51st Anniversary — LRRPs to Rangers

Back prior to 1969, there were a bunch of us — all volunteers, all paratroopers — who served in an outfit called the LRRPs — Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol. Yes, that’s where the name for this blog came from.

In my case our official designation was E-Co., 58th Inf., LRRP, 1/10 Cavalry, 4th Infantry Division. Every division had a LRRP (or LRP — Long Range Patrol) of its own, operating with teams composed of anywhere between three or four to eight men and sometimes more. In E-58 we used the three-four combination (usually three Americans and a Montagnyard), a concept developed by the Australian SAS.

Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War, by James F. Dunnigan, Albert A. Nofi, (pp 79-85) gives a fairly accurate summation of what the LRRP teams did in Viet Nam. 

My article Evolution of the LRRPs gives a broader picture of the small unit concept.

The U.S. Army Rangers Association also has a good — and briefer — history of the unit as well as a listing of which LRRP outfits became which Ranger companies.. 

The reason I’m telling you this? 

On February 1, 1969 all the LRRP companies in Viet Nam were redesignated 75th Ranger companies, tracing their lineage back to the famed Merrill’s Marauders (5307th Composite Group) of WWII (Burma) fame. My unit became K Company, 75th Rangers.

So, here’s to 51st birthday of the modern Rangers, and to all of the men — dead and alive — who served as LRPs and LRRPs in Viet Nam and as Rangers in conflicts around the globe. 

“Lieutenant General John H. Hays, Jr., who commanded the 1st Infantry Division from February 1967 to March 1968 and went on to become the deputy commanding general of II Field Force, serving until August 1968, said that the LRRPs were, “… generally considered to have the most uncomfortable and dangerous job in Vietnam…,” but also noted that, “… the way in which the long range patrols were used was one of the most significant innovations of the war.””— GPJ, Evolution of the LRRPs.