We must not do anything or reach any decision in a hurry, neither must we follow blindly in anybody's footsteps."
Two days later there was an apparent reversal of policy. After a cabinet meeting aimed at developing a unified position, the deputy prime minister announced:
Thailand will not pull any of her fighting men out of South Vietnam.... Thailand has never contemplated such a move.... The operation of Thai troops in South Vietnam is considered more advantageous than withdrawing them. If we plan to withdraw, we would have to consult with GVN since we sent troops there in response to an appeal from them. It is true that several countries are withdrawing troops from South Vietnam but our case is different.
In addition to ground forces, the Thais had an air force contingent in South Vietnam. While never large, the Thai air force contingent achieved its greatest strength in late 1970. The total number of Thais serving with the Victory Flight, as their Vietnam transport operation was designated, had grown from the original sixteen to forty-five. Three pilots and five flight engineers flew with the Vietnamese in the Vietnam Air Force C-47's; nine pilots, seven flight engineers, and three loadmasters were flying C-123K's with the U.S. Air Force 19th Tactical Airlift Squadron which, like the Vietnamese 415th Squadron, was equipped with C-47's and located at Tan Son Nhut. The remaining members of the flight had jobs on the ground in intelligence, communications, flight engineering, loading, and operations. Normally there was an equal balance between officers and enlisted men.
The subject of a Thai troop withdrawal, which arose in December 1969 and was seemingly resolved then, came up again three months later. In a meeting with the U.S. Ambassador in March, the Thai Prime Minister indicated that in light of continued U.S. and allied reductions, there was considerable pressure from the Thai parliament to withdraw. He stated that "When the people feel very strongly about a situation, the government must do something to ease the situation." Little occurred until the following November when the Thai government announced it was planning to withdraw its forces from South Vietnam by 1972. The decision was related to the deterioration of security in Laos and Cambodia and the growth of internal insurgency in Thailand, as well as the U.S. pullback.
The withdrawal plans were based on a rotational phase-out. The fifth increment would not be replaced after its return to Thailand in August 1971. The sixth increment would deploy as planned in January 1971 and withdraw one year later to com-
