Paramilitary Forces
The concept of total mobilization had been so successful in keeping Vietnam's enemies at bay and in preserving the entrenched position of Hanoi's gerontocratic leadership, that little deviation from it could be expected. While the immediacy of a second Chinese invasion receded, there was little demobilization and Vietnam continued to invoke the Chinese threat as the rationale for keeping virtually the entire nation under arms.
In 1982, one out of every three Vietnamese males was in some type of military force, and even then, the armed forces continued to grow. Some levelling took place as the Chinese menace as perceived by Hanoi grew no worse. The VCP leadership placed continued reliance on total mobilization or "people's war, people's army," because this was the cheapest way to maintain a high manpower level in the armed forces. Part-time militia, reserve, local or regional force units, indoctrinated with the concepts of total mobilization, and duty to both work and fight, present their country with a double advantage: they earn their keep, and they lend added backbone to the defense posture of the nation.
By the late 1980s, military writers in Hanoi tended to refer to the Regional and Militia Self-Defense forces collectively as the Strategic Rear Force. The Regional Force was deployed at the provincial level and had units headquartered in each provincial capital, at the very least. The Militia Self-Defense Force fulfills combat, combat support, and police functions from the district to the village level. The Regional and Militia Self- Defense forces are two of about a dozen separate military organizations that constitute the Paramilitary Force, which is an integral part of PAVN.
In 1987, taken together, these groups -- excluding PAVN -- had a total of about 1.6 million personnel under arms. The Paramilitary Force had four functions: to defend its local area in time of war and to delay, not to halt, the enemy; to support PAVN regular units in combat; to maintain local security in peace and in wartime; and to engage in economic activity, chiefly food production and road-building. In the deployment of troops during wartime for the purpose of repelling a full-scale invasion, PAVN strategists make a doctrinal distinction between the Regular Force, which would use conventional tactics, and the Paramilitary Force, which would employ guerrilla tactics in "local people's warfare."
As of 1990 the 2,500,000 Local Forces included People's Self Defense Force (urban units), People's Militia (northern rural units), Youth Assault Force (YAF) (southern rural units), Centralized Militia (mainly montagnards in Chinese border region).
Augmenting the Regular and Paramilitary Forces were two other military bodies whose status or functions appeared anomalous. In the North, a "super" paramilitary force called the People's Guerrilla Forces was created in 1979. It was described as a special combat organization with units deployed in villages along the China border and seacoast. However, in late 1987, little more was known about it.
In the South, a somewhat better-known organization, designated the Armed Youth Assault Force (AYAF) or Youth Assault Force (YAF) (southern rural units), was reported to perform paramilitary functions. The AYAF is organized along military lines (from platoon to brigade) and usually is commanded by retired PAVN officers. However, it appears to be more a party organization than a military body reporting through defense channels. Units at various echelons are under the supervision of local district party committees, and the chain of command apparently leads to Hanoi. AYAF strength in 1986 was estimated at 1.5 million.
From their earliest days, the Vietnamese communists organized their armed forces into three basic categories described informally as "types of troops" - the PAVN Regular Force ("main force troops"), the Regional Force (or "territorial troops"), and the PAVN Militia Self-Defense Force (or "local troops"). By the early 21st Century, this taxonomy had seemingly evolved into two types of troops. Within the first category, the PAVN Regular Force ("main force troops"), were the ground forces, the navy, the air force, the border guards and coast guard, numbering about 500,000 in all. The remaining forces were termed "Reserves" by Vietnam, and seemingly included Reserve Forces, Local Forces and the People's Self-Defense and Militia.
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