U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam numbered 3,205 compared to 900 at the end of 1960.[1]: 40 Sixteen American soldiers were killed in South Vietnam in 1961 compared to nine in the previous five years.[3] South Vietnamese military forces numbered almost 180,000 and police, militia, and paramilitary numbered 159,000.[2]: 47 The South Vietnamese armed forces suffered 4,004 killed in action, nearly double the total killed in the previous year.[4]