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re: Were the LRRP teams in Vietnam the biggest badasses the US military ever produced?
Posted on 4/19/23 at 1:14 pm to grizzlylongcut
Posted on 4/19/23 at 1:14 pm to grizzlylongcut
During my stint in service I had the honor of training with a fellow named Changiz Lahidji. You might want to check out his story and his book called Full Battle Rattle. This guy is an American hero that is lesser known. Longest serving A team member and first muslim green beret.
1
Posted on 4/19/23 at 1:17 pm to Spaceman Spiff
quote:
Absolutely Marine Force Recon (FORECON) is in use now.
I know, I was asking him to defend his assertion that we don't have elements capable of LRRP anymore in the US military.
Posted on 4/19/23 at 1:23 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
We eventually did, along with massive bombing of North Vietnam. The end result was the total destruction of the military capability of North Vietnam and forcing North Vietnam to sign the Paris Peace accords in January 1973, effectively ending the Vietnam War and securing peace for South Vietnam. So yes, we did actually win the Vietnam War. We won it in January 1973.
But, thanks to communist sympathies from Democrats in Congress, all US aid to South Vietnam was ended shortly after. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union flooded North Vietnam with military aid. Within two years North Vietnam had rebuilt its military while South Vietnam had been left to whither on the vine thanks to Democrats in Congress. When North Vietnam invaded, the South was powerless to resist.
But you’ll never be taught any of that in any school. Instead you’ll be taught one of the biggest lies in American History, namely that the US lost the Vietnam War.
Surely we learned our lesson from this and never did it again right?
Posted on 4/19/23 at 1:27 pm to grizzlylongcut
quote:
we don't have elements capable of LRRP anymore in the US military.
We have the pieces but those are atrophied muscles after Iraq and Afghanistan.
My son is a Sniper in a Recon Company for a Mechanized Brigade. They do very little recon training even vehicle recon.
Posted on 4/19/23 at 1:58 pm to grizzlylongcut
Those LRRP guys in Vietnam were definitely badass. Their mission was probably kinda similar to the ISA (Intelligence Support Activity or just The Activity) of today. If you talk to any SF guys, many of them will tell you they are the spookiest in a Tier 1 role. Outside of the CIAs special units they have at their beckon call, the ISA does some really high level, behind enemy lines shite. I'd say them, Delta and the LRRP guys in Vietnam (maybe AF PJs since they detach with all the other SF teams) are all probably best of the best that the US military has produced.
And even then, it gets kinda mission-specific. Like you're probably gonna call Devgru if it involves water. You'll probably call Delta for a large assault on a village or something like that in Africa or Asia. The Green Berets are probably gonna come in and train the fighting aged men of that village. While the CIA black ops or ISA has been living in or working with the leaders of that village for 6 months prior to the Delta assault.
They're all elite at what they do. And a very select few are very good at everything.
And even then, it gets kinda mission-specific. Like you're probably gonna call Devgru if it involves water. You'll probably call Delta for a large assault on a village or something like that in Africa or Asia. The Green Berets are probably gonna come in and train the fighting aged men of that village. While the CIA black ops or ISA has been living in or working with the leaders of that village for 6 months prior to the Delta assault.
They're all elite at what they do. And a very select few are very good at everything.
Posted on 4/19/23 at 2:18 pm to LemmyLives
quote:
Lynne M. Black Jr., 10,000 NVA soldiers tried to kill his 9-man SOG recon team
Lynne Black’s book Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is awesome. The stand his team made on the above mission is just absurd. John Meyer talks about it in one of his books too.
Nick Brokhausen’s books We Few and Whispers in the Tall Grass are my two favorite books about SOG.
John Plaster’s Secret Commandos is also incredible. As are John Meyer’s Across the Fence and On the Ground.
SOG recon guys were a different breed. Just had massive balls and contributed greatly to disrupting the activity on the ho chi minh trail. I read everything about them I can get my hands on.
This post was edited on 4/19/23 at 4:48 pm
Posted on 4/19/23 at 2:21 pm to CroakaBait
quote:
Anything by this guy:
John Stryker Meyer
My Dad was in AIT at Fort Gordon with him.
Cool Story Bro: He and my Mom (while pregnant with me) flew into Fort Gordon (Augusta GA) for his AIT. The flight took them right over the ongoing Masters tournament.
Posted on 4/19/23 at 2:22 pm to tigerpimpbot
Was it Colonel Howard who died within the last 10 or so years who was a SOG team leader and one of the ultra elite guys during Vietnam? Bob Howard maybe was his name?
Yes. He was a legend. Lived down the street from us at Bragg in Biazza Ridge north when I was a kid in the mid 80s.
__________________________________________________________
I met him and shared some BS'ing over ice cream cones at GTMO in '09. A far cry from his warrior days but you could tell he was a BAMFer
Yes. He was a legend. Lived down the street from us at Bragg in Biazza Ridge north when I was a kid in the mid 80s.
__________________________________________________________
I met him and shared some BS'ing over ice cream cones at GTMO in '09. A far cry from his warrior days but you could tell he was a BAMFer
Posted on 4/19/23 at 3:01 pm to tigerpimpbot
Col Robert (Bob) Howard was my uncle. Badass man for sure.
Posted on 4/19/23 at 3:11 pm to Hou_Lawyer
Ask your uncle if he knows Ron Rucker. They called him Mother Rucker
Same time in country
Ron is the LRRP that was hit by lightning on the Hill
You guys should read Eyes Behind the Lines
The Firebase Jack story is wild
Same time in country
Ron is the LRRP that was hit by lightning on the Hill
You guys should read Eyes Behind the Lines
The Firebase Jack story is wild
Posted on 4/19/23 at 3:14 pm to BigHusky
quote:
SOG recon guys were a different breed. Just had massive balls and contributed greatly to disrupting the activity on the ho chi minh trail. I read everything about them I can get my hands on.
Jerry "Mad Dog" Shriver is another bad arse to read about. He went MIA but he was a legend.
Posted on 4/19/23 at 3:17 pm to grizzlylongcut
All LRRPs 58th became RGRs 75th in 1968
This post was edited on 4/19/23 at 3:18 pm
Posted on 4/19/23 at 3:21 pm to grizzlylongcut
quote:
Were the LRRP teams in Vietnam the biggest badasses the US military ever produced?
Quite possibly. My mom's youngest brother, Uncle Kenny, was pulled from 196th Infantry Div. and moved into a LRRP unit during Operation Phoenix II. If you really press him, you might get him to tell a tiny bit about it, but when he starts getting into details he'll catch himself and change the subject to football, squirrel hunting in the mountains of West Virginia, or anything else but the subject at hand.
He's always been laid back and easy going around us kids when we were growing up so we had no idea what all he did when he was there from 71 to 73. It's hard to believe he'll be 74 years old on June 19th this year. I still see him as a thin, taut, six-foot-two, 23-year-old uncle that came by our house with Aunt Cathy and their daughter the day after he got back home. Always happy, always smiling, and always up to something fun.
There's no telling the whole of what he actually did with the LRRP teams, but I sometimes speculate about it in my mind.
eta: I didn't realize it until I was talking to him about it at my nieces wedding last year, but when he returned home he was restricted from living within fifty miles of the US coastline for 25 years. I'm clueless regarding the reasoning behind that restriction and he didn't offer any further details about it. Just one more "interesting" tid-bit to chew on relating to that whole commitment and ordeal.
This post was edited on 4/20/23 at 9:45 am
Posted on 4/19/23 at 3:35 pm to AwgustaDawg
quote:
Swore he knew when someone was present several minutes before making contact because of smell.
On a somewhat related note; I used to work with a man that piloted a F-4 during Vietnam. He said during survival training, in the Philippines I believe, they had to evade a man that was tracking them. My friend said he did everything he could to hide, got in a ditch, covered himself with leaves and mud and said the native found him in no time at all.
When my friend gave the guy his chit he asked how did he find him and how so quickly....the native pointed at his nose, grinned and ran off to find the next pilot.
Posted on 4/19/23 at 4:32 pm to WillyLoman
Yeah recon guys would eat an indigenous diet in the days leading up to a mission so they would smell the same as the NVA in the field.
Posted on 4/19/23 at 4:36 pm to WillyLoman
quote:
On a somewhat related note; I used to work with a man that piloted a F-4 during Vietnam. He said during survival training, in the Philippines I believe, they had to evade a man that was tracking them. My friend said he did everything he could to hide, got in a ditch, covered himself with leaves and mud and said the native found him in no time at all.
When my friend gave the guy his chit he asked how did he find him and how so quickly....the native pointed at his nose, grinned and ran off to find the next pilot.
it really wasn't hard to find downed US pilots in north Vietnam, with a few exceptions, google Bud Day and Lance Sijan
ETA: I went through survival/SERE during that era, that was some tough shite for a punk frat boy straight out of LSU
This post was edited on 4/19/23 at 5:15 pm
Posted on 4/19/23 at 4:45 pm to jbird7
quote:
Any particular books you recommend? I’m in need of a new book and Vietnam is something I’m not to familiar with but would like to be.
Since he mentioned LRRP's, I've read these two books.
The Eyes of the Eagle: F Company LRPs in Vietnam, 1968
Eyes Behind the Lines: L Company Rangers in Vietnam, 1969
by Gary Linderer
LINK
Posted on 4/19/23 at 4:50 pm to Cdawg
Larry Chambers’ book Recondo is also a great LRRP book. He served with Linderer.
Posted on 4/19/23 at 4:50 pm to Lsutigerturner
This is spot on.
Personally did alot of work/training, as a contractor, with LRS-D and Pathfinders, across the board in the mid90s to early 2000s.
Great perspective and you are correct IMO
Personally did alot of work/training, as a contractor, with LRS-D and Pathfinders, across the board in the mid90s to early 2000s.
Great perspective and you are correct IMO
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