RANGER INFORMATIOM
Compiled by Raven
During the Vietnam conflict, fourteen Ranger companies
consisting of highly motivated volunteers, served with distinction from the
Mekong Delta to the DMZ. Assigned to independent brigade, division and field
force units, they conducted long range reconnaissance and exploitation
operations into enemy held and denied areas providing valuable combat
intelligence.
Initially designated as LRRP, then LRP companies, these
units were later designated as C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O and P
(Ranger) Companies, 75th Infantry. Following Vietnam, General Abrams, the CSA,
recognized the need for a highly trained and highly mobile reaction force and
therefore directed the activation of the first battalion sized Ranger units
since World War II, the lst and 2nd Battalions (Ranger),
75th Infantry. The lst Battalion was trained at Fort Benning, Georgia and was
activated February 8, 1974 at Fort Stewart, Georgia. The 2d Battalion was
activated on October 3, 1974. The lst Battalion is now located at Hunter Army
Airfield, Georgia and the 2nd Battalion is stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington.
Company G (RANGER), 75th Infantry
The 196th Infantry Brigade (Separate) was on Caribbean peace
keeping duty when the brigade was ordered and diverted in August 1966 to combat
in Vietnam. This move was a permanent change of station (PCS). The new duty
station was Tay Ninh, 11 Corps, Vietnam, under the command of Brigadier General
Richard T. Knowles.
It became apparent in the coming months that the Brigade
needed a far-ranging ground reconnaissance element to gather needed
intelligence on the enemy. General Knowles, on I November 1966, tasked the
Commander of F Troop, 17th Calvary to form a (Provisional) far ranging reconnaissance
detachment "strictly from volunteers". On I December 1966, First Lieutenant
(1LT) John Maxwell volunteered to command the detachment. 1LT Maxwell was
Airborne and Pathfinder qualified. 1LT Maxwell needed a Detachment First
Sergeant (1SG) and chose a volunteer who was a Special Forces (SF) qualified
Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) Staff Sergeant (SSG) Earl Toomey.
These two leaders started a procurement effort which lead to
the interview of two hundred plus applicants. After exhausting interviews with
all volunteers on 2 January 1967, only 13 were accepted for training and service. These handpicked
men would be the cornerstones of the 196t' Infantry
Brigade's Provisional Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol
(LRRP) (pronounced "Lurp") Detachment and trainers for its units'
future soldiers called "Lurps". By modus operandi, the detachment was
authorized by army regulation as an (Airborne) unit. The detachment's
authorized strength started at 42 and shortly changed to 65 personnel. However,
the detachment never quite achieved that number and stayed around the average
of 42 volunteers. As the seven (7) man teams filled, the teams were
sent to 5th Special Forces MACV Recondo School for training.
The only other training at the detachment level was on-the-job-training
"OJT" under the guiding hand of the Detachment First
Sergeant.
Just as the detachment's operational teams got themselves to
the point of rotation in and out of the battlefield (with all the training
requirements, trying to rest and returning to patrolling) the turn around time
gave little to no sleep. 1LT Maxwell was promoted to Captain (CPT) and departed
the detachment in July l967. 1LT Frank G. Pratt Jr. assumed command of the
detachment. 1LT Pratt was a graduate of Airborne and Ranger School and was
cadre at the Ranger Course.
When the unit was at its largest patrolling size, eight (8)
full teams were operational. The need of equipment and uniforms was a nightmare
through official channels due to the non-TO&E status of LRRPS. Therefore,
procurement of equipment was derived from different sources. French tiger
fatigues and Colt Commando AR15s were acquired from the canny efforts of
Sergeant Victor Valeriano. As more equipment was needed, Specialist Garver
became the unofficial Supply Specialist which lead to
the temporary receipt of vehicles and other items of
interest through his procurement efforts.
The Detachment participated in Operations Attleboro,
Wheeler, Wallowa and Junction City penetrating and patrolling into War Zone C
of I Corps. Teams were constantly looking for the Viet Cong (VC) guerrillas and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops.
By finding routes, camps, caches of food and equipment during their mission,
the team would report real time intelligence information to the Brigade. Many
of the patrol members either dressed in VC clothing or took the clothing with
them on patrols. Dressing as VC gave advantage in performing
enemy prisoner snatches or to avoid standing out as Americans in an all
oriental environment. The problem with that, however, was if caught they could
be shot for spying.
The detachment was credited with the identification of the
271st Peoples Liberation Front Regiment, "VC Guerrillas", and the
destruction of a platoon of the 271st Regiment. Teams of the detachment were
further credited with numerous Long Range Recon Patrols within their operational
sectors which encompassed Quang Tin and Tay Ninh Province, specifically Que Son
and Son Re Valleys. The teams performed numerous wire tap, ambush, tunnel
exploration, bomb damage assessment,
artillery/air strikes, surveillance, stay-behind and combat
patrol missions.
The unit gained entry into the battlefield by foot, vehicle,
rubber boat, and aircraft. By air, they used false insertion techniques and
rappelled in by mountaineering equipment. For extractions, they used the UH-1D
Helicopter. The field rations available to the Lurps were freeze dried Long-range
patrol rations, C-rations or the Vietnamese indigenous rations. On 12 August
1967 the 196th Infantry
Brigade became a part of a unit consolidation and dubbed
"Task Force Oregon". On 25 September 1967, General William
Westmoreland Jr. ordered Task Force Oregon be replaced by the 23th Infantry Division
(Americal) and thereon the 196th Infantry Brigade was absorbed into the newly activated
division. The 196th LRRP Detachment continued to operate as the Brigade's reconnaissance
force.
Under the command of Americal Division Commander, Major
General Samuel W. Koster, the 196th LRRP Detachment was deactivated
as a Brigade asset on 2 November 1967. The unit was consolidated with the
assets and soldiers of the deactivated 11th Infantry Brigade's 70th Infantry
Long Range Patrol Detachment in December 1967, as Long Range Recon Patrol
Detachment (Airborne) LRRP-D(A). The creation of LRRP-D(A) at this time was involved in refining their art of reconnaissance patrolling with the USMC I" Force Recon Company in Da Nang.
On 20 December 1967 the Department of the Army (DA) ordered
LRRP-D(A) absorbed and reconstituted as Company E (LRP) 51st Infantry
(Airborne) as the "official" Long Range Patrol Company for the 23d
Infantry Division(Americal). SSG Toomey was still the 1SG and was promoted to Sergeant
First Class (SFC E-7) and shortly afterward moved to a staff position in
Division G2.
When 1SG Allen Whitcomb reported in, 1SG Whitcomb became the
new Company First Sereant.
Whitcomb was a Jungle Expert and attended Panama's Jungle
Operation Training Course (JOTC); he was also Airborne qualified and rated as a
Master Parachutist. The new Company Commander was Captain Gary F. Bjork a
graduate of both Airborne and Ranger Schools. Under the new Tactical Operations
and Equipment (TO&E), the unit strength went from 65 to 118 personnel. The consolidation
of the Division LRRP assets was to give better support to the three different
Infantry
Brigades spread out within the Division Area of Operations
(DAO). E 51st LRP Company's patrol area had also increased covering Quang Ngai,
Quang Tin, and Quang Nam Provinces. This became the largest operating area for
any LRP unit in Vietnam.
In addition to this large area of responsiblity, the unit
was short personnel due to rotations back to the Continental United States
(CONUS), resulting in back-to-back patrols. With little sleep in between
missions, as missions came, the patrols continued. Captain Bjork and 1SG Whitcomb
instituted a fair rotation of teams to help teach training with the new Company
Recondo School.
Another team could pull a rear OP/LP surveillance mission close to the Division's perimeter guards on the beach, thus getting rest. Another patrol would be at the forward base with the Brigade Tactical Operations Center (TOC) as back up, and one patrol was out scouting the enemy's backyard. This method would buy time to start a procurement effort for volunteers from the Division.
The black beret was another selling point. With verbal
approval from the Division Commander, the Bancroft black beret became the
headgear of distinction for the Lurps and an eye catcher for prospective LRP
volunteers. In order to be an elite Lurp, one must volunteer and then pass the Company
Recondo School. With recruiting fliers out to the remote outposts of the
Infantry Brigades, Airborne qualified personnel could be
attracted. Jump pay was authorized. For the soldiers wanting to
be Lurps who were not airborne qualified, the first
requirement was to have been on the battlefield at least two months before
volunteering. They then had to take and pass the Airborne PT test , swim test;
after which a records check was made to see if the soldier had a GT score of
100 or better.
Finally, a check was performed to see if there was any
disciplinary record.
If all looked good, the volunteer qualified for training.
The instructors of the Company Recondo School were the patrol-hardened MACV
Recondo qualified Veterans of 196th LRRP Detachment and LRRP-Det (A). On a
special note, Special Forces and Ranger personnel arriving into the unit were not
required to attend Recondo training; however, they were required to help with
training. Non-airborne and airborne personnel were required to attend training.
During the school, physical training consisting of a seven
mile "Recondo walk" with weapon, low bearing equipment (LBE) and 35
pound rucksack was performed. This was for a period of two weeks with classes
on various duty related subjects, i.e. operations and techniques on waterborne,
heliborne, mountaineering, intelligence reports, patrolling, special weapons,
hand to
hand fighting, communications, medical, quick reaction
drill's, tracking, ambush, POW handling, artillery/naval/air call for fire, and
orientation and survival. This was a condensed eight week Ranger Course. The doctrinal
patrolling techniques that were passed to the new Lurps were lessons learned from
196th LRRP and LRRP-D(A) which made the new men either want to be in
the Lurps or have nothing to do with them. Wanted posters, circulated and
posted by the VC in Chu Lai, Tam Ky, and Due
Pho, also added to the mystic of the Lurps . Echo Company
51st was also accredited with training the Reconnaissance Element of the 2nd
ARVN Division during 1968.
The Division's AO was described as Military Region 5 of War
Zone C, within I Corps Vietnam. To the North were DaNang and the DMZ with
mountains, rolling hills and coastal waterways. To he south were Cam Ranh Bay,
coastal water ways, rice fields and triple canopy jungles. To the east were lowlands
and the South China Sea. To the west were woodland triple canopy jungles, foot hills
and steep mountains all the way into Laos. To make it worse, the I Corps area
was notorious
for enemy booby traps. The enemy was the 2nd North
Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong Guerrillas of Communist Military/Political
Region 5.
The reconnaissance requirements of the forward Infantry
Brigades were three teams at their locations. Our teams were distributed
thusly:
Three teams were at LZ Bronco at Duc Pho in support of the
11th Infantry Brigade.
Three teams stationed at LZ Baldy at Tam Ky with 196th
Infantry Brigade.
Three teams were at LZ Bayonet at Binh Son with the 198th
Infantry Brigade.
Three teams at Chu Lai Beach Company Recondo School
"Instructors".
One team at MACV Recondo.
One team on radio relay detail.
Three teams at Chu Lai Beach Company E (LRP), 51st Infantry
"at rest".
Two "on-call" Dog Trackers.
Three Para Riggers.
Twelve men on R&R or one leave out of country.
Twelve men in Company Headquarters and non-TO&E
Attachments.
Three Vietnamese Army Interpreters "Kit Carson
Scouts".
At the start, CPT Bjork, was informed that his Lurps would
have to stand inspections and wear helmets in the field during LRP operations
by Division Staff Officers above him. For awhile, the Lurps would wear helmets
but removed them prior to insertion. Inspections, on the other hand, were performed
in the company area. When the General had someone of importance show up at Headquarters,
he would show off the spit and polish, camouflage fatigue clad, black beret wearing
elite troops of his division, "The Lurps". The Company Commander did
not take long to have all that rescinded to allow the Lurps to do their jobs.
In addition, he allowed his troops to carry any weapon that they were
comfortable with in the battlefield.
CPT Bjork also had the largest rappelling tower in Vietnam
bu1LT for their training – it was ninety feet high. It was said that when you
reported to training on the first day, Bjork's Recondo Instructors would inform
the students "You are Pukes, and we are here to break you and make you quit!!"
Class size varied according to the number of volunteers during that period.
E 51st LRP was involved in numerous long-range patrol (LRP)
missions that required heavy hunter/killer combat teams in the field, and
sniper missions were also performed as needed. The company survived the TET
Counteroffensive 68 phases 111, IV, V, and VI with minor damage to some of the
companies barracks, "tin huts", as a result of the Division's
ammunition dump
exploding from enemy artillery and mortar attack in January
1968. Some of the unit's LRP Teams
participated as a blocking force during Operation Muscatine. Also during this
month, 18 ARC Light strikes were directed, numerous bomb damage
assessments (BDA) were performed, and 50 air strikes on
caves and bunkers yielding with secondary explosions underground occurred as a
result of the Division's Lurp directed actions. During the following months, the
unit lost several team members as a result of direct action battles. The unit
was also at that stage of losing personnel from DEROS back to the United States
and new volunteers were needed to fill the open slots.
Between 1968 and 1969, Team Winston managed to photograph a
T55 Russian tank in the hedgerow northeast of Duc Pho close to the Laotian
border. Another team, under the leadership of Sgt. Ben Dunham, reported the
siting, in late 1968, of a 6-foot blonde-headed Caucasian male leading a VC patrol
in the I Corps area. This same team captured a Chinese National with the rank
of Colonel.
The use of name brand cigarettes was used to identify the
teams such as: Team Old Gold, Winston, Salem,
Lucky Strike, Camel, Marlboro, etc. In July, CPT Bjork departed the company and
CPT Philip Clark became the new Company Commander.
Between January and September 1968, 15 LRPs were killed as a
result of combat action. In December
1968, CPT James McWilliams took command of the company and 1SG Howard Slaughter
took over the First Sereant duties from 1SG Whitcomb as he departed. In January
1969, E Company, 51st Inf. (LRP) was absorbed into the 75th (RANGER) Infantry
Regiment. CPT McWilliams was informed that all LRP soldiers and units were now
a part of the 75th Ranger Infantry
(Combined Arms Regimental System) and the company would be
realigned per DA Message No. 893755. While in
Vietnam, E Company earned the Meritorious Unit Commendation
Streamer embroidered "Vietnam 18 June 68 - 20 January 69". The
Rangers were also told to remove the black beret until further notice.
On 13 January 69, Ranger teams combined with the Marines and
Navy as security and cordon, labeled
Operation Russell Beach, during operations at Bantangan
Peninsula which was known as a VC stronghold approximately 15 miles from Quang
Ngai City. On 1 February 1969, Company E (LRP) was realigned as Company G
(RANGER), 75th Infantry (Airborne). Effective 2 February 1969, E 51st was deactivated.
Team names were also changed to reflect states and cities. Cigarette names were
no longer used.
Effective 2 February 69, the unit continued to operate. The
mission was still Long Range Patrol. It was during this time that the Company
received its first recipient of the Medal Of Honor from the exploits of Staff
Sergeant Robert Pruden who gave his life to protect his team members during an operation
in the Due Pho area.
Under G Company, the unit was also accredited with the
location of more than 8,000 enemy soldiers, numerous enemy base camps, routes
of inf1LTration and supply, caches and training sites. It conducted no less
than 662 combat operations and was also accredited with 322 confirmed enemy kills,
106 enemy wounded in action, and 53 prisoners of war. The unit participated in
the defense of Firebase Fat City, LZ Baldy, Chu Lai base and, indirectly, to
the support of every battalion-sized combat unit in the Division. As the unit
continued, other commanders were: CPTs Anthony Avgolis and Jon Hanson with 1SG
Clifford Manning as the Company First Sergeant during 1970 - 1971.
On 13 May 69, LZ Baldy was attacked by a NVA Sapper Force.
The 196th Infantry Brigade was pushed off the Landing Zone. During the initial
fighting, most of the Rangers were wounded. Ranger teams Texas and Michigan
combined their functional members into one team to carry the fight to the
enemy, which yielded forty (40) NVA Troops killed by the composite Ranger team.
They displayed outstanding bravery in retaking LZ Baldy from the NVA Force sent
to destroy the "men with the bounties on their heads." During
interrogation, a captured NVA officer stated he was trained in China and
ordered to destroy the Rangers due to the disruption of
their routes of movement from North Vietnam into Laos and their re-entry into
South Vietnam.
On 4 May 71, a Ranger (Provisional) Detachment, known as
Ranger Command Group 11 of G Company, commanded by CPT Theodore C. Mataxis,
Jr., was activated and sent to Da Nang to provide direct support to the 196th
Infantry Brigade, with continued operations of surveillance and reconnaissance,
until the unit was reconsolidated, 7 August 71, as 2nd Platoon G
Company (Ranger), 75th Infantry in support of the 196th
Infantry Brigade until deactivation. By 10 August 71, 2nd Platoon
completed 47 missions against enemy forces and was credited with the destruction
of the Headquarters of the 675th NVA Rocket Battalion Base Camp.
On 14 September 71, the unit was ordered to stand down under
operation "Keystone Oriole Charlie" and in 10 days the unit was at
zero strength. The unit also lost 11 more Rangers bringing the Company total of
KIA to 26.
After four years and ten months, on 01 October 71, Golf
Company was deactivated. Sixty missions were being performed on a monthly
basis. At the close out, it was estimated that the unit performed over 1,000
missions beginning in January 1967 and ending 01 October 71. The unit was again
awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation Streamer embroidered "Vietnam 21
January 69 – 31 August 69". In addition, Company G
received three (3)Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm as a
valorous unit citation (VOC) and was also accredited with TET Counteroffensive 69, Counteroffensive VI, Counteroffensive Summer-Fall 1969, Sanctuary Counteroffensive, Counteroffensive Phase VII, Consolidation I, Consolidation II, and Cease Fire.
The motto of the Company was "Sua Sponte" meaning
"of their own accord." Modern Rangers of the 75th Ranger Regiment
continue the tradition of being the premier fighting element of the active army.
The tradition and dedication to their fellow Rangers continues.
Rangers Lead the Way!