Women as Turncoats: Searching for the Women among the Kit Carson Scouts during the Vietnam War, 1966-1973

Abstract

This Research Note explores the presence of South Vietnamese women as defectors and addresses the question of whether women combatants were employed by the United States as Kit Carson Scouts during the Vietnam War. Through fragmentary source material, it is possible to determine the presence of women who had fought for the People’s Liberation Armed Forces in every stage of the defection process. The existence of women Kit Carson Scouts is also proven, showing how the initiative and agency of women defectors led their employment but that the United States Army was reluctant to use them in combat.