 In the Philippines, a medical technician from the United States Air Force demonstrates a life-saving technique. On the island of Formosa, an American Army advisor shows our Chinese allies the proper way to fire a recoilless rifle. In Japan, a young man trained with American military equipment receives his officers' commission in the Japanese self-defense forces. And in Washington, the President emphasizes the continuing need for the United States military assistance program. I'm Alexander Skorby. Throughout much of the free world today, millions of people are struggling for a firmer foothold on the future. For freedom, for justice, for opportunity. For the things which most Americans take for granted in their everyday lives. For more than a decade, the United States has actively assisted these people through economic and technical aid, private business investment and government loans, and through military assistance, which has helped maintain the peace they need to develop their individual national economies. Change is the rule, rather than the exception in the lives of people determined to progress in peace and freedom. But as the world is convulsed with such changes, so too is it threatened by a strong and watchful group of adversaries who believe that communism is the answer to all questions and who will not hesitate to use any means of imposing this belief upon others. In addition to aggression, insurrection and subversion are demonstrated communist techniques around the globe. And in many of the free nations, the burden of resistance against these rests with the armed forces. It is here that United States military assistance becomes a vital force in helping to preserve the national integrity of small non-communist countries, while at the same time contributing to the collective security of the free world. From Pakistan to the Pacific, American military personnel help many of our allies to help themselves. A report on our military assistance program to some of these nations in a moment. Army presents The Big Picture, an official report produced for the armed forces and the American people. More than 8,000 American military personnel are stationed around the globe in military assistance advisory groups. Their mission is to advise and assist our free world allies in the use and maintenance of equipment and other material needed to build collective defense forces, defense forces capable of deterring communist aggression and strengthening individual nations to assure their internal security and national integrity. A vital part of this combined effort extends from Pakistan around the edge of Asia to Japan and Korea. Many of these free world nations have been receiving American aid in one form or another for more than 10 years. Some receive economic assistance only, others receive both military and economic aid. Our assistance has been credited by many world leaders as having helped to save their countries from falling prey to the communists. Pakistan, historically an area which has been the object of Russian expansionism, is today the bridge between two important free world alliances. The Central Treaty Organization and the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization, CETO. The Southeast Asian countries, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam have in recent years been considered primary targets for communist expansion. South Vietnam has fought a continuous war against communist guerrillas since it became an independent republic in 1954. The Philippines, today an independent democratic state committed to the principles of the free world, successfully put down a communist-led rebellion in the wake of the Second World War. Formosa, a bastion of nationalist China, remains a symbol of the fact that communism has not won a total victory in China. The New Japan, boasting the most advanced technology in Asia, has emerged from the wreckage of World War II as an important free world ally. The Republic of Korea depends heavily upon American aid to hold the line against further communist aggression. The specific aim of United States military assistance is to build up defense forces which will be able to deter aggression and where necessary, maintain internal security. The experience of recent years has demonstrated that the program meets this requirement. Apart from our natural desire to see independent nations resist any encroachments upon their national integrity and their sovereignty, our position is also coldly realistic. In the course of the past 50 years, the United States has many times used its influence and has even gone to war to prevent one nation domination of Asia. Communist control of the rest of Asia would not only deprive us of vital free world markets and raw material sources, but would throw our own defense back upon Hawaii and the West Coast. Mao Zedong articulated his government's position unmistakably when he said, Every communist must grasp the truth that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. In this sense we can even say that the whole world can be remolded with a gun. Communist China's enormous military machine is the direct outgrowth of this aggressive philosophy and represents the single most powerful threat to peace in the Far East. In recent years, red Chinese troops have probed or attacked in Korea, Tibet and India. In the Formosa Straits, they periodically test the strength of the nationalist Chinese. The offshore islands of Kimoy and Matsu, held by the nationalists, have been routinely battered by communist artillery. On Formosa, the grim business of training never diminishes for soldiers of the nationalist Chinese army. About 600,000 Chinese troops are trained and assisted by our military program, as are the personnel of the naval and air forces. The nationalist navy has received ships from the United States which afforded an effective but limited naval capability. During the Chinese communist attacks in the Taiwan Straits in 1958, nationalist pilots shot down 28 red Chinese planes, losing only two. Today, all weather F-100 and F-104 fighters provided under our military assistance program make them more than a match for the Reds. Since World War II, thousands of nationalist Chinese have been trained in the United States. These missile graduates of the United States Army's course at Redstone Arsenal have been trained to take over Nike Hercules missiles, sent to Formosa under the military assistance program. These modern weapons help shield the island fortress against surprise communist air attack. Around the southern and eastern reaches of the vast Asian continent, there is no real peace. Nations which exist in the shadow of Chinese communist ambitions live at best in uncertainty. Continuing communist pressure searches for the weakness, the flaw in free world defenses. Countries struggling to develop themselves economically and politically must also be constantly on their guard. The free world has made it too risky for the international communists to attempt to achieve their objectives through open aggression and widespread use of force. Our United States military assistance program has helped to achieve this result by providing adequate weapons, transport, communications, and advice and training where it is needed. This equipment arriving in Pakistan is part of the military aid which this young republic has regularly received from the United States. Our assistance to the Pakistani armed forces has been necessary to maintain their modern effectiveness. Pakistani soldiers during the days of the British Empire fought bravely in the Indian Army on battlefields throughout the world. There is no conscription in Pakistan and virtually every able-bodied young man volunteers to serve for a time in the armed forces. Through the United States military assistance program, they are equipped, trained, and assisted in carrying out their mission. The Pakistani Air Force is kept at combat readiness with the help of United States military assistance. B-57 bombers are among the different types of equipment received from America. Pakistani pilots keep up their flying proficiency with regular combat training missions. End-equipment maintenance is routinely checked by American military assistance advisers. At installations such as this Pakistan Air Force base, civilian technical experts from the United States are assigned to train and supervise Pakistani technicians and mechanics. Training for the army is carried on continually and exercises held which provide the troops with experience under realistic combat conditions. The ancient kingdom of Thailand stands as a busy bustling ally whose staunch anti-communist position has helped to strengthen the collective defense of Southeast Asia for many years. Thailand has a long history of independence and unlike most of her neighbors, never was a colony of any European power. American weapons and equipment have helped to make the Thai armed forces among the best in this part of the world. At the armored school of the Royal Thai Army, non-commissioned officers learn how to fight with and maintain American supplied tanks. The help she receives today under the United States military assistance program is a further guarantee that she will continue to determine her own destiny. Cambodia, Thailand's neighbor to the southeast, like other countries in the area, still finds that nothing quite replaces old-fashioned means of taking some patrols through the jungle. But modern equipment and a continuous flow of advice, information and the necessary military supplies have helped improve Cambodia's small but rugged military establishment. Although the country follows a strict policy of neutrality and refuses to participate in any collective defense agreements with the West, the prevailing attitude has long been one of proud nationalism. Like other neutral countries, Cambodia relies heavily upon American military assistance for equipping its national security forces. South Vietnam is a republic which emerged from a compromise with the communists in 1954 after the long and costly fighting in Indochina. Since its birth, it has been fighting red guerrillas and subversive elements inside its borders almost continuously. Like Thailand, an important producer of rice, South Vietnam has also offered fertile ground for communist activity. Some farmers, seemingly innocuous by day, become red terrorists by night. Guerrillas have stepped up their attacks to a level that President Go Dinh Diem calls a real war. Continued American military assistance has been essential to help the government of Vietnam resist such subversion and insurrection. The Vietnam Army is a disciplined and well-organized fighting force trained with particular emphasis on guerrilla-type warfare. In addition to the men trained in their own country, more than 1,000 Vietnamese military personnel are trained in the United States each year. Because of the area immediately threatened and the long-range stake in South Vietnam, American military assistance is nowhere more essential than here. In tiny Laos, the Laotian Army has been forced to fight a costly jungle war against Chinese communist-trained Phat Laos forces. Large sections of the tiny kingdom of Laos had been occupied by the rebel forces by the summer of 1961. As a result of a ceasefire negotiated in the late spring of 1961, fighting has largely stopped, although continuing harassing action is still carried on. But the nation faces an uncertain future under a coalition government. With the 600-mile frontier along Red China and communist North Vietnam, Laos is of great strategic importance. No country in the world has a longer history as a partner in defense of democracy and freedom than the Philippine Republic. Beginning in 1901 with the organization of the famed Philippine Scouts by the American Army, the Republic of the Philippines has stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States in peace and war for more than half a century. During the communist-led Hock Rebellion after World War II, United States' aid and advice was critical in helping the country to maintain its national security. Today, the Philippine Republic is still one of our strongest and most reliable Far Eastern allies. At an air show with pilots from the United States and five other nations, the Philippines are proud hosts. The benefits of the American military assistance program affect, at least indirectly, the country as a whole. The explanation offered by this American technician to Filipinos who will be using American medical equipment contributes to the improvement of the general public health. As in our country, military personnel carry their skills to the civilian population of the Philippines through active participation in the medical program. Another country dedicated to the cause of a lasting peace in Asia is Japan. Since the end of the Second World War, Japan has developed the largest industrial capability in the Far East and has firmly established a democratic government. As the only nation in the world with the tragic experience of nuclear war, Japan is determined to maintain forces sufficient to defend herself. To that end, her ground self-defense forces were created. The United States military assistance program, they are equipped, trained, and assisted in carrying out their mission. Young officer candidates learn the basic lessons of the infantrymen by running through field problems on maneuvers, commissioned and take their places as responsible leaders charged with an important link in the defense of their country. Through these mountains in the center of Korea runs an invisible line, the 38th parallel. Just over a decade ago, invading communist armies from the north poured across it and taught the free world a lesson it will not soon forget. The nation's army to re-establish the national integrity of the Republic of South Korea and roll the communists back beyond the 38th parallel again. With massive United States aid, the Republic of Korea armed forces were created as a powerful military machine on the Asian mainland. More than half a million strong, it is the fourth largest standing army in the world today. Although American combat troops are also stationed in Korea, military assistance from the United States to the Korean forces accounts for a substantial share of our entire military assistance budget for the far east. Modern American weapons are in the hands of the South Koreans to make sure their northern neighbors will be discouraged from any future military adventures. And in other independent countries where they are threatened by subversion, insurrection or aggression, they are in the hands of free world soldiers. There are 650 million communist Chinese in Asia, all under the control of Mao Tse-tung and his gun barrel philosophy. The United States military assistance program is one of the instruments of American foreign policy which help redress the imbalance of force in that area. Through its successful operation, we add to our own ability to deter wars and enhance our power to win them should it ever again become necessary. The big picture is an official report for the armed forces and the American people. Produced by the Army Pictorial Center. Presented by the Department of the Army in cooperation with this station.