Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol, or LRRP (pronounced and sometimes spelled "LuRP"), were special six-man teams primarily made up of Rangers utilized in the Vietnam War on highly dangerous special operations missions deep into enemy territory. Official force name 75th Ranger Regiment Rangers Other names Airborne Rangers Army Rangers Task Force Ranger U.S. Army Rangers Branch U.S. Army Chain of Command USASOC Description Special Operations Force, rapidly deployable light infantry force. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... Special forces or special operations forces is a term used to describe relatively small military units raised and trained for reconnaissance, unconventional warfare and special operations. ...

History

The first ever group to be formed to provide Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) was the Long Range Desert Group, made famous by its successor, the Special Air Service Regiment. In the mid to late 1960s, the U.S. Army Special Forces trained this unit for the purpose of locating enemy units in guerrilla warfare, as well as in artillery spotting, intelligence gathering, forward air control, and bomb damage assessment. Companies were organized into two platoons, each with eight six-man patrols. Training was notoriously rigorous. The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) was a British Army unit during World War II. The unit was founded in Egypt following the Italian declaration of war (June 1940) by Major Ralph A. Bagnold with the assistance of Captains Clayton and Shaw, acting under the direction of General Wavell. ... The Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) is the principal special forces unit of the British Army. ... This article is about the U.S. Special Operations Force. ... “Guerrilla” redirects here. ... The reporting format used by an observer is left/right/long/short,(MOS 96D, MOS 13 series) The information is dated and needs to be updated, preferrably with more details ideally from actual participants. ... A forward air controller (FAC) is a qualified individual who, from a forward position on the ground or in the air, directs the action of military aircraft engaged in close air support of land forces. ... BDA Photo of a military cable station in Basra, Iraq Bomb damage assessment, often referred to as BDA, is the practice of assessing damage inflicted on a target by an air campaign. ...

At the beginning of 1969, the LuRPs were folded into a reactivated Army Ranger unit.

Operation

The LRRP operated on reconnaissance and combat patrols, either obtaining highly vital intelligence, or performing highly dangerous raids and ambushes. The tactical employment of LRRPs was later evaluated to be generally used far too dangerously by strategic commanders, who were pleased by the extraordinary kill ratios for LRRPs teams (sometimes reported as high as 400 enemy troops for every LRRP killed). Their use was reconsidered and restructured into modern day Long Range Surveillance (LRS) units. Mixed reconnaissance patrol of the Polish Home Army and the Soviet Red Army during Operation Tempest, 1944 Reconnaissance is the military term for the active gathering of information about an enemy, or other conditions, by physical observation. ... Modern Long Range Surveillance, or LRS (pronounced lurse), units (LRSUS)are specially employed elite surveillance units that are utilized by Military Intelligence (Example: 313th Military Intelligence Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division) for intelligence gathering deep into hostile territories. ...

Writes one commentator: "During the course of the war LuRPs conducted around 23,000 long-range patrols, of this amount two-thirds resulted in enemy sightings. LuRPs also accounted for approximately 10,000 enemy KIA through ambushes, sniping, air strikes, and calling in artillery fire." ^[1]

International use

Other units known as LRRPs can be found in international militaries, such as those trained and used by the Military intelligence in Sri Lanka. That particular unit was very successful in covert operations against the LTTE in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. Its members were so successful in assassinating key LTTE figures that many LTTE leaders refused to come out of their jungle bunkers before the 2002 ceasefire was implemented. The Military of Sri Lanka consists of Three Branches which are the Army, Navy, Air Force which comes under the Ministry of Defence. ... LTTE is an acronym or initialism for: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Known for their guerilla warfare forcibly killing every other independent groups aiming for seperate state. ...

In Finland, the long-range reconnaissance patrols (kaukopartio) were especially notable in the Second World War. In Finland operated ErP4, a command of four different long range patrol units (Osasto Paastalo, Osasto Kuismanen, Osasto Vehniäinen and Osasto Marttina. These special forces units did several trips to the russian side and conducted recon and destory missions. For more information visit www.webbisivu.com/longrangepatrols.

President of Finland Mauno Koivisto served in Lauri Törni's (Larry Thorne) unit. Lauri Törnis unit did not work under the structure of ErP4. Törnis unit was an "Ranger" unit that did difficult missions against russian strongholds and attacks. Lauri Törni became an US citizent later on and died later in the Vietnam war. Dr. Mauno Henrik Koivisto [IPA: mÉ‘uno henrik koiÊ‹isto] (born November 25, 1923) was the President of Finland from 1982 to 1994. ... Lauri Allan Törni (May 28, 1919 – October 18, 1965) was a Finnish Army captain who led an infantry company in Finnish Winter and Continuation War and moved to the United States after the war. ...

The NATO International Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol School (ILRRPS) ^[2] based at Weingarten and then Pfullendorf provided training to LRRP units from the USA, UK, Italy, Germany, Greece, Belgium and Turkey. This article is about the military alliance. ... Location of Weingarten in Germany Weingarten (Baden) is a village in the district of Karlsruhe in South-Western Germany with approx. ... Pfullendorf is a small historic city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. ...

In fiction

• Patrick Sheane Duncan's film 84C MoPic, nominated for numerous awards, depicts the activities of a LRRP.
• In Taxi Driver, the main character was member of the LRRP before returning to New York.

Patrick Sheane Duncan is an American writer, producer and director known for his film Mr. ... 84C MoPic is a 1989 American film written and directed by Patrick Sheane Duncan depicting a fictional Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol in Vietnam. ... This article is about the 1976 American film. ...

See also

• LRRP ration

The LRRP ration, or LuRP ration, was a U.S. Army field ration, developed during the Vietnam Conflict for use by soldiers assigned to Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols (LRRPs). ...

References