AID Recruits Vietnam Aides

The Agency for International Development set up an office in Boston this week in an attempt to persuade 200 college graduates to spend 18 months in South Vietnam improving economic and social conditions there. So far AID has received 1400 applications.

Eight hundred AID workers are already in Vietnam helping Vietnamese officials reduce illiteracy, aid in agrarian reform, and institute modern medical techniques. The agency expects its $300 million appropriation to double this year, enabling it to enlarge its staff in South Vietnam to more than a thousand. So far all AID workers have been deferred by their draft boards.

In all cased except one AID requires applicants to be 25 years old. Applicants for the position of "interpreter/staff assistant," who must pass a test of their ability to learn Vietnamese, need only be 21.

Most Dangerous Post

The highest paid and most dangerous position available is Provincial Operations Officer. These men, who preferably have some background in government affairs, live in the villages and directly administrate AID's program's. They receive about $20,000 a year.

AID's offices for the one-week recruitment drive are at 55 Tremont Street.