Working in civilian clothing in conjunction with a French military mission, it concentrated on technical training of the Royal Lao Army.
After occupying large portions of Phongsaly, Houaphanh Province, and mountainous terrain that would become the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the Vietminh moved south to the Plain of Jars and in a column menacing Luang Prabang.
The Plain of Jars offered the French forces the advantages of attacking the Viet Minh in the open with artillery and air strikes; that assault was halted.
In the wake of the 1954 Geneva Conference and its treaties, the U.S. embassy in Vientiane established the Programs Evaluation Office to oversee military aid to Laos.
Because the PEO personnel were not serving on active military duty, they were not in violation of the terms of the Geneva treaty.
Also, on 22 January 1959, CINCPAC levied a requirement for 12 Special Forces Mobile Training Teams of eight men each; they were slated to start six months temporary duty in Laos on 1 April.
[4] The operation was kept secret from the American public and, in fact, U.S. commandos that were sent to Laos were given written orders stating they were going to Vietnam.
[1] A cover story was arranged; the U.S. mission was purportedly from the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.
He prepared his men by requiring tutoring in both French and Lao, and insisting that all hands read the nonfiction book Street Without Joy, as well as the novel The Ugly American, before departure.
While waiting for the local political situation to clear, the Hotfoot specialists hunkered in training centers at Luang Prabang, Savannakhet, Pakse, and Vientiane.
They co-located at Khang Khay with a French training team and began building a clinic, rifle range, and demolitions practice area.
[13][14] When Lieutenant Colonel Simons later organized the Raid on Son Tay, he would call upon men who served with him in Laos, such as Richard Meadows and Elliott P. Sydnor, Jr.[15]