Commando Raiders

Commando Raiders were the Lao special forces and pathfinders of the Laotian Civil War from 1968 until war's end.

Recruitment

Savannakhet Unit of the CIA decided in late 1968 to train an elite guerrilla unit to operate against the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Projected duties of the new unit would be cross-border espionage forays, airborne pathfinder insertions, prisoner of war acquisition for interrogation, hazardous ambushes and raids, and bomb damage assessment. Taking especial care to recruit educated and fit young candidates, two classes of 40 men each were enlisted during early 1969. There was a class from Military Region 2 of northern Laos and another from southern Laos.[1]

In Autumn 1969, another new class of 60 volunteers from Savannakhet was enrolled as Commando Raiders.[2]

Training

In March 1969, a U.S. Special Forces Team of 17 men was assigned to Phitscamp, Thailand to prepare the training site for the Commando Raiders. Some of the Team's members had prior guerrilla training experience as participants in the earlier Operation Pincushion or with Military Assistance Command Vietnam Special Operations Group. The latter organization supplied the three month curriculum for training. The two initial classes were trained separately from one another for a couple of reasons. One was ethnic animosity between the classes. Another was that the trainers did not want the trainees discovering that pay rates differed between the classes, with the southerners being better paid.[2]

The Commando Raiders were trained as eight man teams, with a Green Beret adviser assigned to every team. As part of their training, they were familiarized with both friendly and enemy weaponry and equipment they would use on their missions. They completed parachute training just before their graduation from training in August 1969. They were then forwarded to their operational base in Laos, an isolated camp northeast of Savannakhet dubbed Whiskey-3.[3]

Operations

MR 1 operations

Recruitment of Commando Raiders began in January 1970, After hasty training in Thailand, the Raiders were returned to Military Region 1 in June. They were stationed along the Route 46 portion of the Chinese Road as road watch teams using the Hark-1 to gather military intelligence.[4]

MR 2 operations

In late 1969, the northern class of 40 Commando Raiders was stationed at Pha Khao. They were accompanied by an experienced Central Intelligence Agency case officer. On 26 November 1970, the Raiders played an essential role in Operation Counterpunch when they seized the airstrip at San Tiau. An additional company of Raiders was recruited during January 1970. On 22 February 1970, 32 Commando Raiders were committed to a raid over the border to Dien Ben Phu. Dropped by Air America helicopters to the west of their target but still within Laos, the Raiders slipped across the border and rocketed an officers meeting at a PAVN headquarters. The Commandos exfiltrated to be plucked up by the Air America copters on 24 February.[5]

A contingent of 60 Raiders were sent to Military Region 4 for March 1970. Detailed to defensive duties, they seemed to serve mostly as a symbol of MR 2's willingness to send its very best to MR 4's aid. This contingent returned to MR 2 to find itself engaged in the battle to retake Sam Thong. Their commander was killed in that battle.[6]

On 23 May 1970, 21 Raiders in North Vietnamese uniforms staged a cross-border raid against a supply center at Moung Sen. By the 29th, PAVN searchers brought the Raiders to bay. The Raiders dispersed into the jungle, only for most to be hunted down. Four Raiders were rescued, half-starved, by an Air America helicopter.[6] There were three more raids on Moung Sen, the last in October 1971.[7] Commando Raiders would also be used over the next couple of years as Pathfinders, in such activities as Phou Khao Kham,[8] Operation Phou Phiang II,[9] Operation Maharat,[10] and some other occasions.[11]

MR 3 operations

In early 1970, the Commando Raiders undertook their first espionage mission. Under the code name Chicken Fight, they were helilifted by Air America to the Laotian/Vietnamese border. Once emplaced, the 30 man team infiltrated cross-border 14 kilometers northeast of the Nape Pass to overlook a People's Army of Vietnam training camp at Rao Qua. Using the five 60mm mortars they carried, the Team fired its 50 rounds of mortar ammunition at 0500 hours on the sleeping camp. Leaving the communist camp in flames, the Team retreated back into Laos for exfiltration.[2]

This success led to a second mission. The Commando Raiders were sent to demolish an antiaircraft site near the Mu Gia Pass crossing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Their backup target was a North Vietnamese POL line. Though they were unsuccessful in this early April raid, they followed up with two more later nondescript forays against the Trail.[12]

By this time, teams were being manned according to the planned objectives of missions from their base at Whiskey-3. There were from 120 to 200 Commandos available for duty at a given moment. Team missions were usually shallow incursions from Military Region 3 into North Vietnam. These were generally indirect fire missions with improvised rocket launchers, with an idling helicopter waiting to whisk the Commandos away afterwards. There was no feedback concerning enemy casualties or damage. However, an unsuccessful raid on Lang Mo on 21 October 1970 ended this tactic.[13]

From December 1970 through January 1971, the Raiders retrained. After a few minor actions, in April 1971, 24 Raiders in PAVN garb, with three 81mm mortars, were inserted north of Mu Gia to attack a PAVN rest area. The Raiders' landing zone had been used previously by MR 4 Raiders; now it was occupied by PAVN troops. The incoming Raiders were under fire as soon as they touched down. Their CIA adviser lost radio contact with them. Five weeks later, the first of five survivors made it back to friendly territory.[14]

About the 20th of November, Commando Raiders secured a landing zone north of Ban Phone to start Operation Thao La.[15]

In December 1971, Savannakhet Unit closed its Commando Raider program. Reason cited was the results of the program were not worth the investment made.[14]

MR 4 operations

In July 1970, a contingent of 30 Commando Raiders was sent to Khong Island in Military Region 4. While there, a dozen of them staged one of their raids via mortar fire on a PAVN contingent in northern Cambodia. The Raiders also laid ambushes along the communist supply line down the Se Kong River. Pakse Unit of the CIA was impressed enough to raise and train their own 50 Raiders in late Summer. These Raiders were stationed at Pakse Site 22, and were used in operations against communist-occupied Attopeu. However, by November, communist advances had caused their relocation to 26 kilometers north of Pakse.[16]

On 27 July 1971, the Commando Raiders were used as a pathfinder force to secure the airfield at Salavan; they did so in 12 minutes with no opposition.[17]

In late 1971, the MR 4 Commando Raiders were used as light infantry in operations along Route 23. Their adviser resigned to protest their misuse.[18]

On 18 October 1972, A Raider team was inserted via parachute on the pathfinder mission that opened Operation Black Lion III.[19]

Results

As the war progressed, the Commando Raiders shifted from their original special operations role to becoming pathfinders instead.[20]

See also

SPECOM

Endnotes

  1. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 237–238.
  2. 1 2 3 Conboy, Morrison, p. 238.
  3. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 238–239.
  4. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 315, 321 note 13.
  5. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 243–244, 267, 315.
  6. 1 2 Conboy, Morrison, p. 244.
  7. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 244–245.
  8. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, p. 302.
  9. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, p. 347.
  10. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, p. 337.
  11. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 339, 341.
  12. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, p. 239.
  13. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 241–242.
  14. 1 2 Conboy, Morrison, p. 242.
  15. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, p. 308.
  16. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 239–240.
  17. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, p. 304.
  18. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 242–243.
  19. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, p. 352.
  20. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 245, 352.

References

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