G/75 & E/51 LRP & 196 LRRP
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 1968 to combat in Viet Nam. This move was a permanent change of station (PCS). The new duty station was Tay Ninh, 11 Corps, Viet Nam, 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 November 1, 1966, tasked the
Commander of F Troop, 17th Calvary to form a (Provisional) far ranging
reconnaissance detachment "strictly from volunteers". On December 1,
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 exhausing interviews with all volunteers, on
January 2, 1967, only 13 were accepted for training and service.
These handpicked men would be the cornerstones of the 196th Infantry Brigade's Provisional Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP - pronounced "Lurp") Detachment and trainers for its units' future soldiers called "Lurps". By modus operand, 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 detachmetn 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-trainig "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 requiremetns, 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 1967. 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 98) 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, procuremetn of equipment was derived from different sources.
French tiger fatigues and Colt Commando AR15s were acquired from the
canny efforts of Sergeant Victor Valerlano. 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 1 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. Dresing 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 Provence, 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 August 12, 1967, the 196th Infantry Brigade became a part of a unit consolidation and dubbed "Task Force Oregon". On September 25, 1967, General William Westmoreland Jr. ordered Task Force Oregon be replaced by the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal) and thereon, the 196th Infantry Brigade was absorbed into the newly activated division. The 196th LRRP Detachmetn 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 deactivatd as a Brigade asset on November 2, 1967. The unit was consolidated with the assets and soldiers of the deactivated 11th Infantry Brigade's 70th Infantry Long Range 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 1 Force Recon Company in Da Nang.
On December 20, 1967, the Departmetn 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 23rd 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, 1G Whitcomb became the enw Company First Sergeant. Whitcomb was a Jungle Expert and attended Panama's Jungle Operation Training Couse (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 188 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 large operating area for ay LRP unit in Viet Nam.
In addition to the large area of responsibility, 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 contnued. 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/LRP 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 th eenemy's backyard. This method woudl buy time to start a procuremetn 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 beeen 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 peformed to see if there was any disciplinary record.
If all looked god, the volunteer qualified for training. The instructors of the Company Recondo School were the patrol-hardened MACV Recondo qualified Veterans of the 196th LRRP Detachment and LRRP-Det(A). On a special note, Special Forces and Ranger personnel arriving into th eunit were not required to attend Recondo training; however, they were required to help with training. Non-Aorborne 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 dury related subjects (i.e. operations and techniques on
waterbourne, heliborne, mountaineering, intelligence reports, patrolling,
special weapons, hand to hand fighting, communications, medical, quick
reaction drills, 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 Lups. Echo Company
51st was also accredited with training the Reconnaissance Element of the
2nd ARVN Divison during 1968. The Division's AO was described as
Military Region 5 of War Zone C, within I Corps Viet Nam. To the North
were DaNang and the DMZ with mountains, rolling hills and coastal waterways.
To the south were Cam Ranh Bay, coastal water ways, rice field and 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 thre teams at their locations. Our teams were distributed thsly:
*Three teams were at LZS Bronco at Duc Pho in support of the 11th Infantry Brigade.
*Three teams statinoed 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 were at ChuLai 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 int he 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 trooper to carry any weapon that they were comfortable with in the battlefield.
CPT Bjork also had the largest rappelling tower in Viet Nam built for their training. It was ninety feet high. It aws 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 durign 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 coompany 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 followign months, the unit lost several team members as a result of diret 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 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, Luck Srike, 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, CPT James McWilliams took command of the company and 1SG Howard Slaughter took over the FIrst Sergeant 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 not a part of the 75th Ranger Infantry (Combined Arms Regimental System) and the company would be realigned per DA Message No. 893755. While in Viet Nam, E Company earned the Meritorious Unit Commendation Streamer embroidered "Viet Nam 18 June 68 - 20 January 69". The Rangers were also told to remove the black beret until further notice.
On January 13, 1969, Ranger teams combined with the Marines and Navy as
security and cordon, labled Operaton Russell Beach, during operations
at Bantangan Peninsula which was known as a VC stronghold approximately
15 miles from Quang Ngai City. On February 1, 1969, Company E (LRP)
was realigned as Compay G (RANGER), 75th Infantry (Airborne). Effective
Janary 2, 1969, E 51st was deactivatd. Team names were also changed to
reflect states and cities. Cigarette names were no longer used. Effective
February 2, 1969, 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 Comapny, the unit was also accredited with the location of more than 8,000 enemy soldiers, numerous enemy base camps, routes of infiltrationand 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, Chi 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 Cliffort Manning as the Company First Sergeant during 1970 - 1971. On May 13, 1969, 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 combned 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 fromo the NVA Force sent to destroy the "men with 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 Viet Nam into Laos and their re-entry into South Viet Nam.
On May 4, 1971, 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, August 7, 1971, as 2nd Platoon G Company (Rangers), 75th Infantry in support of the 196th Infantry Brigade until deactivation. By August 10, 1971, 2nd Platoon completed 47 missions against enemy forces and was credited with the destruction of th eHeadquarters of the 675th NVA Rocket Battalion Base Camp.
On September 14, 1971, 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 lsot 11 more Rangers, bring the Company total of KIA to 26.
After four years and ten months, on October 1, 1971, Golf Company was deactivated. Sixty missions were being performed on a monthly basis. At the clsoe out, it was estimated that the unit performed over 1,000 missions beginign in January 1967 and ending October 1, 1971. The unit was again awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation Streamer with "Viet Nam 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 also accredited with TET Counteroffense 69, Counteroffense VI, Counteroffense Summer-Fall 1969, Santuary Counteroffense, Counteroffense Phase VII, Colsolidation I, Consolidation II and Cease Fire.
The motto of the Comany 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!
Acknowledging the fact that a Ranger is a more elite soldier who arrives at the cutting edge of battle by land, sea, or air, I accept the fact that as a Ranger, my country expects me to move further, faster, and fight harder than any other soldier.
Never shall I fail my comrades. I will always keep myself mentally alert, physically strong and morally straight and I will shoulder more than my share of the task whatever it may be. One hundred percent and then some.
Gallantly will I show the world that I am a specially selected and well trained soldier. My courtesy to superior officers, my neatness of dress and care of equipment shall set the example for others to follow.
Energetically will I meet the enemies of my country. I shall defeat them on the field of battle for I am better trained and will fight with all my might. Surrender is not a Ranger word. I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy and under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country.
Readily will I display the intestinal fortitude required to fight on to the Ranger objective and complete the mission, though I be the lone survivor.
RANGERS LEAD THE WAY!
