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The People's Self-Defense Force ( vi, nhân dân tự vệ) was a South Vietnamese part-time village level
militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non- professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. The People's Self-Defense Force mainly protected homes and villages from attacks by the
Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...
(VC) and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN).


History

In the aftermath of the
Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against the force ...
a joint session of the South Vietnamese legislature agreed on a military mobilization law which was promulgated on 19 June 1968. The bill lowered the military draft age from 20 to 18 and allowed the government to conscript males between the ages of 18 and 38 for service in either the regular
Army of the Republic of Vietnam The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; french: Armée de la république du Viêt Nam) composed the ground forces of the South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April 1975. It is estimated to have suffe ...
(ARVN) or the territorial Regional Force and
Popular Force People's Force ( es, Fuerza Popular, FP), known as Force 2011 ( es, Fuerza 2011, links=no) until 2012, is a right-wing populist and Fujimorist political party in Peru. The party is led by Keiko Fujimori, former congresswoman and daughter of fo ...
s. The t