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93-611: The Royal Lao Armed Forces ( Lao : ກອງທັບຣາຊອານາຈັກລາວ ; French : Forces Armées du Royaume ), best known by its French acronym FAR , were the official armed defense forces of the Kingdom of Laos , a state that existed from 1949 to 1975 in what is now the Lao People's Democratic Republic . First created under the French protectorate of Laos on July 1, 1949, the FAR was responsible for

186-553: A commanding officer , subordinate military units and other stakeholders. A centralised general staff results in tighter top-down control but requires larger staff at headquarters (HQ) and reduces accuracy of orientation of field operations, whereas a decentralised general staff results in enhanced situational focus, personal initiative , speed of localised action, OODA loop , and improved accuracy of orientation. A commander "commands" through their personal authority, decision-making and leadership, and uses general staff to exercise

279-461: A Colonel Adjutant Staff Officer (Grade 2), informally known as A2: Ranked Major Adjutant Staff Officer (Grade 3), informally known as A3: Ranked Captain Q Branch, called စစ်ထောက် or ထောက် for short in Burmese, is responsible for logistical aspects such as supply and transport as well as ordnance service. Quartermaster Staff Officer (Grade 1), informally known as Q1: Ranked Lieutenant Colonel or

372-593: A Colonel Quartermaster Staff Officer (Grade 2), informally known as Q2: Ranked Major Quartermaster Staff Officer (Grade 3), informally known as Q3: Ranked Captain Prussia adopted Austria's approach in the following years, especially when Gerhard von Scharnhorst , who as a Hanoverian staff officer had worked with the Austrian army in the Austrian Netherlands in the early 1790s, took charge. Initially,

465-495: A Headquarters and also supervise and support subordinate units. The finance branch, not to be confused with Administration from which it has split, sets the finance policy for the operation. Operationally, the Administration and Finance may be interlinked, but have separate reporting chains. Civil-Military Co-operation or civil affairs are the activities that establish, maintain, influence, or exploit relations between

558-490: A Kingdom from 1949) within the colonial framework of French Indochina . This act signalled the creation of a Laotian government capable of building its own administration over the next few years, including the establishment of a national defense force. The new Laotian military was officially created on July 1, 1949, from a collection of pre-existing Lao police and militarized constabulary units, regular colonial indigenous troops, and locally raised irregular auxiliaries. However,

651-829: A general officer, an exceptional arrangement permitted under the 1955 Geneva Accords , as well as covert assistance from the United States in the form of the Programs Evaluation Office (PEO), established on 15 December 1955, replaced in 1961 by the Military Assistance Advisory Group (Laos), which was later changed in September 1962 into the Requirements Office . Between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. provided Laos with direct military assistance, but not including

744-474: A more appropriate tasker within the unit to be handled and resolved, which would otherwise be an unnecessary distraction for the Commanding Officer who already makes numerous decisions every day. In addition, a staff aims to carefully craft any useful situations and utilize that information. In a generic command staff, more seasoned and senior officers oversee staff sections of groups organized by

837-722: A more important role for the Generalquartiermeister (Chief of Staff). The failures in the army, especially at the Battle of Leuthen made it clear that Austria had no "great brain" and the command needed to spread the workload to allow the Commander-in-chief the time to consider the strategic picture. The 1757 regulations had created the Grosse Feldgeneralstab and Kleine Generalstab (large and small general staff) and after changes in 1769,

930-489: A particular soldier) or from the top down (such as orders being received from the army level directing that a particular soldier be reassigned to a new unit outside the command). In army units, this person is often called the Adjutant . The S-1 also works with the postal mailing office, and deals with awards and ranks as well. The intelligence section is responsible for collecting and analyzing intelligence information about

1023-628: A permanent staff of 30 officers was established under the direction of Franz Moritz von Lacy , which would be expanded in wartime with junior officers. The Grosse staff was divided into three: First, the Intrinsecum , which handled internal administration and directing operations; secondly, external activities, including the Pioneers ; thirdly, the Inspection Service, which handled the issuing of orders and prisoners of war. Alongside

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1116-419: A professional military school system – Officer, Non-commissioned officer (NCO) and Staff schools, plus Technical and Branch training schools – for its Armed Forces, and relied heavily on foreign assistance to train its personnel. Beginning in the early 1950s, Laotian Officers and selected enlisted men were sent overseas to attend specialized courses and advanced schools, and this practice would continue throughout

1209-492: A role. The staff numbers are assigned according to custom, not hierarchy, traceable back to French practice; i.e., 1 is not "higher ranking" than 2 . This list reflects the SHAPE structure: Since the original continental staff system only covered branches 1 through 6, it is not uncommon to see 7 through 9 omitted or having various meanings. Common variation include merging of 3 and 5 to 3 , Operations and Plans; omitting

1302-418: A small independent element, that is a part of a non-staff organization; i.e., an E3 is an operational element on a logistics site or an E4 is a logistics element on a forward medical support site. Thus, the personnel officer of a naval headquarters would be referred to as N1 . In reality, in large organizations each of these staff functions will require the support of its own large staff, so N1 refers both to

1395-517: A staff, whose chief was responsible for directing operations and executing the overall headquarters plan. The staff on the outbreak of war in 1809 numbered over 170. Finally in 1811, Joseph Radetzky von Radetz produced his Über die bessere Einrichtung des Generalstabs , which prioritised the Chief of Staff's managerial and supervisory role with the departments (Political Correspondence, Operations and Service) under their own directors, effectively merging

1488-493: Is not only the official language but also a lingua franca , bridging the linguistic diversity of a population that speaks many other languages. Its cultural significance is reflected in Laotian literature, media, and traditional arts. The Vientiane dialect has emerged as the de facto standard, though no official standard has been established. Internationally, Lao is spoken among diaspora communities , especially in countries like

1581-543: Is now southeastern China, specifically what is now Guangxi and northern Vietnam where the diversity of various Tai languages suggests an Urheimat . The Southwestern Tai languages began to diverge from the Northern and Central branches of the Tai languages, covered mainly by various Zhuang languages , sometime around 112 CE, but likely completed by the sixth century . Due to the influx of Han Chinese soldiers and settlers,

1674-564: Is responsible for Responsible for intelligence, training and every aspect of operations. General Staff Officer (Grade 1), informally known as G1: Ranked Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel General Staff Officer (Grade 2), informally known as G2: Ranked Major General Staff Officer (Grade 3), informally known as G3: Ranked Captain A Branch, called စစ်ရေး or ရေး for short in Burmese, is responsible for every aspect of personnel management such as medical and military. Adjutant Staff Officer (Grade 1), informally known as A1: Ranked Lieutenant Colonel or

1767-548: Is responsible for managing the wide scope of materiel , transport, facilities, services and medical/health support: By NATO doctrine, the logistic staff is tasked with overseeing logistic aspects and principles, where the focus is that "logistic support must be focused towards ensuring the success of the operation" and prescriptions of elements such as responsibility and authority. A logistic staff may be divided into sections based on branch or geographic area. Each section may in turn also be divided into tasks and roles. The size of

1860-514: Is the point of contact for the issue of communications instructions and protocol during operations as well as for communications troubleshooting, issue, and preventative maintenance. Communications at this level is paired with digital as well as voice (radio, computer, etc.). At the unit level, S-6 is also usually responsible for all electronic systems within a unit to include computers, faxes, copy machines, and phone systems. The training branch will organize and coordinate training activity conducted by

1953-915: The Australian Commonwealth Military Forces (now the Australian Army ) adopted many of the practices of the British Army, including its staff system. While this approach was modified and adapted over the course of the 20th Century, the British three branch system and nomenclature remained a feature of Australian practice until 1997 when it adopted the Common Joint Staff System , based on the NATO or Continental/General Staff System, across all three services. The primary reasons given for this were

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2046-522: The French Army of Italy in 1795, his was the old administrative role, accurately described by Jomini and Vachee as "the chief clerk" and "of limited competence". His manual is merely a reporting system as a kind of office manual. Staff officers were rotated out of the line on the Austrian model, but received no training and merely became efficient in the administrative tasks, especially the rapid issuance of orders. It suited Napoleon Bonaparte from

2139-462: The Prussian Army assigned a limited number of technical expert officers to support field commanders. Before 1746, however, reforms had added management of intelligence and contingency planning to the staff's duties. Later, the practice was initiated of rotating officers from command to staff assignments and back to familiarize them with both aspects of military operations, a practice that, with

2232-559: The Secretary of Defense . The "Continental Staff System", also known as the "General Staff System" (GSS), is used by most NATO countries in structuring their militaries' staff functions. In this system, which is based on one originally employed by the French Army in the 19th century, each staff position in a headquarters or unit is assigned a letter-prefix corresponding to the formation's element and one or more numbers specifying

2325-566: The Southwestern branch of Tai languages. Lao (including Isan) and Thai, although they occupy separate groups, are mutually intelligible and were pushed closer through contact and Khmer influence, but all Southwestern Tai languages are mutually intelligible to some degree. The Tai languages also include the languages of the Zhuang , which are split into the Northern and Central branches of

2418-994: The U.S. Special Forces (USSF) course at Fort Bragg , North Carolina , in the United States. A third one, the CIA -run PS 18 secret camp near Pakse in Champassak Province was used for two RLA brigades being raised in Military Region 4 (MR 4) . In December 1961, the Neutralists set up an Armoured Training Centre at Ban Phong Savang in Savannakhet Province , with the help of NVA instructors to train Neutralist personnel in PT-76 amphibious light tank tactics and maintenance, though it

2511-877: The United States Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . Paratrooper and 'Commando' units were sent overseas to receive advanced airborne and reconnaissance training, with Laotian pupils attending the Scout Ranger course at Fort William McKinley in Manila , the Philippines, manned by Philippine Army instructors; others attended Para-commando courses manned by Indonesian Army instructors at their airborne training centre located at Batujajar , near Bandung , Indonesia. Further airborne and Ranger training

2604-808: The École de l'air in France and Morocco, though five RLAF pilot students were sent in 1962 to the United States to receive training on the T-28 at Moody Air Force Base , Georgia ; Laotian pilots and air crews were later sent for 0-1, UH-1, T-28, EC-47, AC-47, and C-123 training to South Vietnam and Thailand. Most of the advanced courses and specialized training of Laotian combat pilots was conducted by American advisors of Detachment 1, 56th Special Operations Wing at Udorn , U-Tapao , and Takhli airbases in Thailand, while others were dispatched to attend observer courses at Bien Hoa Air Base , South Vietnam. Additional training

2697-603: The "control" on their behalf in a large unit. Most NATO nations, including the United States and most European nations, use the Continental Staff System which has origin in Napoleon 's military. The Commonwealth Staff System, used by most of the Commonwealth , has its origin in the British military. One of the key purposes of a military staff is to provide accurate, timely information (which includes

2790-671: The 1960s and early 1970s. However, a small indigenous training infrastructure (initially run exclusively by the French) gradually began to take shape during the last years of the First Indochina War , and as the Laotian Civil War progressed, it was expanded with the help of the American aid programs, with most of the training being carried out by U.S. advisors. The first Laotian military schools were established by

2883-609: The Adjutants and General Staff officers. In this system lay the beginnings of a formal staff corps, whose members could specialise in operations, intelligence and logistics. Despite a short lived permanent staff under St-Cyr (1783–90), the French reverted to the old system in 1790, when the Revolutionary Government abolished the staff corps. When General Louis Alexandre Berthier was appointed Chief of Staff to

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2976-534: The British Army was thought too small to support separate staff and command career streams. Officers would typically alternate between staff and command. Beevor, Inside the British Army, says instead that the terrible cleavages between staff and line units caused by the enormous losses during the trench warfare of the World War I meant that senior British officers consequently decided that all officers would rotate between staff and line responsibilities, preventing

3069-406: The Commander-in-chief. In 1796, Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen augmented these with his own Observationspunkte , writing of the Chief of Staff: "he is duty bound to consider all possibilities related to operations and not view himself as merely carrying out those instructions". On 20 March 1801, Feldmarschalleutnant Duka became the world's first peacetime Generalquartiermeister at the head of

3162-506: The FAR officer corps was riven by corruption and inefficiency, exacerbated by political divisions and even personal rivalries at all echelons of command. Both professional and personal jealousy was not unknown amongst Laotian higher Commanders, which resulted in endless internal squabbles, and little effort was made to coordinate their activities, rendering the Command, control and coordination of military operations problematic. This situation

3255-581: The French Union Army Command in 1952, with the creation at Pakse and Vientiane of two NCO training schools ( École des Cadres ), later merged into a single institution, the Reserve Cadres Training Centre ( Centre de Formation des Cadres de Réserve – CFCR), soon followed by a Reserve Officers Training School ( École des Officiers de Reserve – EOR). First set up at Pakse , the latter institution

3348-500: The French and U.S. Operation Hotfoot mobile training team advisors at Khang Khay in Military Region 2 (MR 2) , at Kilometre 17 (KM 17) and Kilometre 22 (KM 22) both located northeast of Vientiane on Route 13 , and at Luang Prabang , Savannakhet and Pakse between July 1959 and March 1960, in order to provide basic infantry and Ranger training to both regular RLA and irregular SGU Laotian troops. To train Laotian paratrooper battalions, airborne training centres were established by

3441-766: The French at Wattay Air Base just outside Vientiane in September 1948, followed later in February 1960 by Vang Vieng , located 17 kilometres (15.60 miles) from Vientiane, set up with the help of U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group (Laos) advisors, and at Seno , near Savannakhet by French Military Mission in Laos advisors. A fourth Parachute School was briefly established by the Neutralists in 1961 at Muang Phanh in Xiangkhouang Province , but

3534-571: The General Staff was the General Adjutant, who led a group of Adjutant staff selected by the army commanders to handle the details of internal administration and collating intelligence, and answered to the Commander-in-chief. The Chief of Staff became the chief adviser to the Commander-in-chief and, in a fundamental move away from the previous administrative role, the Chief of Staff now undertook operational planning, while delegating

3627-590: The IHEM in Long Tieng to run the first 32-week command and staff course that resulted in the graduation of 30 laotian senior officers in early 1966. A separate Staff School ( École d'État-Major – EAM) was also established at Phone Kheng near Vientiane , which graduated nine intakes before closing in 1972 due to budgetary reasons. Six Laotian Armed Forces training Centres ( Centres de Formation des Forces Armées Laotiénnes – CFFAR) were established jointly by

3720-639: The Joint Staff of today works directly for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff rather than the corporate Joint Chiefs of Staff , as they did from 1947 to 1986. Under this scheme, operational command and control of military forces are not the province of the Joint Staff, but that of combatant commanders , who report through the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff unless otherwise directed, to

3813-678: The Military Region's commanders used the GMs as their private armies to further their own interests, rarely dispatching them outside the Mekong River valley. A high-echelon command position within a Military Region was dependent upon the influence of an urban elite aristocratic family who economically and politically dominated the MR. If a general was not a scion of one of these families, then he had to get their support in some other manner. Laos

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3906-581: The Pathet Lao offensive held in early May 1964 forced the training staff to relocate to Vang Vieng. In the midst of the 1971 reorganization, two dual commando/infantry training centres were set up by the Americans at Phou Khao Khouai , north of Vientiane and Seno near Savannakhet for the Royal Lao Army (RLA) new strike divisions; the teaching staff consisted of several Laotian graduates of

3999-683: The Tai languages. The Tai languages form a major division within the Kra-Dai language family , distantly related to other languages of southern China, such as the Hlai and Be languages of Hainan and the Kra and Kam-Sui languages on the Chinese Mainland and in neighbouring regions of northern Vietnam. The ancestors of the Lao people were speakers of Southwestern Tai dialects that migrated from what

4092-834: The Tai migrants that followed the Mekong River . As the Southwestern Tai-speaking peoples diverged, following paths down waterways, their dialects began to diverge into the various languages today, such as the Lao-Phuthai languages that developed along the Mekong River and includes Lao and its Isan sub-variety and the Chiang Saen languages which includes the Central Thai dialect that is the basis of Standard Thai. Despite their close relationship, there were several phonological divergences that drifted

4185-454: The United Kingdom, the United States, Thailand, Burma, the Philippines, the Republic of China (Taiwan) , Cambodia , South Vietnam , Indonesia, Australia, and (briefly) from North Vietnam and the Soviet Union . To meet the threat represented by the Pathet Lao insurgency, the Laotian Armed Forces depended on a small French military training mission ( Mission Militaire Française près du Gouvernment Royale du Laos or MMFI-GRL), headed by

4278-450: The United States, France, and Australia, reflecting its global diasporic presence. The Lao language falls within the Lao-Phuthai group of languages, including its closest relatives, Phuthai (BGN/PCGN Phouthai , RTGS Phu Thai ) and Tai Yo . Together with Northwestern Tai—which includes Shan , Ahom and most Dai languages of China, the Chiang Saen languages—which include Standard Thai, Khorat Thai, and Tai Lanna —and Southern Tai form

4371-548: The United States, to receive basic officer and advanced staff training in their respective Military Academies and Staff Colleges. At least ten Laotian Aspirants were sent to the prestigious Saint Cyr Military Academy ( École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr ) in France, whilst senior officers attended staff courses at both the French Army Staff School ( École d'État-Major ) and the School of Advanced Military Studies ( Centre des hautes études militaires – CHEM) in Paris; other Laotian officers received their staff training at

4464-439: The ability to standardise staff organisations across the breadth and depth of the services, and; improve interoperability between America, Britain, Canada and Australia, as well as NATO partners that employed this system. At this time the Australian Defence Force also developed its own Joint Military Appreciation Proces s (JMAP), itself derived from the US Tactical Decision-Making Process and UK Individual Estimate. The head of

4557-408: The addition of enlisted personnel, continues to be used. After 1806, Prussia's military academies trained mid-level officers in specialist staff skills. In 1814, Prussia formally established by law a central military command— Prussian General Staff —and a separate staff for each division and corps . Despite some professional and political issues with the Prussian system, especially when viewed through

4650-440: The auspices of a U.S. Army mobile training team, whilst 25 Laotian officers and NCOs were sent to the U.S. Army Armor School at Fort Knox , Kentucky to attend the Armor Basic Officer Leaders Course and the Cavalry Leader Course. That same year, a number of Laotian students attended the U.S. Special Forces (USSF) course at Fort Bragg , North Carolina . In late 1955, 22 Royal Laotian Air Force cadets attended flight courses at

4743-427: The budget officer in the operations section of the intelligence department; A1.1-1-1 might simply be a receptionist). The manpower or personnel officer supervises personnel and administration systems. This department functions as the essential administrative liaison between the subordinate units and the headquarters, handling personnel actions coming from the bottom up (such as a request for an award to be given to

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4836-440: The chief of the column staff and his principal task would be to help the commander to understand what was intended. When Karl Mack von Leiberich became chief of staff of the army under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in the Netherlands, he issued the Instruktionspunkte für gesammte Herren Generals , the last of 19 points setting out the roles of staff officers, dealing with offensive and defensive operations, while helping

4929-472: The command overall, clarifying matters overall. This frees up the most senior members of the command at each level for decision making and issuing direction for further research or information gathering (perhaps requiring men to put their lives at risk to gather additional intelligence). Operations staff officers also are tasked with battle planning both for offensive and defensive conditions, and issuing contingency plans for handling situations anticipated during

5022-407: The continental system, 1 is higher ranking than 2 followed by 3. Despite being called GSO, ASO and QSO in English, all of them are translated as either စစ်ဦးစီးမှူး for G (or) ဦးစီးအရာရှိ for A and Q in Burmese . You can check the 2010/2011 military command structure of Myanmar in the photo shown below which still uses the same staff system G Branch, called စစ်ဦးစီး or ဦး for short in Burmese,

5115-506: The cost of equipping and training irregular and paramilitary forces by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). At the time of the ANL's establishment, Laos had no in-country military schools. As an interim measure, in 1949 an initial batch of four Laotian officer student candidates ( Aspirants ) went to the French-run Khmer Military Academy ( École Militaire Khmère ) in Phnom Penh , Cambodia . A number of Laotian candidate officers and senior officers were also sent to France, and later

5208-401: The defense of the Kingdom since its independence in October 1953 from France, until its dissolution on December 2, 1975. It operated notably during the North Vietnamese invasion of Laos and the Laotian Civil War from 1960 to 1975. The foundations of the Royal Lao Armed Forces were laid on May 11, 1947, when King Sisavang Vong granted a constitution declaring Laos an independent nation (and

5301-405: The development of a separate general staff corps. The National Security Act of 1947 instead created a Joint Staff populated by military service members who, rather than becoming career staff officers on the German general staff model, rotate into (and back out of) joint staff positions. Following the major revision of Title 10 of the United States Code by the Goldwater–Nichols Act in 1986,

5394-414: The end of the Chinese occupation of Vietnam, the fall of Jiaozhi and turbulence associated with the decline and fall of the Tang dynasty led some of the Tai peoples speaking Southwestern Tai to flee into Southeast Asia, with the small-scale migration mainly taking place between the eighth and twelfth centuries. The Tais split and followed the major river courses, with the ancestral Lao originating in

5487-574: The enemy to determine what the enemy is doing or might do, to prevent the accomplishment of the enemy's mission. This office may also control maps and geographical information systems and data. At the unit level, the S-2 is the unit's security officer, and the S-2 section manages all security clearance issues for the unit's personnel. Other duties of the S-2 often include intelligence oversight and physical security . The operations office may include plans and training. The operations office plans and coordinates operations, and all things necessary to enable

5580-457: The foreseeable future. Prior to the late 18th century, there was generally no organizational support for staff functions such as military intelligence , logistics , planning or personnel. Unit commanders handled such functions for their units, with informal help from subordinates who were usually not trained for or assigned to a specific task. Count Leopold Joseph von Daun , in a letter to Empress Maria Theresa in January 1758, pressed for

5673-411: The formation process was soon hampered by the developments of the ongoing First Indochina War in neighbouring Vietnam, and it was only in 1952 that the National Laotian Army ( Armée Nationale Laotiènne or ANL) – the predecessor of the Royal Lao Army – really began to take shape. By July 1959, it was known as the Laotian Armed Forces ( Forces Armées Laotiènnes – FAL), and in September 1961,

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5766-401: The formation to operate and accomplish its mission. In most units, the operations office is the largest of the staff sections and considered the most important. All aspects of sustaining the unit's operations, planning future operations, and additionally planning and executing all unit training, fall under the responsibility of operations. The operations office is also tasked with keeping track of

5859-613: The individual services) is a group of officers , enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military unit in their command and control role through planning, analysis, and information gathering, as well as by relaying, coordinating, and supervising the execution of their plans and orders, especially in case of multiple simultaneous and rapidly changing complex operations. They are organised into functional groups such as administration , logistics , operations , intelligence , training , etc. They provide multi-directional flow of information between

5952-432: The information is not pertinent to the unit, it is redirected to the command level which can best utilize the condition or information. Staffs are generally the first to know of issues that affect its group. Issues that require major decisions affecting the unit's operational capability are communicated to the commanding officer. However, not all issues will be handled by the commander. Smaller matters that arise are given to

6045-1047: The languages apart with time such as the following examples:     *mlɯn 'slippery'     → {\displaystyle \rightarrow }   ມື່ນ muen /mɯ̄ːn/       → {\displaystyle \rightarrow }   ลื่น luen /lɯ̂ːn/   {} {} ມື່ນ {} ลื่น {} {} muen {} luen *mlɯn → {\displaystyle \rightarrow } /mɯ̄ːn/ → {\displaystyle \rightarrow } /lɯ̂ːn/ 'slippery' {} {} {} {}     *raːk 'to vomit'     → {\displaystyle \rightarrow }   ຮາກ hak /hâːk/       → {\displaystyle \rightarrow }   ราก rak /râːk/ General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff , navy staff , or air staff within

6138-438: The logistic staff can vary greatly, depending on the environment and complexity of operations. NATO in example work with a "Multinational Joint Logistic Centre", which exists outside of the force commander's staff, but runs as a separate entity/unit, with only a few logistic personnel in the commander's staff who act as liaisons. The plans and strategy office is responsible for civil military operations (CMO) strategy planning. At

6231-400: The military establishment. These politically-appointed officers indulged in political manoeuvres (the 1959, 1960 , 1964 , 1965 , 1966 , and 1973 Laotian coups ) or involved themselves in profitable illicit activities ( bribery , kickbacks , racketeering , gambling , prostitution , liquor-smuggling , gold-smuggling , and the Opium trade ), rather than learning their trade. As a result,

6324-474: The military forces, the government or non-government civilian organizations and authorities, and the civilian populace in a friendly, neutral, or hostile area of operations in order to facilitate military operations and consolidate and achieve mission objectives. The "Commonwealth staff system", used by most Commonwealth nations, is largely based on the British military's staff system with nation-specific variations. Following Australia's Federation in 1901,

6417-435: The moment he took over the army the following year and he would use Berthier's system throughout his wars. Crucially, Napoleon remained his own intelligence chief and operational planner, a workload which, ultimately, not even he could cope with. Overall staff system structure is generally similar to the pre 1984 British Army system with G Branch, A Branch and Q Branch with slightly different staff officer position names. Unlike

6510-676: The naval forces component of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps (CEFEO). Lao language Lao is a tonal language , where the pitch or tone of a word can alter its meaning, and is analytic , forming sentences through the combination of individual words without inflection. These features, common in Kra-Dai languages , also bear similarities to Sino-Tibetan languages like Chinese or Austroasiatic languages like Vietnamese . Lao's mutual intelligibility with Thai and Isan , fellow Southwestern Tai languages, allows for effective intercommunication among their speakers, despite differences in script and regional variations. In Laos, Lao

6603-460: The needs of the unit. Senior Enlisted Personnel task personnel in the maintenance of tactical equipment and vehicles. Senior Analysts are tasked with the finalizing of reports, and their enlisted personnel participate in the acquisition of information from subordinate staffs and units. This hierarchy places decision making and reporting under the auspices of the most experienced personnel and maximizes information flow of pertinent information sent out of

6696-477: The office and the officer in charge of it. The continental staff system can be carried down to the next level: J1.3 (or J13 , sometimes the dot-separator is omitted) is thus the operations officer of the personnel office of a joint headquarters, but the exact definition of the roles at this level may vary. Below this, numbers can be attached following a hyphen, but these are usually only positional numbers assigned arbitrarily to identify individuals ( G2.3-2 could be

6789-530: The position of a modern Chief of Staff: "The Chief of Staff stands at the side of the Commander-in-Chief and is completely at his disposal. His sphere of work connects him with no specific unit". "The Commander-in-Chief decides what should happen and how; his chief assistant works out these decisions, so that each subordinate understands his allotted task". With the creation of the Korps in 1809, each had

6882-651: The prism of the 20th century World Wars, their General Staff concept has been adopted by many large armies in existence today. Before the Crimean War staff work was looked at "with great disdain" in the British Army ; the hardships of that war caused by disorganization led to a change in attitude. The General Staff in Britain was formed in 1905, and reorganized again in 1908. Unlike the Prussian staff system,

6975-493: The ranks rose no further than the command of a company. After the Kingdom of Laos gained its independence in late 1953, the few Laotian officers with military experience were quickly promoted to much higher command positions than they were accustomed to. To further aggrieve matters, the Laotian Armed Forces command structure became highly politicized in the early 1960s, where the support of key political figures

7068-524: The results of contingency planning) on which command decisions are based. A goal is being able to suggest approaches or help produce well-informed decisions that will effectively manage and conserve unit resources. In addition to generating information, the staff also manages the flow of communication within the unit and around it. While controlled information flow toward the commander is a priority, those useful or contingent in nature are communicated to lower-level units and/or through their respective staffs. If

7161-414: The routine work to his senior staff officers. Staff officers were drawn from line units and would later return to them, the intention being that they would prove themselves as leaders during their time with the staff. In a battle or when the army had detached corps, a small number of staff would be allocated to the column commander as a smaller version of headquarters. The senior man, usually a Major, would be

7254-423: The simple G , which is retained in place for modern army usage. But the increasing complexity of modern armies, not to speak of the spread of the staff concept to naval, air and other elements, has demanded the addition of new prefixes. These element prefixes are: On some occasions the letter E can also be observed, though it is not an official term. In that case it is for element and it will be used to identify

7347-635: The sovereignty of the King, ensure internal stability and security by maintaining the social and political order, and defend the Kingdom of Laos against external aggression. Subordinated to the Ministry of Defense of the Royal Lao Government at the national capital Vientiane , the FAR branches were organized as follows: Prior to its independence in October 1953, Laos lacked almost completely

7440-666: The staff and the wartime role of the Chief of Staff was now focused on planning and operations to assist the Commander. Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen himself produced a new Dienstvorschrift on 1 September 1805, which divided the staff into three: 1) Political Correspondence; 2) the Operations Directorate, dealing with planning and intelligence; 3) the Service Directorate, dealing with administration, supply and military justice. The Archduke set out

7533-648: The training branch and utilizing 7 for engineering (as seen in US Military Sealift Command and Multinational Forces-Iraq (MNF-I) ) and replacing 9 with a legal branch (making CIMIC a part of another branch, i.e. 2 or 4) as seen with the UK Permanent Joint Headquarters. Derived from the Prussian Große Generalstab (Great General Staff), traditionally these staff functions were prefixed by

7626-486: The unit level, the S-5 is the primary adviser to the commander on the civilian-to-military and military-to-civilian impact of the mission/operation within the host nation's (HN) area of interest (AOI), area of operations (AO), or the target area of interest (TAOI). The G5 serves as the mission support office (MSO) at the division level and HHC for civil military plans and strategy. The signal office directs all communications and

7719-512: The weekly training schedules. In most military units (i.e., battalion , regiment , and brigade ), the operations officer carries the same rank as the executive officer (XO), but ranks third in the unit's chain of command while the other staff officers are one rank lower. For example, in a battalion, the S-3 would hold the rank of major (like the battalion XO), while the remaining staff officers are captains or lieutenants . The logistics office

7812-675: Was divided since 1955 into five Military Regions ( Régions Militaires ) roughly corresponding to the areas of the country's 13 provinces. The Military Regions were the basis of the warlordism culture that affected the ANL and the FAR high command, with most of the MR Commanders running their zones like private fiefdoms. By September 1961 the Royal Lao Armed Forces consisted of three conventional ground, air and naval branches of service. Their primarily roles were: guarantee

7905-543: Was established at Thakhek in Khammouane Province , which offered courses for MRL students in basic infantry amphibious tactics and river patrolling techniques. Graduation exercises had the laotian naval cadets assault beaches from landing craft, though these tactics were never used in actual operations. Throughout its existence, the Laotian Armed Forces received military assistance at different periods and lengths of time from several countries, including France,

7998-540: Was further complicated by a decentralised command structure, in which the FAR General Staff ( État-Major Générale – EMG) in Vientiane served primarily an administrative function, exerting little control over the regional commands and local commanders were free to adjust their tactics to the local situation. Laos had a long-standing " warlord " tradition of local power-brokers, and consequently, real power

8091-620: Was in the hands of the regional commanders (usually Colonels or Generals) who manned the military districts (or "Military Regions" – MR) in the provinces, which operated like autonomous fiefdoms. With the formation of the Mobile Groups ( French : Groupements mobiles – GMs) at each Laotian Military Region in the early 1960s, the MR Commanders' influence was challenged by the growing power of the GM Commanders (Majors or Lieutenant colonels), who acted as junior "warlords". In practice,

8184-532: Was later shut down by the Pathet Lao offensive of May 1964. A flying school was first established by the French at Wattay Air Base in January 1955 to train Laotian pilot cadets, later transferred to Seno Air Base and placed under the control of the RLAF's Air Training Command – ATC ( Commandement de l'Entraînement Aérienne – CEA). In 1970, a U.S.-funded Royal Lao Navy Jungle School ( MRL École de la Jungle )

8277-771: Was later transferred to Dong Hene in Savannakhet Province , which eventually became the Lao Military Academy . A Staff and Command school, the Military Institution of Higher Learning ( Institut des hautes études militaires – IHEM), which was later transferred to Long Tieng in Xaisomboun Province , and an Accountancy School ( École de Comptabilité ) were also established at the time in Vientiane. In mid-1965, ten Royal Thai Army (RTA) instructors – among them, Chaovalit Yongchaiyudh , future prime minister of Thailand – arrived at

8370-576: Was of paramount importance in promotion to and retention of command positions. This meant that Laotian military upper echelons of command were not immune to political interference, in the form of patronage , cronyism and nepotism , since many officers were also commissioned into senior command posts directly from civilian life; these men owed their positions to family or political connections rather than any military training or ability. The few urban elite families who dominated Laotian society felt it advantageous to have family members or friends in key posts of

8463-819: Was provided by the Royal Thai Army (RTA) at their Special Warfare Centre and Recondo School co-located at Fort Narai in Lopburi Province , Thailand, while Guerrilla and 'Commando' techniques were taught by the Royal Thai Police (RTP) Police Aerial Resupply Unit (PARU) at their Phitsanulok and Hua Hin training camps. In late 1969, 76 RLA students were dispatched to the RTA Artillery Center at Kokethiem in Thailand for training in M-706 armoured car tactics and maintenance under

8556-738: Was provided in Laos by U.S. Air America instructors to RLAF's C-123 pilots and maintenance crews between January 1973 and July 1974. Beginning in 1952, a number of Laotian naval officer candidate students ( Eléves Officiers de Marine – EOMs) were sent to France, in order to attend advanced Officer and Petty Officer courses at the French Naval Academy in Brest . That same year, 18 Laotian naval junior ranks were sent for four months of riverine training in Saigon , South Vietnam , manned by French Officers and senior Petty Officers seconded from

8649-511: Was renamed Royal Armed Forces ( Forces Armées du Royaume – FAR). Throughout its existence, the Laotian Armed Forces were plagued by an ineffective leadership, particularly at senior levels, which often led to chain-of-command problems. The earlier colonial ANL units in the French Protectorate of Laos consisted mostly of uneducated Laotian peasant recruits led by French officers and senior NCOs; those few Laotians promoted from

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