Advising Indigenous Forces: American Advisors in Korea, Vietnam, and El Salvador

"This survey of American field advisors in Korea, Vietnam, and El Salvador began several months ago as a study on how the United States military had built foreign armies in Korea and Vietnam. The renewed interest in advisors caused a shift in the project. The final goal of this survey was to understand American field advisors—to determine who they were, to see how they prepared, to consider how they performed, and to discover what suggestions they had for improvements. The perspective of this survey is from the bottom, not the top. However, as always, what the top does and does not do affects how well those at the bottom are prepared, supported, and capable to perform their mission. The emphasis has been on understanding what was attempted and how the advisory effort evolved. I hope that this survey highlights issues that will be of use to current field advisors and to those who oversee advisory efforts."

-Robert Ramsey III