Mekong River valley. The Mobile Groups' structure was retained until August 1968, when all GMs in the Laotian ground forces were abolished – the GMs 801 and 802 were not disbanded until the following year – and replaced by independent battalions. The regular units were supplemented by eighteen Regional Battalions (), eighteen Volunteer Battalions (), and 247 irregular Commando Self-Defense village militia companies ( – ADC). However, in November 1965 the Volunteer Battalions were disbanded and merged with the Regional Battalions, whilst the rural ADC militia companies were grouped with the irregular GM B to form the CIA-sponsored Special Guerrilla Units (SGUs). Renamed the Royal Lao Army in September 1961, the new RLA remained essentially a light infantry force devoted primarily to static defense and internal security rather than national defense; most units were kept stationed near the main population centers (including Vientiane and the provincial capitals) guarding vital facilities such as depots, airfields, and lines of communication. As with its ANL predecessor, the RLA was capable only of limited offensive and counter-insurgency operations, and consequently its conventional military value was very low. The earlier ANL support units, such as the Military police ( or – PM), Medical (), Quartermaster (), Engineer (), Geographic services (), Signals (), Transport (), and Maintenance ( – RM) were also organized into independent battalions or companies. Later in the 1960s, the RLA technical branch services were re-organized and expanded to corps' strength, in order to include Finance (), Military logistics (), Ordnance (), Military Fuel/Petrol, Oil and Lubricants – POL (), Military justice (), Psychological warfare () and Military intelligence (), all placed under the responsibility of the Service Directorates subordinated to the Ministry of National Defense. A uniformed female auxiliary service, the Royal Laotian Women's Army Corps – RLWAC ( – CFARL), was established in the early 1960s, whose members served in the RLA on administrative, staff, communications, political warfare, medical and other non-combatant duties. Re-organization 1971-73 Following the Nam Bac débâcle, the demoralized Royal Lao Army reverted to its earlier static defense role of the main population centres along the Mekong River, relinquishing all offensive operations to the Paratrooper battalions, Commando units, the irregular ethnic SGUs, the Project "Unity" Thai volunteer battalions and the Royal Lao Air Force (RLAF). This move however, placed an additional heavy burden on these already overstretched elite formations that actually did most of the fighting. By