achieved several air-to-air-victories in dogfights against the Vichy Armée de lAir, other RTAF personnel took an active part the anti-Japanese resistance movement. The Thai Air Force sent three C-47s to support the United Nations in Korean War, the Wings Unit, operating the C-47, also joined the anti-communist forces in the Vietnam War. The Royal Thai Air Force is commanded by the Commander of the Royal Thai Air Force currently Air Chief Marshal Prajin Jantong, the Royal Thai Air Force Headquarters is located in Don Muang Airbase, Bangkok, Thailand. The headquarters group in Bangkok performs the usual general staff functions, the support group provides engineering, communications, ordnance, transportation, quartermaster, and medical services support. The education group coordinates and supervises all air force training programmes, the special service group is responsible for the welfare of air force personnel and coordinates the activities of Thai civil aviation with those of the air force. The Royal Thai Air Force maintains a number of bases which were constructed between 1954 and 1968, have permanent buildings and ground support equipment. All but one were built and used by United States forces until their withdrawal from Thailand in 1976 when Thai air force assumed use of the installations at Takhli and Nakhon Ratchasima. In the late 1980s, these bases and Don Muang Air Base outside Bangkok, maintenance of base facilities abandoned by the United States proved costly and exceeded Thai needs. Nonetheless, all runways were available for training and emergency use. By 2004 the Royal Thai Air Force had its base at Don Muang airport. The RTAF also had large air fields and facilities at Nakon Ratchasima Ubon Ratchathani, the following squadrons are currently active with the Royal Thai Air Force. This 100 man unit, part of the Royal Thai Air Forces Special Combat Operations Squadron, was formed in the late 1970s and are based near Don Muang Airport and they have three assault platoons, each divided into two sections
22.
South Vietnam Air Force
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The VNAF began with a few hand-picked men chosen to fly alongside French pilots during the State of Vietnam era. It eventually grew into the sixth largest air force at the height of its power. It is an often neglected chapter of the history of the Vietnam War as they operated in the shadow of the United States Air Force and it was dissolved in 1975 after the Fall of Saigon, many of its members emigrated to the United States. See also Operation Farm Gate In March 1949, Emperor Bảo Đại officially requested that the French help set up a Vietnamese military air arm. Pressure was maintained with the assistance of Lt. Col. Nguyễn Văn Hinh, in March 1952, a training school was set up at Nha Trang, and the following year two army co-operation squadrons began missions flying the Morane-Saulnier MS.500 Criquet light aircraft. In 1954, the French allocated a number of Dassault MD.315 Flamant armed light transports to the inventory of this Vietnamese air arm, Vietnamese pilot trainees began to be sent to France for more advanced training. In May 1954, with the fall of Điện Biên Phủ, the position of France changed, and on January 31,1955, the Vietnam Air Force was inaugurated. French instructors for pilots and mechanics remained until late 1956, and transferred 69 F8F Bearcat aircraft to the VNAF, in contrast with the Norths Vietnam Peoples Air Force, most allied air operations in the Vietnam War were conducted by the U. S. armed forces. The South Vietnamese forces operated at a basic level compared to the U. S. forces. The 19th Tactical Air Support Squadron was organized on 17 June 1963, the United States in May 1956 had started to train and advise the South Vietnamese Air Force. The VNAF was supplied with H-19 helicopters, and later H-34s, initially, they employed simple T-28 Trojan prop powered trainers which could carry a small bombload. The first jets were B-57 Canberra bombers arriving in 1965, in October of the same year the VNAF received its first modern UH-1 Huey turbine powered helicopters. By late 1972, the VNAF operated 18 squadrons with 500 new helicopters, in 1972, President Thieu asked for, but did not receive, the F-4 Phantom with its massive bombload and speed that was widely used for all roles by US air services. When the Vietnam Peoples Army started to install anti-aircraft missiles near Khe Sanh, the VNAF lacked the radar jamming gear, and the navigational aids required to attack the missile sites. The VNAF primarily flew close support as communist forces did not fly aircraft over US-held territory, so they never had the opportunity to fight MiGs or “go downtown” in heavy fighter bombers. Consequently, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam was at a significant disadvantage once the US air force left Vietnam due to the lack of the bombings, during the final 1975 offensive, it was not simply a case of a massive collapse. The ARVN forces in Long Khánh were fighting to the death, a cooperative effort between the ARVN and the VNAF enabled ARVN troops there to hold on. CH-47 helicopters brought in 193 tons of artillery ammunition over two days, A-1 Skyraiders flew in and C-130 Hercules transports dropped massive 15, 000-pound daisy cutter bombs on enemy positions
23.
United States Air Force
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The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. It is the most recent branch of the U. S. military to be formed, the U. S. Air Force is a military service organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The Air Force is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the Secretary of Defense, the U. S. Air Force provides air support for surface forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field. As of 2015, the service more than 5,137 military aircraft,406 ICBMs and 63 military satellites. It has a $161 billion budget with 313,242 active duty personnel,141,197 civilian employees,69,200 Air Force Reserve personnel, and 105,500 Air National Guard personnel. According to the National Security Act of 1947, which created the USAF and it shall be organized, trained, and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air operations. The stated mission of the USAF today is to fly, fight, and win in air, space and we will provide compelling air, space, and cyber capabilities for use by the combatant commanders. We will excel as stewards of all Air Force resources in service to the American people, while providing precise and reliable Global Vigilance, Reach and it should be emphasized that the core functions, by themselves, are not doctrinal constructs. The purpose of Nuclear Deterrence Operations is to operate, maintain, in the event deterrence fails, the US should be able to appropriately respond with nuclear options. Dissuading others from acquiring or proliferating WMD, and the means to deliver them, moreover, different deterrence strategies are required to deter various adversaries, whether they are a nation state, or non-state/transnational actor. Nuclear strike is the ability of forces to rapidly and accurately strike targets which the enemy holds dear in a devastating manner. Should deterrence fail, the President may authorize a precise, tailored response to terminate the conflict at the lowest possible level, post-conflict, regeneration of a credible nuclear deterrent capability will deter further aggression. Finally, the Air Force regularly exercises and evaluates all aspects of operations to ensure high levels of performance. Nuclear surety ensures the safety, security and effectiveness of nuclear operations, the Air Force, in conjunction with other entities within the Departments of Defense or Energy, achieves a high standard of protection through a stringent nuclear surety program. The Air Force continues to pursue safe, secure and effective nuclear weapons consistent with operational requirements, adversaries, allies, and the American people must be highly confident of the Air Forces ability to secure nuclear weapons from accidents, theft, loss, and accidental or unauthorized use. This day-to-day commitment to precise and reliable nuclear operations is the cornerstone of the credibility of the NDO mission, positive nuclear command, control, communications, effective nuclear weapons security, and robust combat support are essential to the overall NDO function. OCA is the method of countering air and missile threats, since it attempts to defeat the enemy closer to its source
24.
Royal Thai Navy
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The Royal Thai Navy or RTN is the naval force of Thailand and part of the Royal Thai Armed Forces. It was established in the late-19th century, Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartiwongse is considered the father of the Royal Thai Navy. Similar to the structure of the United States, the Royal Thai Navy includes the naval fleet. The Royal Thai Navy operates out of Sattahip Naval Base in Sattahip Bay, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country that operates an aircraft carrier, though it is used as a pure helicopter carrier with the retirement of the Harrier fighter wing. Thailand was the second Asian nation to acquire submarines, following Japan, the United States Navy and Royal Thai Navy conduct the annual joint operation Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training. CARAT is a series of bilateral maritime training exercises of the US Navy and the armed forces of Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei. In support of Vietnam during the Vietnam War, two Royal Thai Navy vessels undertook operations in South Vietnam, the navys combat forces included the Royal Fleet and the Royal Thai Marine Corps. The mission space of the Thailand navy includes the Thai Gulf and the Indian Ocean, Naval affairs were directed by the countrys most senior admiral from his Bangkok headquarters. The naval commander in chief was supported by groups that planned and administered such activities as logistics, education and training. The headquarters general staff functioned like those of corresponding staffs in the army, the next day, two journalists running a small, independent website in Phuket were formally indicted for criminally defaming the Royal Thai Navy by quoting part of the award-winning report. Phuketwan spent years defending itself and eventually won in 2015 but had to close down because its funds were exhausted, the Royal Thai Navy is commanded by the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Navy, currently Admiral Surasak Rounroengrom, who was appointed in 2011. The Royal Thai Navy headquarters is in Bangkok, personnel were initially drawn from the Royal Thai Marine Corps, but are now being recruited directly. The First Coastal Defence Regiment is based near the Marine Corps facility at Sattahip, the First Air Defence Regiment was near the Naval Air Wing at Utapao. The Second Air Defence Regiment, based at Songkhla, was formed the following year. Some analysts believe that this element will eventually grow to a strength of up to 15,000 personnel and they are interested in S-300 or S-400 SAMs to upgrade their air defence system. The First Air Defence Regiment, their mission is to provide anti-aircraft warfare for the northern Gulf of Thailand with three anti-aircraft battalions, the Second Air Defence Regiment, to provide Anti-aircraft warfare for the southern Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea with three anti-aircraft battalions. The First Coastal Defence Regiment has three artillery battalions, two Air and Coastal Defence Command and Control Centers. Air and Coastal Defence Supporting Regiment, one battalion, one communications battalion
25.
Philippines
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The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 square kilometers, and it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. As of 2013, approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelagos earliest inhabitants and they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic nations occurred, then, various competing maritime states were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization, in 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Roman Catholicism becoming the dominant religion, during this time, Manila became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, since then, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution. It is a member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. It also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, the Philippines was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte, eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other such as Islas del Poniente. The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history, during the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the name Philippines began to appear, since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. The metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date and this distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were also among the archipelagos earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated, there are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos
26.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
27.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
28.
North Vietnam
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North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, was a state in Southeast Asia which existed from 1945 to 1976. Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh declared independence from France on 2 September 1945, France reasserted its colonial dominance and a war ensued between France and the Viet Minh, led by Ho. The Viet Minh was a coalition of nationalist groups, mostly led by communists, in February 1951, the communists announced the creation of the Lao Động Party, gradually marginalizing non-communists in the Viet Minh. Between 1946 and 1954, the Viet Minh captured and controlled most of the areas of Vietnam. In 1954, after the French were defeated, the negotiation of the Geneva Accords ended the war between France and the Viet Minh and granted Vietnam independence. The Geneva Accords divided the country provisionally into northern and southern zones, the northern zone was commonly called North Vietnam and the southern zone South Vietnam, or, formally, the Republic of Vietnam. Supervision of the implementation of the Geneva Accords was the responsibility of an International Commission consisting of India, Canada, and Poland. In July 1955, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem and he said that South Vietnam had not signed the Geneva accords and was not bound by it. With the failure to reunify Vietnam by elections, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam attempted to unify the country by force in the Vietnam War, North Vietnam also supported indigenous communist rebels in Cambodia and Laos against their respective U. S, -backed governments. The war ended when Democratic Republic of Vietnam forces and the Viet Cong defeated the Republic of Vietnam, Viet Minh leader Hồ Chí Minh became head of the government. U. S. President Franklin Roosevelt had spoken against French rule in Indochina, the Hanoi government of Ho Chi Minh claimed dominion over all of Vietnam, but during this time South Vietnam was in profound political disorder. The successive collapse of French, then Japanese power, followed by the dissension among the factions in Saigon had been accompanied by widespread violence in the countryside. On September 12,1945, the first British troops arrived in Saigon, on September 23,28 days after the people of Saigon seized political power, French troops occupied the police stations, the post office, and other public buildings. In June 1946, Chinese Nationalist troops evacuated Hanoi, and on the 15th of June, after the departure of the British in 1946, the French controlled a part of Cochinchina, South Central Coast, Central Highlands since the end Southern Resistance War. In January 1946, the Viet Minh held an election to establish a National Assembly, when France declared Cochinchina, the southern third of Vietnam, a separate state as the Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina in June 1946, Vietnamese nationalists reacted with fury. In November, the National Assembly adopted the first Constitution of the Republic, the French reoccupied Hanoi and the First Indochina War followed. Following the Chinese Communist Revolution, Chinese communist forces arrived on the border in 1949, Chinese aid revived the fortunes of the Viet Minh and transformed it from a guerrilla militia into a standing army. The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 transformed what had been a struggle into a Cold War battleground
29.
Stinger missiles
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The FIM-92 Stinger is a Man-Portable Air-Defense System that operates as an infrared homing surface-to-air missile. It can be adapted to fire from a variety of ground vehicles. Developed in the United States this weapon entered service in 1981 and is used by the militaries of the United States. It is principally manufactured by Raytheon Missile Systems and is produced under license by EADS in Germany, light to carry and easy to operate, the FIM-92 Stinger is a passive surface-to-air missile, that can be shoulder-fired by a single operator. The FIM-92B missile can also be fired from the M-1097 Avenger, the missile is also capable of being deployed from a Humvee Stinger rack, and can be used by airborne troops. A helicopter launched version exists called Air-to-Air Stinger, the missile is 5.0 ft long and 2.8 in in diameter with 10 cm fins. The missile itself weighs 22 lb, while the missile with launcher weighs approximately 34 lb.54, the warhead is a 3 kg penetrating hit-to-kill warhead type with an impact fuze and a self-destruct timer. To fire the missile, a BCU is inserted into the handguard and this shoots a stream of argon gas into the system, as well as a chemical energy charge that enables the acquisition indicators and missile to get power. The batteries are sensitive to abuse, with a limited amount of gas. Over time, and without maintenance, they can become unserviceable. The IFF system receives power from a rechargeable battery, guidance to the target is initially through proportional navigation, then switches to another mode that directs the missile towards the target airframe instead of its exhaust plume. There are three variants in use, the Stinger basic, STINGER-Passive Optical Seeker Technique, and STINGER-Reprogrammable Microprocessor. These correspond to the FIM-92A, FIM-92B, and FIM-92C and later variants respectively, the POST has a dual-detector seeker, IR and UV. This allows it to distinguish targets from countermeasures much better than the Redeye and FIM-92A, the Stinger-RMP is so-called because of its ability to load a new set of software via ROM chip inserted in the grip at the depot. If this download to the missile fails during power-up, basic functionality runs off the on-board ROM, the four-processor RMP has 4 KB of RAM for each processor. Since the downloaded code runs from RAM, there is space to spare, particularly for processors dedicated to seeker input processing. Initial work on the missile was begun by General Dynamics in 1967 as the FM-43 Redeye II, production of the Redeye II ran from 1969 to 1982 where some 85,000 were in circulation. It was accepted for development by the U. S. Army in 1971 and designated FIM-92
30.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
31.
Ho Chi Minh trail
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The Hồ Chí Minh trail was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to the Republic of Vietnam through the neighboring kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia. It was named by the Americans after North Vietnamese president Hồ Chí Minh, although the trail was mostly in Laos, the communists called it the Trường Sơn Strategic Supply Route, after the Vietnamese name for the Annamite Range mountains in central Vietnam. According to the United States National Security Agencys official history of the war, parts of what became the trail had existed for centuries as primitive footpaths that facilitated trade. The area through which the system meandered was among the most challenging in Southeast Asia, during the First Indochina War the Việt Minh maintained north/south communication using this system of trails and paths. Originally, the North Vietnamese effort concentrated on infiltration across and immediately below the Demilitarized Zone that separated the two Vietnams, as early as May 1958 PAVN and Pathet Lao forces had seized the transportation hub at Tchepone, on Laotian Route 9. The 559th Group flipped its line of communications to the side of the Trường Sơn mountains. By 1959, the 559th had 6,000 personnel in two regiments alone, the 70th and 71st, not including combat troops in security roles or North Vietnamese, in the early days of the conflict the trail was used strictly for the infiltration of manpower. This was due to the fact that Hanoi could supply its southern allies much more efficiently by sea, after the initiation of U. S. naval interdiction efforts in coastal waters, known as Operation Market Time, the trail had to do double duty. There were five large Base Areas in the panhandle of Laos, BA604 was the main logistical center during the Vietnam War. From there, the coordination and distribution of men and supplies into South Vietnams Military Region I, BA611 facilitated transport from BA604 to BA609 and the supply convoys moving in either direction. It also fed fuel and ammunition to BA607 and on into South Vietnams A Shau Valley, BA612 was used for support of the B-3 Front in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. BA614, between Savannakhet, Laos and Kham Duc, South Vietnam was used primarily for transporting men and materiel into MR2, BA609 was important due to a fine road network that made it possible to transport supplies during the rainy season. Two types of units served under the 559th Group, Binh Trams, a Binh Tram was the equivalent of a regimental logistical headquarters and was responsible for securing a particular section of the network. While separate units were tasked with security, engineer, and signal functions, usually located one days march from one another, commo-liaison units were responsible for providing food, housing, medical care, and guides to the next way-station. The motto of the 559th became Build roads to advance, fight the enemy to travel, the system developed into an intricate maze of 5. 5-metre-wide dirt roads, foot and bicycle paths, and truck parks. By 1973, trucks could drive the length of the trail without emerging from the canopy except to ford streams or cross them on crude bridges built beneath the waters surface. The weather in southeastern Laos came to play a role both in the supply effort and in U. S. /South Vietnamese efforts to interdict it. The southwest monsoon from mid-May to mid-September, brought heavy precipitation, the sky was usually overcast with high temperatures
32.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
33.
History of the United States
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The date of the start of the history of the United States is a subject of debate among historians. In recent decades American schools and universities typically have shifted back in time to more on the colonial period. Indigenous people lived in what is now the United States for thousands of years before European colonists began to arrive, mostly from England, the Spanish built small settlements in Florida and the Southwest, and the French along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast. By the 1770s, thirteen British colonies contained two and a million people along the Atlantic coast east of the Appalachian Mountains. After the end of the French and Indian Wars in the 1760s, Tax resistance, especially the Boston Tea Party, led to punitive laws by Parliament designed to end self-government in Massachusetts. American Patriots adhered to an ideology called republicanism that emphasized civic duty, virtue. Armed conflict began in 1775 as Patriots drove the royal officials out of every colony and assembled in mass meetings, in 1776, the Second Continental Congress declared that there was a new, independent nation, the United States of America, not just a collection of disparate colonies. With large-scale military and financial support from France and the leadership of General George Washington. The peace treaty of 1783 gave the new nation the land east of the Mississippi River, the central government established by the Articles of Confederation proved ineffectual at providing stability, as it had no authority to collect taxes and had no executive officer. Congress called a convention to meet secretly in Philadelphia in 1787 and it wrote a new Constitution, which was adopted in 1789. In 1791, a Bill of Rights was added to guarantee inalienable rights, with Washington as the first president and Alexander Hamilton his chief political and financial adviser, a strong central government was created. When Thomas Jefferson became president he purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, a second and final war with Britain was fought in 1812. Encouraged by the notion of Manifest Destiny, federal territory expanded all the way to the Pacific, the U. S. always was large in terms of area, but its population was small, only 4 million in 1790. Population growth was rapid, reaching 7.2 million in 1810,32 million in 1860,76 million in 1900,132 million in 1940, Economic growth in terms of overall GDP was even faster. However, compared to European powers, the military strength was relatively limited in peacetime before 1940. The expansion was driven by a quest for land for yeoman farmers. The expansion of slavery was increasingly controversial and fueled political and constitutional battles, the 1860 presidential election of Republican Abraham Lincoln was on a platform of ending the expansion of slavery and putting it on a path to extinction. Seven cotton-based deep South slave states seceded and later founded the Confederacy months before Lincolns inauguration, No nation ever recognized the Confederacy, but it opened the war by attacking Fort Sumter in 1861
34.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
35.
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
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The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. While veterans benefits have been provided since the Revolutionary War, the Veterans Administration itself was founded in 1930, with a total 2009 budget of about $87. In 2012, the budget for VA was $132 billion. VA2014 budget request for 2014 was $152.7 billion and this included $66.5 billion in discretionary resources and $86.1 billion in mandatory funding. The discretionary budget request represented an increase of $2.7 billion, or 4.3 percent and it is administered by the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The Continental Congress of 1776 encouraged enlistments during the American Revolutionary War by providing pensions for soldiers who were disabled, direct medical and hospital care given to veterans in the early days of the U. S. was provided by the individual states and communities. In 1811, the first domiciliary and medical facility for veterans was authorized by the federal government, in the 19th century, the nations veterans assistance program was expanded to include benefits and pensions not only for veterans, but also their widows and dependents. After the end of the American Civil War in 1865, many state veterans homes were established, since domiciliary care was available at all state veterans homes, incidental medical and hospital treatment was provided for all injuries and diseases, whether or not of service origin. Indigent and disabled veterans of the Civil War, Indian Wars, Spanish–American War, Congress established a new system of veterans benefits when the United States entered World War I in 1917. Included were programs for disability compensation, insurance for servicepersons and veterans, the establishment of the Veterans Administration came in 1930 when Congress authorized the president to consolidate and coordinate Government activities affecting war veterans. The three component agencies became bureaus within the Veterans Administration, brigadier General Frank T. Hines, who directed the Veterans Bureau for seven years, was named as the first Administrator of Veterans Affairs, a job he held until 1945. The close of World War II resulted in not only a vast increase in the veteran population, in addition, during the late 1940s, the VA had to contend with aging World War I veterans. During that time, the clientele of the VA increased almost fivefold with an addition of nearly 15,000,000 World War II veterans and approximately 4,000,000 World War I veterans. Prior to World War II, in response to scandals at the Veterans Bureau, programs that cared for veterans were centralized in Washington and this centralization caused delays and bottlenecks as the agency tried to serve the World War II veterans. As a result, the VA went through a decentralization process, the World War II GI Bill was signed into law on June 22,1944, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The United States government began serious consolidated services to veterans in 1930, the GI Bill of Rights, which was passed in 1944, had more effect on the American way of life than any other legislation - with the possible exception of the Homestead Act. VA health care facilities provide a spectrum of medical, surgical. The responsibilities and benefits programs of the Veterans Administration grew enormously during the six decades
36.
Southern California
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Southern California, often abbreviated as SoCal, is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises Californias 10 southernmost counties. The region is described as eight counties, based on demographics and economic ties, Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara. The more extensive 10-county definition, which includes Kern and San Luis Obispo counties, is used and is based on historical political divisions. Southern California is an economic center for the state of California. The 8-county and 10-county definitions are not used for the greater Southern California Megaregion, the megaregions area is more expansive, extending east into Las Vegas, Nevada and south across the Mexican border into Tijuana.5 million people. With over 22 million people, Southern California contains roughly 60 percent of Californias population, located east of Southern California is the Colorado Desert and the Colorado River at the border with Arizona. The Mojave Desert is located at the border with the state of Nevada while towards the south is the Mexico–United States border, within Southern California are two major cities, Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as three of the countrys largest metropolitan areas. With a population of 3,792,621, Los Angeles is the most populous city in California and the second most populous in the United States. South of Los Angeles and with a population of 1,307,402 is San Diego, the second most populous city in the state and the eighth most populous in the nation. The counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Riverside are the five most populous in the state, the motion picture, television, and music industry are centered in the Los Angeles area in Southern California. Hollywood, a district within Los Angeles, gives its name to the American motion picture industry, headquartered in Southern California are The Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures, Universal, MGM, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Brothers. Universal, Warner Brothers, and Sony also run major record companies, Southern California is also home to a large homegrown surf and skateboard culture. Companies such as Vans, Volcom, Quiksilver, No Fear, RVCA, some of the worlds biggest action sports events, including the X Games, Boost Mobile Pro, and the U. S. Open of Surfing, are all held in Southern California. Southern California is also important to the world of yachting, the annual Transpacific Yacht Race, or Transpac, from Los Angeles to Hawaii, is one of yachtings premier events. The San Diego Yacht Club held the Americas Cup, the most prestigious prize in yachting, from 1988 to 1995, Southern California is home to many sports franchises and sports networks such as Fox Sports Net. Many locals and tourists frequent the Southern California coast for its popular beaches, the desert city of Palm Springs is popular for its resort feel and nearby open spaces. Southern California is not a geographic designation and definitions of what constitutes Southern California vary. Geographically, Californias North-South midway point lies at exactly 37°958.23 latitude, around 11 miles south of San Jose, however, when the state is divided into two areas, the term Southern California usually refers to the 10 southernmost counties of the state
37.
International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
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International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies was established on March 2,1985 in Washington, D. C. for professionals to share information about the effects of trauma. ISTSS was originally named the Society for Traumatic Stress Studies when it was established at a meeting organized by Charles Figley that was held in Washington, a foundational objective of the Society was to publish a journal featuring scholarly work on traumatic stress. This was achieved in July 1986 with the creation of the Journal of Traumatic Stress, the Society’s first annual meeting was held in Atlanta, GA in September 1985. In April 1990, the Society’s name was changed to the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies to reflect its growing non-U. S and this would include those most of us would agree are qualified to comment on the psychosocial consequences of traumatic events. We hope that by providing the media with a list of qualified experts, formed a separate organization which is now known as ATSS, the Association for Traumatic Stress Specialists. Another split is between its American and European members who are faced with highly traumatized refugee populations, an issue that is overlooked by the American members. The recurrent tensions in the society are about the given to child trauma. ISTSS is a large, multidisciplinary society, members involve themselves in ISTSS along two axes, the victim/survivor populations with which they work and the interest areas they have that span survivor groups in scope. ISTSS maintains a committee structure that allows members hands-on participation in program development
38.
Jim Nicholson (Secretary of Veterans Affairs)
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Robert James Jim Nicholson is an attorney, real estate developer, and a former Republican Party chairman. He was the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs from January 26,2005 until October 1,2007, Nicholson was born on a farm near Struble, Iowa. Nicholson has characterized his childhood as growing up poor in a tenant house without plumbing. He is the brother of retired Army General John W. Nicholson, Nicholson has a Masters degree in Public Policy from Columbia University. He received a law degree from the University of Denver College of Law in 1972, Nicholson is married to the former Suzanne Marie Ferrell of Highland Falls, New York, who is an accomplished artist. They are the parents of three children and he is a 1961 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and served eight years in active duty. He was a paratrooper and Ranger-qualified Army officer and he fought in the Vietnam War, where he earned the Bronze Star, Combat Infantryman Badge, the Meritorious Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry and two Air Medals. After thirty years of service he retired in 1991 with the rank of Colonel. In 2005, he was awarded the Distinguished Graduate Award by the USMA, before becoming active in civilian government service, he practiced law in Denver, Colorado, specializing in real estate, municipal finance and zoning law. In 1978 he founded Nicholson Enterprises, Inc. a developer of planned communities, and in 1987 he bought Renaissance Homes. Currently, he is senior counsel with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP and his practice includes public policy, health care, state and federal regulatory law, international relations, real estate, oil and gas, and alternative energy. He works from both the Washington, D. C. and Denver offices, Nicholson was chairman of the Volunteers of America of Colorado. He serves as director of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc, Daniels Fund, Federated Funds, Nicholson has never held elected office, but has long been active in the Republican Party. In January 1986, he was elected committeeman from Colorado for the Republican National Committee, in 1993, he was elected Vice-Chairman of the RNC, and was the surprise pick for GOP national chairman in January 1997. He served in that role through the 2000 presidential election, between 2001 and 2005, Nicholson served as United States Ambassador to the Holy See. In 2003, Pope John Paul II knighted him with the Grand Cross for his leadership on human rights issues and standing for religious freedom. Order of Pius IX
39.
Al Gore
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Albert Arnold Al Gore Jr. is an American politician and environmentalist who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He was Clintons running mate in their campaign in 1992. At the end of Clintons second term, Gore was picked as the Democratic nominee for the 2000 presidential election, after leaving office, Gore remained prominent as an author and environmental activist, whose work in climate change activism earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Gore was an official for 24 years. He was a Congressman from Tennessee and from 1985 to 1993 served as one of the states Senators and he served as Vice President during the Clinton administration from 1993 to 2001. In the 2000 presidential election, in what was one of the closest presidential races in history, Gore won the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College to Republican George W. Bush. A controversial election dispute over a vote recount in Florida was settled by the U. S. Supreme Court, and a senior adviser to Google. Gore is also a partner in the capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He has served as a professor at Middle Tennessee State University, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Fisk University. He served on the Board of Directors of World Resources Institute, Gore was also the subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth in 2006. In 2007, he was named a runner-up for Times 2007 Person of the Year, Gore was born in Washington, D. C. the second of two children of Albert Gore Sr. a U. S. Representative who later served for 18 years as U. S, Senator from Tennessee, and Pauline Gore, one of the first women to graduate from Vanderbilt University Law School. Gore is partly descended from Scots-Irish immigrants who first settled in Virginia in the mid-17th-century and his older sister Nancy LaFon Gore, who was born in 1938, died of lung cancer in 1984. During the school year he lived with his family in The Fairfax Hotel in the Embassy Row section in Washington D. C, during the summer months, he worked on the family farm in Carthage, Tennessee, where the Gores grew tobacco and hay and raised cattle. Gore attended St. Albans School, an independent college preparatory day and boarding school for boys in Washington, D. C. from 1956 to 1965, a prestigious feeder school for the Ivy League. He was the captain of the team, threw discus for the track and field team, and participated in basketball, art. He graduated 25th in his class of 51, applied to one college, Harvard. Gore met Mary Elizabeth Tipper Aitcheson from the nearby St. Agnes School at his St. Albans senior prom in 1965
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Frederick W. Smith
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Frederick Wallace Fred Smith is the founder, chairman, president, and CEO of FedEx, originally known as Federal Express. The company is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, Fred Smith, the father, died while Fred Smith, the son, was only 4, and the boy was raised by his mother and uncles. Smith was crippled by disease as a small boy but regained his health by age 10, before becoming an excellent football player. Smith had a great interest in flying, and became a pilot as a teen. He attended elementary school at Presbyterian Day School and high school at Memphis University School, in 1962, Smith entered Yale University. While attending Yale, he wrote a paper for an economics class, the paper became the idea of FedEx. Smith became a member and eventually the president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and he received his bachelors degree in economics in 1966. In his college years, he was a friend and DKE fraternity brother of George W. Bush, Smith was also friends with John Kerry and shared an enthusiasm for aviation with Kerry and was a flying partner with him. After graduation, Smith was commissioned in the U. S. Marine Corps, much mythology exists about this part of his life, Smith was a Marine Corps Ground Officer for his entire service. He was specially trained to fly with pilots and observe and control ground action and he never went through Navy flight training and was not a Naval aviator or pilot in the military. Individuals who completed Navy flight training and became a Designated Naval Aviator were obligated to serve six years at the time, as a Marine, Smith had the opportunity to observe the militarys logistics system first hand. He served two tours of duty in Vietnam, flying with pilots on over 200 combat missions and he was honorably discharged in 1969 with the rank of Captain, having received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and two Purple Hearts. While in the military, Smith carefully observed the procurement and delivery procedures, in 1970, Smith purchased the controlling interest in an aircraft maintenance company, Ark Aviation Sales, and by 1971 turned its focus to trading used jets. On June 18,1971, Smith founded Federal Express with his $4 million inheritance, in 1973, the company began offering service to 25 cities, and it began with small packages and documents and a fleet of 14 Falcon 20 jets. His focus was on developing an integrated system, which had never been done before. In the early days of FedEx, Smith had to go to lengths to keep the company afloat. In one instance, he took the companys last $5,000 to Las Vegas, Smith has served on the boards of several large public companies, as well as the St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital and Mayo Foundation boards. He was formerly chairman of the Board of Governors for the International Air Transport Association, Smith is chair of the Business Roundtables Security Task Force, and a member of the Business Council and the Cato Institute
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FedEx
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FedEx Corporation is an American multinational courier delivery services company headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. The name FedEx is an abbreviation of the name of the companys original air division, Federal Express. FedEx Corporation is a company, incorporated October 2,1997. FDX Corporation was founded in January 1998 with the acquisition of Caliber System Inc. by Federal Express, with the purchase of Caliber, FedEx started offering other services besides express shipping. FDX Corporation was founded to oversee all of the operations of companies and its original air division. Ron Ponder, a president at the time, was in charge of this proposed venture. In January 2000, FDX Corporation changed its name to FedEx Corporation, a new subsidiary, called FedEx Corporate Services, was formed to centralize the sales, marketing, and customer service for all of the subsidiaries. In February 2000, FedEx acquired Tower Group International, a logistics company. FedEx also acquired WorldTariff, a duty and tax information company, TowerGroup. FedEx Corp. acquired privately held Kinkos, Inc. in February 2004, the acquisition was made to expand FedExs retail access to the general public. After the acquisition, all FedEx Kinkos locations exclusively offered only FedEx shipping, in June 2008, FedEx announced that they would be dropping the Kinkos name from their ship centers, FedEx Kinkos would now be called FedEx Office. In September 2004, FedEx acquired Parcel Direct, a parcel consolidator, internal Revenue Service tentatively decided the FedEx Ground Division might be facing a tax liability of $319 million for 2002, due to misclassification of its operatives as independent contractors. FedEx denied that any irregularities in classification had occurred, but faced legal action from operatives claiming benefits that would have accrued had they been classified as employees. In June 2009, FedEx began a campaign against United Parcel Service, FedEx claimed that signing the Federal Aviation Administration re-authorization bill, which would let some of its workers unionize more easily, was equivalent to giving UPS a bailout. Independent observers heavily criticized FedExs wording, claiming that it was an abuse of the term, FedEx Express employees are regulated under the Railway Labor Act. On January 14,2013, FedEx named Henry Maier CEO and President of FedEx Ground, on July 17,2014, FedEx was indicted for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in cooperation with the Chhabra-Smoley Organization and Superior Drugs. On July 17,2016 the The DOJ U. S. Attorneys Office confirmed in a statement that it had asked U. S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer to dismiss the indictment but also did not say why. In April 2015, FedEx acquired their rival firm TNT Express for €4.4 billion as it looks to expand their operations in Europe
