Editing Strategic Hamlet Program (section)

== Stages of the Strategic Hamlet Program ==
According to Thompson's memories, the Strategic Hamlet Program would be split into three stages: Clearing, holding and winning.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Latham|first=Michael|title=Modernisation as Ideology: American Social Science and 'Nation Building' in the Kennedy Era|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2000|location=Chapel Hill|pages=175}}{{ISBN?}}</ref>

In the ‘clearing’ stage, areas for settlements were located which were usually next to an already secured area. These areas were then ‘saturated’ with police and military forces to either repel the insurgents or force them to depart to neighbouring territories, which could then also be ‘cleared’ for more settlements.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Latham|first=Michael|title=Modernization as Ideology: American Social Science and 'Nation Building' in the Kennedy Era|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2000|location=Chapel Hill|pages=173}}{{ISBN?}}</ref>

In the ‘holding’ stage, the government officials suggested that this would ‘restore government authority in the area and establish a firm security network.’ This was achieved by ensuring that military troops and police did not merely leave the hamlet once it had been cleared, so insurgents would not return at a late date.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Latham|first=Michael|title=Modernization as Ideology: American Social Science and 'Nation Building' in the Kennedy Era|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2000|location=Chapel Hill|pages=174}}{{ISBN?}}</ref>

The ‘winning’ stage involved the construction of schools, irrigation systems, new canals and road repairs to give the impression that the South Vietnamese government was working for the people’s benefit in a ‘permanent capacity’. They also believed that educating the population into the modern world would counter communism, which many young men and women found appealing due to its ability to find ‘stable elements in their already unstable societies’.<ref name=":2" /> This was confirmed by W.W. Rostow on his trip to Saigon in October 1961, where he found that many young men were joining the Viet Cong in the hope of fitting into the modern world. But this survey was only conducted on a small sample size.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Latham|first=Michael|title=Modernization as Ideology: American Social Science and 'Nation Building' in the Kennedy Era|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2000|location=Chapel Hill|pages=162}}</ref>

The stages of the program were designed to ultimately prevent communist re-infiltration.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Stromseth|first=Jane E|title=Origins of Flexible Response|publisher=Macmillan|year=1988|location=London|pages=2}}</ref>

However, this ‘clear and hold’ strategy came under some criticism from the U.S. Military Advisory Group who preferred the ‘search and destroy’ operations. This was due to the fact they had already trained the South Vietnamese to fight a conventional war which embraced counterinsurgency, so they preferred the fighting tactics used in Korea and World War One.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Latham|first=Michael|title=Modernization as Ideology: American Social Science and 'Nation Building' in the Kennedy Era|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2000|location=Chapel Hill|pages=176|chapter=Modernization at War: Counterinsurgency and the Strategic Hamlet Program in Vietnam}}</ref>