Page 549 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo I

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retirement of General Chase, successive MAAG commanders did not radically alter
the organization of MAAG and had a much reduced role in political issues. For the
remaining years of MAAG Formosa the commanding officer would generally service a
shorter term, less than two years, followed by retirement.
The historical record of Formosa MAAG offers multiple insights into our
understanding of the Cold War in East Asia and American military policy in the 20
th
Century. First, MAAG personnel invested a majority of their time and American funding
in creating a system which took years and sometimes decades to train officers. Second, the
painful experience of Formosa MAAG with the ROC political officer system highlights
the constraints the Cold War situation imposed on the American military to not pursue
substantive short-term reforms which might create temporary military weakness and to
instead seek a long-term evolution of military capabilities and structures.
During the remaining years of the Cold War, the organizational patterns developed
by Formosa MAAG were used in numerous countries, particularly in Asia, with South
Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan and South Korea all hosting MAAG programs.
The Formosa MAAG strategy of emphasizing long-term programs which might take
decades or even a generation to achieve their full effect, was successful in achieving the
two American foreign policy goals of creating a competent defensive force in Taiwan
and solidifying the ROC’s role as a reliable security partner of the United States.