Ruff Puffs,’ Vietnamese Militia, Hunt Enemy by Night
GIABINH, South Vietnam, Aug. 8 — At night, the “Ruff Puffs” of this village in Trang bang district move out on pa trol, garbed, like the Vietcong, in black pajama‐like clothing or in shorts, but armed with American M‐16 rifles.
“Ruff Puffs” is the Ameri can nickname for the men who serve in the Popular Forces, the trained, armed defenders of the hamlets and villages where they live. These militia men know the earth, every face, every normal sound. There are 215,000 of them in South Vietnam. They are poor ly paid.
“The Vietcong don't fear the army,” said 33‐year‐old Tran Van To, a former farmer. “They just avoid a big army opera tion.
“But the VC hate the Popu lar Forces very much, and they know that when they come to the village there is a good chance of being ambushed by us.”
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Wonder at Insecurity
The nickname Ruff Puffs al so includes a larger body, called the Regional Forces, who are concerned with province securi ty and are under the control of the province chief. The two groups — R. F. and P. F. —have an estimated total of 486, 000 men. There are 466,000 men in the regular armed forces of South Vietnam.
“I wonder why it is not more secure in Vietnam in general, even after the Vietcong sanc tuaries in Cambodia have been wiped out,” Tran Van To said.
Haunghia Province, in which this village is situated, borders on Cambodia's Parrot's Beak region where allied forces re cently cleared out enemy sanc tuaries. Haunghia also borders on Tayninh Province in South Vietnam, long considered a strategic region by Vietnamese Communists.
“Instead of living in the bor der areas the VC have now been driven deep into the territory,” Tran Van To said. “That's bad.”
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As most Vietnamese do, he uses the word VC to include both the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese forces.
There are six hamlets in the village of Giabinh, which is on Route 1, a main highway.
Their names are Phuochau, Phuochiep, Apchanh, and Binh nguyen I, II and III.
The Hamlet Evaluation Sys tem, which uses computerized ratings to measure progress, in dicated that 88.6 per cent of the population of Haunghia Prov ince in June lived in hamlets under Government control. But Tran Van To has his own ideas.
“Phuochau and Phuochiep hamlets are not secure,” Tran Van To said, speaking of two of the hamlets in Giabinh vill age. The Vietcong are there at night—still.
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“But even in the daytime they are in Thanhphuoc village of Hieuthien district in Tayninh Province,” he said. “It is a ‘liberated’ village. Five soldiers dare not go to that village in the daytime.”
Nguyen Hoang Khach, a 28‐year‐old platoon leader, said it had been quiet in Apchanh hamlet.
“Only recent trouble was a month ago when the Vietcong came to the edge of this hamlet to collect taxes—one family who owns a truck had to pay a lot, others less,” he said. “But the people who paid are not in trouble with us. What could they do? And who are they? They are relatives—mine or another P.F.'s.”
‘Gutsy Little Fellows’
There are four Popular Forc es plotoons in Giabinh village —or about 140 men at full strength. Ambushes after dark by the Vietcong on Route 1, and occasional mines, are routine problems for them.
An American advisory team for Trangbang district is head ed by Maj. Maurice Moore, who describes the P.F. forces here as “gutsy little fellows.” He feels that acts of terrorism by the Vietcong are “a primary indicator that the enemy is weak because if the enemy was strong enough it wouldn't be necessary.”
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Roman Catholic communities, or those of Cao Daiists—a Viet namese religious sect—are usually the least bothered by the Vietcong in Trangbang dis trict, Major Moore said.
“These communities are the best organized,” he said. “That is the secret of this damn war —organization. Organization of the people”
The Popular Forces platoons of Giabinh do not know the secret of the war. They are anti‐Communist but not men who much like such a long war.
They talk mostly about money: the pay for a private is less than $20 a month at the official rate of exchange, with a small allowance for depend ents. They do not want to leave the village, and they fear having to leave their families to fend for themselves.
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