Royal Lao Army
The Royal Lao Army (Lao: ກອງທັພພຣະຣາຊອານາຈັກລາວ; French: Armée royale du Laos – ARL), also designated by its anglicized title RLA, was the land component of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR), the official military of the Kingdom of Laos during the North Vietnamese invasion of Laos and the Laotian Civil War between 1960 and 1975. == History == The ARL traced back its origins to World War II, when the first entirely Laotian military unit, the 1st Laotian Rifle Battalion (French: 1ér Bataillon de Chasseurs Laotiens – BCL), was raised early in June 1941 by the Vichy French colonial authorities.