Longest Recon

LRRP, LRP, RRD, LRSD, LRSU, etc...
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Slowpoke
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Post by Slowpoke »

Silverback wrote:SOTB,
I agree with you on learning the "small things" When I began my tour in the AD I/we Learned lots of "little things". The little things we learned made us better fighters and more proficient warriors. Things like "Never put 30 rds in a 30 rd Magazine, stuff that at the time didn't seem important.

After Participating in a 12 month Middle Eastern sabbatical, I found out that those little things held a huge amount of importance in daily life.

We as a brotherhood of warriors have relearned some lessons and we continue to imporve our ability to find, fight and destroy the enemy everyday.
It was my Team Leader in RVN that taught me the most important lesson of my life....."If you do all of the 'little' things perfectly, the big things will take care of themselves." I still live by that rule today, and it drives me crazy when someone doesn't pay attention to the details.
I never wore a cape, but I still have my dog tags.

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Steadfast
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Post by Steadfast »

bump
RLTW
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Post by McD »

Steadfast wrote:bump
I hope this bump means more to come!!
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Slowpoke
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Post by Slowpoke »

"The Devil is in the details". If you do ALL the "little" things correctly.....there are no big things.
I never wore a cape, but I still have my dog tags.

Experienced Peek Freak!!

173rd Abn LRRP...'66/'67
C/1/506 101st Abn
B/2/325 82nd Abn
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Steadfast
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Post by Steadfast »

Slowpoke wrote:"The Devil is in the details". If you do ALL the "little" things correctly.....there are no big things.
In the same light, all on a team would know who had what item and vica versa. Each man knew what was expected of him and the only item left behind on purpose was "the rear".
RLTW
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4/325 82d DIV 68-69
2nd Bde HHC (LRRP), 4 ID
K Co (Rgr), 75th Inf (Abn), 4 ID
69-70
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Post by Ripcord »

Longest time Out 42days ,most of the time it was 2-3 weeks as a full time PLT SGT and a Part Time PLT LDR ,we would set up a base for 1 no more than 2 days and from there we would run RIF's , i would lead one 5 man team and my Squad Leaders would lead the others some times we were only on listening Patrols in witch we located a likely NVA trail and hid and listened ,sometimes it was a S&D Patrol ,But unlike you RANGERS and LRRP's we were resupplied every 3-4 days sometimes on a lz sometimes by kickout,They tryed to rotate us on a FWD FSB every 20-30days for 3 day bunker duty (whitch by the way sucked ) just a little insite on PLT Size (18 men) OPS ,WE tryed the KIT Carson scouts to ,most were not worth a can of cold Ham&Eggs
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Post by jakeshoe »

The details...

I have to say that while I don't have the cobat experience many of you guys do, I learned quickly when i got to Batt. that the shit I would glance at, and say "Fuck It, I'll do it later, or it won't matter.." would always bite me in the ass.

I learned to pay attention to the details and when that little voice in my head said something wasn't right I would fix it immediately.

Good posts guys. Keep 'em up.
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hobbit
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Post by hobbit »

Without opening a huge can of worms here, one of the reasons the army designated LRRP companies as "Ranger" companies in Vietnam was because of the expanded role they wanted long range reconnaissance patrols to play.

As "Ranger" companies, Papa Company Ranger and Lima Company Ranger in I Corps started crossing borders, something these units hadn't done as "LRRP" companies. The missions became more dangerous and demanding as well, prisoner snatches, BDA's, and advisory tasks becoming part of their responsibility, all tasks they'd heretofore not performed. Casualty figures bare this out.

Anyway, to stay on subject here, it wasn't uncommon for L Company teams to go out 50 clicks or more. Sometimes, because of the mountainous terrain, as many as three radio relay points had to be established to stay in commo. A lot of the time though, the only commo we had was with the "Bad Cat" CIA U2 radio relay station 70,000 ft overhead.

I don't remember any missions where we moved any great distance. I remember a few where we'd spend 12 hours covering two or three hundred meters though.


Image: Hot Extraction, Laotian border, 1970. Rick Butler photo.

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Post by Vee »

That photo wasn't taken over the Shire was it? :shock:

You have some killer shots, Master Hobbit!
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hobbit
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Post by hobbit »

"That photo wasn't taken over the Shire was it?"

One night on the Laotian Salient, on my second mission (I was still on probation and hadn't been given a code name yet), our five man team set up a night defensive position on the side of a mountain in the Chaîne Annamitique amidst 200 ft tall teak trees.

Our NDP overlooked a section of the Ho Chi Mihn Trail in Laos about four clicks distant. That night a regiment-size unit moved south, every fourth man carrying a flashlight, the train of 650 or so NVA soldiers looking like a giant dragon snaking its way down a mountainside.

My eyes were as big as saucers, the place and the situation seeming dreamlike and surreal to say the least. So my team leader, Dave Hazelton smirks at me and whispers, "Well....whadya think?" I whispered back, "I feel just like Bilbo Baggins on his big adventure when he first lays eyes on a fiery dragon". From that minute on I had a code name.
Last edited by hobbit on December 10th, 2004, 5:03 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by rgrpuck »

hobbit wrote:"My eyes were as big as saucers, the place and the situation seeming dreamlike and surreal to say the least. So my team leader, Dave Hazelton smirks at me and whispers, "Well....whadya think?" I whispered back, "I feel just like Bilbo Baggins on his big adventure when he first laid eyes on that fiery dragon". From that minute on I had a code name.
Thanks

I was wondering where a tall guy got the Name "Hobbit" from. I would have been shittin twinkys..... so did the story end with a large airstrike?
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hobbit
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Post by hobbit »

We were tresspassing. It would have been bad manners to call in an air strike, especially at night. ; - )

No, our job was to report what we saw. We didn't actually get involved in calling in air strikes and artillery strikes unless we were threatened or unless that was the idea from the get-go. From 1970 on our intelligence was used mainly to plot Arc Light strikes. My closest comrade in L Company Ranger, Gib Halverson, pulled 25 missions in all the worst areas of I Corps. His team never fired a shot. That's a hell of a Ranger team. That was the whole idea. That isn't to say other teams weren't frequently in contact though. We were.
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The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. -Albert Einstein
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Slowpoke
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Post by Slowpoke »

hobbit wrote:Without opening a huge can of worms here, one of the reasons the army designated LRRP companies as "Ranger" companies in Vietnam was because of the expanded role they wanted long range reconnaissance patrols to play.

As "Ranger" companies, Papa Company Ranger and Lima Company Ranger in I Corps started crossing borders, something these units hadn't done as "LRRP" companies. The missions became more dangerous and demanding as well, prisoner snatches, BDA's, and advisory tasks becoming part of their responsibility, all tasks they'd heretofore not performed. Casualty figures bare this out.
I think the redesignation was done to reflect what some of the units were already doing. By early '67, about a third of all the 173rd LRRPs missions were prisoner snatch. And all missions had a secondary goal of bringing back prisoners if possible.

Our SOP called for never moving over 1,000 meters per day, and we rarely moved that far.
I never wore a cape, but I still have my dog tags.

Experienced Peek Freak!!

173rd Abn LRRP...'66/'67
C/1/506 101st Abn
B/2/325 82nd Abn
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Post by BadMuther »

The longest recon is always when you are out of beer, pussy, or porn..... :lol: :lol: :lol:
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