Armee Clandestine pdf 32 pages
EXCERPT:
Hmong Studies Journal, Volume Three, Winter 2000
Literacy and L'Armee Clandestine:
The Writings of the Hmong Military
Scribes*
John Duffy
Abstract
While histories of Hmong literacy development in Laos have
focused on the role of village schools, the arrival of
missionary Christianity, and the development of various Hmong
religious alphabets, one site for Hmong literacy development
has been consistently overlooked: L'Armee Clandestine, or the
Hmong "Secret Army." This article examines literacy
development in the Hmong military, looking at the writings of
Hmong military scribes. The article discusses how 1) literacy
skills taught in other contexts, such as Laotian public
schools, were further developed in the Hmong military, 2) a
selected number of Hmong men were introduced through military
service to English language and literacy, and 3) military
scribes might appropriate literacy to address personal needs
and aspirations.
When we learned how to write we were taught by the officers.
They taught us that, if we were writing something to be
telegraphed back to the main base, for example, if we did not
have enough food, then we should write just a little bit,
just the precise meanings. But we were also taught how to
write a letter telling them that today we fought this many
hours and this many of our soldiers died; or that we killed
this many Communists in this area. These things, we went to
learn about these things in the military. We then became good
in writing.
--A Hmong military veteran, describing the writing that he
did while serving in L' Armee Clandestine {1}
[1]
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When the CIA first began contacting Hmong leaders in northern
Laos in the early 1960s, the idea behind the initiative was
that, given arms and assistance, the Hmong would make an
effective guerrilla army, an irregular force that could
provide military intelligence, harass North Vietnamese
troops, and rescue U.S. pilots who had been shot down over
Laos. As the war intensified, however, the role and size of
the covert army increased dramatically. From its modest
beginnings of 750 recruits in 1961, the Hmong force grew to
approximately 14,000 to 18,000 troops by July 1962, and after
that to some 40,000 men by 1969 (Castle, 1993, p. 57; Chan,
1994, p. 32). {2} The build-up of what became known of as L'
Armee Clandestine, or "The Secret Army," resulted in a
corresponding shift in military strategies. Where Hmong
forces had initially conducted small-scale hit-and-run
attacks, by 1969 they were engaging North Vietnamese troops
in full-scale, logistically demanding battles on the Plain of
Jars.
[2]
Among the many consequences of this transformation of the
Hmong fighters from a guerrilla force into a conventional
army was the growth of a large and increasingly complex
military bureaucracy. This in turn called for a new class of
person in Hmong society -- the military scribe, who was
responsible for carrying out the specialized literacy
activities in the Lao language called for by the expanding
bureaucratic apparatus of L'Armée Clandestine. Military
scribe was not a designated rank or position; rather, the
term could be applied to anyone whose job involved writing on
behalf of the Hmong Army. Among these writing tasks were
keeping inventories of personnel, weapons, and food supplies;
writing letters on behalf of Hmong soldiers and their
families; sending reports from the field to base commanders;
and providing written information to CIA and Hmong pilots who
were making food drops to Hmong troops in the field or
attacking enemy positions. {3} The testimony of Ger Thao, who
became a military scribe in the 1960s, was typical:
When I was a soldier, I served as a secretary. . . .
helping the battalion commander. I would write such
things as, Tonight, we fought each other, and how did
we do? I would keep records of how many people died,
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how many people were injured. . . . Also the enemy,
how many people did we see, exactly, die there in that
battle? How many of them were injured and killed? And
if we got grenades, or guns, or bullets from the
enemy, I would write that down. We needed to report
everything.
[3]
Literacy has long played a role in warfare. Writing has been
vital to military leaders for disseminating information,
maintaining archives, and accounting for expenditures of men
and material (Diamond, 1997, pp. 78-80, 215-216). Today, the
importance of literacy to military structure is evidenced in
the time and resources devoted to education in the training
of military recruits (Sticht 1995). Indeed, one can argue
that literacy has long been one of the most potent weapons in
the military arsenal.