RECONDO / LRRP - Reconnaissance Commando / Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol .
RECONDO (Reconnaissance Commando) patrol teams were established at battalion and brigade level in SEP 1966, by Major General Arthur S. Collins, Jr., 4th Division Commander. Initially limited in number and scope, during Operation Sam Houston, Division reconnaissance was strengthened and a Division sniper course instituted. RECONDO teams consisted of two American members and two Rhade tribesmen, who exhibited hunting and terrain prowess. Each team completed a ten-day course to learn mutual signaling and survival skills. Initially RECONDO teams were given three primary missions: (1) Trail Watching, to observe and report enemy movements; (2) Terrain Analysis, which included the important Central Highlands task of locating suitable helicopter landing zones; and (3) Screening during Division operations to the front or flanks of regular infantry formations.
Maj. Gen. Peers took command of the 4th Infantry, he expanded the LRRP's with the addition of Hawkeyes teams. The Hawkeyes were MG Peers' Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols (LRRP's) named after Peers birth place, Iowa, the Hawkeye State. Hawkeye teams were small all American or mixed American and Vietnamese long range patrols. Hawkeye teams were initially used to primarily engage enemy forces rather than strict gathering of intelligence.
Each brigade was authorized one - 62 member Reconnaissance Platoon. The platoon was organized into
1 - Headquarters Section (CO, XO, Operations Sergeant, and six radio operators),
8 - Recondo (Reconnaisance Commando)teams,
3 - Hawkeye LRRP) teams.
Both teams normally consisted of only 3 - 8 men.
They were normally inserted deep into enemy territory, calling air strikes and artillery fire down on unsuspecting units too large to attack, picking fights with smaller units, and frequently just gathering critical intelligence on enemy strengths, locations, unit identifications and movements. Both type's of teams became skilled at hit-and-run ambushes and gathering battlefield intelligence.Working deep behind enemy lines, with such small numbers, took a very special breed of courage.
One of Major General Peers’ last acts before departing the Division was elevating his provisional RECONDO-HAWKEYE forces to the status of an official long range patrol company. E Company, 58th Infantry, under the direction of the new division commander, MG Charles P. Stone (JAN 1968), attempted a program that integrated South Vietnamese Army personnel with each team. From 23 APR - June 21, 1968, thirty ARVN personnel were trained and integrated into E Company, 58th Infantry Teams. ARVN indifference, conflicts between the ARVN’s themselves, and other problems eventually doomed the program. The experiment was finally stopped in NOV, 1968. It failed to meet with the same success that was experienced with integrating Rhade tribesmen into the early RECONDO teams.
On 30 NOV 1968, MG Donn R. Pepke, assumed command of the 4th Division and placed renewed interest in the operations of E Company, 58th Infantry. Seasoned noncommissioned officers and Montagnard Rhade scouts were recruited. The value of loyal native expertise, previously demonstrated under MG Peers’ command had been reinstated. Members of E Company, 58th Infantry continued to perform valuable LRRP support for the 4th Division, until it was replaced by Company K (Ranger), 75th Infantry (Airborne) on 1 FEB 1969.
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