MAAG Doubles the Size of Its Force in Vietnam

April 1, 1960 - April 30, 1960

U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group Headquarters

Overview

From 1956 to 1959, the United States has two military assistance groups operating in South Vietnam: MAAG, with a limit of 342 personnel, and the subordinate Temporary Equipment Recovery Mission (TERM). The United States establishes TERM in June 1956 with a limit of 350 personnel. Its purpose is ostensibly to recover and redistribute U.S. military equipment from the First Indochina War, but it also assists the South Vietnamese military with logistics and covers for U.S. intelligence efforts. When the Hanoi government protests TERM in 1957, the ICC requests the program’s termination by mid-1959.

Meanwhile, the Communist insurgency in South Vietnam grows. The guerrillas, who at first operate in groups of 3–12, now roam the countryside in units of 30–100 men. To avoid a loss of personnel and capabilities as TERM is deactivated, the United States and President Diem initiate diplomatic actions to get ICC approval for an increase in MAAG personnel. On April 19, 1960, the ICC approves the MAAG increase from 342 to 685—a figure still lower than the numbers of foreign military personnel in South Vietnam at the accords’ signing.1

¹Ronald H. Spector, Advice and Support: The Early Years, 1941–1960, United States Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 1985), 261–262, 360–361, 353–354, General Samuel T. Williams, head of MAAG from 1955–1960, pointed out that considering TERM’s overt mission of equipment recovery, the United States would not be able to maintain this front indefinitely. In 1957, only 7 of 350 TERM personnel were actually working on equipment recovery and reallocation ; George S. Eckhardt, Command and Control, 1950–1969 (Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 2004), 15; Edward C. Keefer and David W. Mabon, eds., Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Volume I, Vietnam, (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1986), Document 166.