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Operation Momentum was a guerrilla training program during the Laotian Civil War run by the Central Intelligence Agency to raise a guerrilla force of Hmong hill-tribesmen in northeastern Laos to fight the North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) and their Pathet Lao allies.
17 January 1961–30 September 1974: Operation Momentum, in Military Region 2 (MR 2) 31 January–6 June 1961: Battle of Ban Pa Dong, in Military Region 1 (MR 1) 13 March–August 1961: Operation Millpond, nationwide, (cancelled) 13 December 1961–10 September 1962: Operation Pincushion, in Military Region 4 (MR 4)
The Pathet Lao were intent on cooperation with FAN. There was a very real risk attached to failure of Operation Momentum—attraction of communist retribution upon the Hmong populace. [8] There was a grass airstrip at Ban Pa Dong, and some old wooden buildings that had been built by the French. [9]
Covert sites of the Laotian Civil War were clandestine U.S. military installations for conducting covert paramilitary and combat operations in the Kingdom of Laos. Airstrips within the Kingdom of Laos were originally designated by Air America as "Site XX" (with XX being a number). In September 1961, the designation changed to "VS XX", meaning ...
While Operation White Star was concluded as part of the American military leaving Laos, Operation Momentum went into suspended animation. Nevertheless, the CIA tried to maintain contact with the 13,500 ADC troops it had trained in northern Laos. Much to the disgust of Vang Pao, the CIA's supply of munitions to his Hmong guerrillas was suspended.
Lair's solution to the personnel problem was to ship Young out from headquarters into the field. He used him to assist in founding the Operation Momentum guerrilla training program, before sending him out to spot locations for new guerrilla bases in Laos. Young flew toward the Plain of Jars and found a feasible location at Long Tieng.
The American government became convinced that Laos could not be allowed to fall under communist control, lest other countries in Southeast Asia follow suit. [1] In January 1961, Central Intelligence Agency case officer James William Lair founded the Operation Momentum training program in northern Laos for Hmong guerrillas. In the following ...
The ADC training that took place in the face of the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao communist troops was so successful it was copied elsewhere, including Operation Pincushion in Laos, and among the Degar of South Vietnam. The ADC program consisted of prepacked military equipment suitable for training 100 recruits at a time.