Beginning in 1955, the Kingdom of Laos was divided into five Military Regions (MR), roughly corresponding to the areas of the country's 13 provinces.
Laos, newly independent from the French, had bequeathed fewer than 1,500 kilometers of all-weather paved roads.
The purpose of the French colonial roadbuilding program had not been the interconnection of Laos' provinces, but rather linkage with Vietnam.
Air transportation in Laos depended on half a dozen airports and auxiliary airfields that could not accommodate anything larger than twin-engine aircraft.
Initially headquartered at Vientiane and later at Long Tieng northwest of the Plain of Jars in the Xiangkhoang Province, the MR 2 covered the North-eastern Laos.
Its original military commander in 1955 was Major (later, General) Sang Kittirath,[9] replaced in mid-1962 by Colonel Khamkong Bouddavong.
[10] It was later placed under the command of Major general Vang Pao, the Hmong (Meo) guerrilla war hero of Laos.
[12] The real power in this Region was in the hands of the Insixiengmay family led by Royal Lao Government Minister Leuam Insixiengmay, Vice-Premier and Minister of Education (his wife was the elder sister of Mom bouanphan, herself the wife of Prince Boun Oum Na Champassak).