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Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3 NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011  organization which is responsible to the Department of the Interior. The SDC has an authorized strength of 58,000 during CY 1961.

The missions of the SDC are: To protect the village committee; to maintain order and security in the village; to oppose subversion and terrorist activities; to protect public buildings and public works; and to assist the public during disasters.

At present, the SDC is a relatively untrained, poorly equipped, and poorly paid force. The SDC has no trained officers or NCO's but depends on the Civil Guard or ARVN for leadership. The general level of individual training is low. Equipment consists primarily of individual weapons and ammunition. There is no communications equipment. Available weapons consist of a collection of French, British, German, Indochinese and American rifles, pistols, and some automatic weapons. Ammunition is old, unreliable and in short supply.

At present the SDC is purely a defensive organization. To date because of training deficiencies SDC operations are not well conducted. Tho SDC have become a chief target of Viet Cong attacks and almost invariably suffer disproportionately heavy losses, often losing weapons and ammunition to the Viet Cong.

5.

During the past year the GVN has engaged in a major effort to mobilize the youth of the country for the purpose of supporting the government and combatting Communism. It is an indirect way to commit the population in the struggle against the Communists. The most important youth group in Viet Nam today is the Republican Youth Movement (RYM) which has approximately 1.7 million members and is closely identified with the present regime.

The RYM has become the major GVN effort to organize the younger elements

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