Operation Momentum
| Operation Momentum | |
|---|---|
| Part of Auto Defense Choc, Laotian Civil War; Vietnam War | |
| Type | Irregular military training program |
| Location | Laos |
| Planned | January 1961 |
| Planned by | James William Lair |
| Commanded by | Vang Pao |
| Objective | Raise an irregular army of Hmong tribes |
| Date | January 17, 1961—September 30, 1974 |
| Executed by | CIA, Operation White Star, RLA/ADC, PEO, PARU, USAID, Raven Forward Air Controllers, Air America, BirdAir, CASI |
| Outcome | Guerrilla army of 30,000 troops raised; project abandoned in 1974 |
| Casualties | 18,000–20,000 fatalities 50,000 civilian casualties |
Operation Momentum was a guerrilla training program during the Laotian Civil War. This Central Intelligence Agency operation raising a guerrilla force of Hmong hill-tribesmen in northeastern Laos was planned by James William Lair and carried out by the Thai Police Aerial Reinforcement Unit. Begun on 17 January 1961, the three-day Auto Defense Choc (Self Defense Shock) course graduated a clandestine guerrilla army of 5,000 warriors by 1 May, and of 9,000 by August. It scored its first success the day after the first ADC company graduated, on 21 January 1961, when 20 ADC troopers ambushed and killed 15 Pathet Lao.
The Momentum technique of parachuting in equipment to train guerrillas was so successful it would be copied widely by the Americans during the Vietnam War. The United States Special Forces used the Momentum pre-palleted equipment and their own cadre of instructors for such copycat programs as Operation Pincushion, and for organizing the Degars of South Vietnam.
The success of Operation Momentum brought about more extensive training for the Hmong and other hill tribes recruits such as the Lao Theung. Further training of Special Operating Teams of ADC graduates was begun in August 1961, with the aim of gradually replacing foreign trainers with Lao instructors. In July 1962, the International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos put a damper on Momentum operations until the following April. During this lull, Colonel (later Major General) Vang Pao gathered five ADC companies into a battalion-sized Special Guerrilla Unit. In later years, he would take the next step of organizing makeshift regiments of SGUs.
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