[1] The Royal Thai Army recognizes the importance and necessity of warfare that can confront and reduce the threat from outside the country.

The Parachute Infantry Battalion acted according to the plans set out by the Royal Thai Army and Internal Security Operations Command during its first mission, and its performance was deemed acceptable to supervisors at all levels.

As a result, the paratroopers battalion was expanded initially with the goal of protecting the country from the threats posed by communism.

Tienchai Sirisumpan, a company commander in the 1st Infantry Regiment, was sent as one of the first foreign students to US Army Ranger training at Fort Benning, Georgia.

During the following year, the Unit secured the capital as Police Gen. Phao was overthrown by Army commander Field Marshal Sarit.

Over the next few years the paratroopers conducted field operations throughout the northern provinces, identifying loyal village leaders in the event of a Communist insurgency similar to the ones growing elsewhere in South-East Asia.

By that time an RTSF Special Warfare Center had been established at Camp Narai, Lopburi, with 1 and 2 SF Groups (Airborne).

One team was with the Nam Bac garrison when it fell in January 1968. all personnel were rescued after evading enemy patrols for a week.

The RTSF also assigned men to 1 Long Range Reconnaissance Troop of the Royal Thai Army Expeditionary Division, Vietnam, from 1969- 1971.

Othcr RTSF personnel manned the Special Battalion at Phitsanulok, which trained foreign students and conducted cross-border operations.

In the final years of the Vietnam War, Thailand was confronted with hostile Communist movements in both Laos and the Khmer Republic.

In the late 1970s the RTSF was involved with training local village militia units during the height of the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) insurgency.

RTSF teams also conducted cross-border operations into Cambodia to gain intelligence on CPT training camps set up by thc sympathetic Khmer Rouge regime.

With external threats to Thailand's security from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Burma, the Command is given responsibility for waging war outside the borders of the country.

While not prone to involvement in Thai domestic politics, the RTSF dispatched I I helicopter-loads of paratroopers to Bangkok during a September 1985 coup attempt.

In May Ig86 the RTSF was again poised for intervention in Bangkok when Army commander-in-chief Arthit appeared ready to launch a coup.

2 SF Division moved its permanent headquarters to Chieng Mai in early 1988, having been temporarily quarteredat Lopburi over the previous year.