[Powerbits]

https://youtu.be/S0_8vDrZ__M

 

Fearing the growing threat of the Viet Cong insurgency to the South Vietnamese government, President John F. Kennedy began activating special forces units in anticipation of their insurgency combat expertise in 1961. The 5th Special Forces Group was among those units activated in 1961, and while attending training at the Special Warfare Center, Kennedy visited the units and personally approved the distinctive Special Force’s Green Beret. The 5th SFG was first deployed as a battlefield advisory group for the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). By February 1965, it was deployed as a mainstay battle force once the war was in full swing. They used unconventional and conventional warfare, and were some of the last soldiers the United States pulled out of Vietnam.

In March 1962, Navy SEALs were deployed to South Vietnam as advisors for the purpose of training Army of the Republic of Vietnam commandos in the same methods they were trained themselves.

The CIA began using SEALs in covert operations in early 1963. The SEALs were involved in the CIA sponsored Phoenix Program where it targeted key North Vietnamese Army personnel and Vietcong sympathizers for capture and assassination.

The SEALs were initially deployed in and around Da Nang, training the South Vietnamese in combat diving, demolitions, and guerrilla/anti-guerrilla tactics. As the war continued, the SEALs found themselves positioned in the Rung Sat Special Zone where they were to disrupt the enemy supply and troop movements and in the Mekong Delta to fulfill riverine operations, fighting on the inland waterways.

Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) was a highly classified, multi-service United States special operations unit which conducted covert unconventional warfare operations prior to and during the Vietnam War.

The unit conducted strategic reconnaissance missions in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), Laos, and Cambodia; carried out the capture of enemy prisoners, rescued downed pilots, and conducted rescue operations to retrieve prisoners of war throughout Southeast Asia; and conducted clandestine agent team activities and psychological operations.

The unit participated in most of the significant campaigns of the Vietnam War, including the Gulf of Tonkin incident which precipitated increased American involvement, Operation Steel Tiger, Operation Tiger Hound, the Tet Offensive, Operation Commando Hunt, the Cambodian Campaign, Operation Lam Son 719, and the Easter Offensive. The unit was formally disbanded and replaced by the Strategic Technical Directorate Assistance Team 158 on 1 May 1972.

Special Air Service Regiment was responsible for providing intelligence to both the 1st Australian Task Force and US forces. From 1966 SASR squadrons rotated through Vietnam on year-long deployments, with each of the three Sabre Squadrons completing two tours before the last squadron was withdrawn in 1971. Missions included medium range reconnaissance patrols, observation of enemy troop movements, and long range offensive operations and ambushing in enemy dominated territory. Operating in small groups of four to six men they moved more slowly than conventional infantry through jungle or bushland and were heavily armed, employing a high rate of fire to simulate a larger force on contact and to support their withdrawal.

The SASR operated closely with the New Zealand SAS, with a troop being attached to each Australian squadron from late 1968. In a six-year period the Australian and New Zealand SAS in Vietnam conducted nearly 1,200 patrols and inflicted heavy casualties on the Viet Cong. Australian SASR personnel also worked with US Army Special Forces in Vietnam, and provided instructors to the MACV Recondo School, and then to the LRRP Training Wing at the AATTV-operated Van Kiep Training Centre from 1967. Some members of the regiment also served with MACV-SOG units, with soldiers often serving on exchange with American soldiers.

A troop from 1 Ranger Squadron, NZSAS known as 4 Troop, New Zealand Special Air Service, was deployed to the Republic of South Vietnam. The Troop consisted of one officer and 25 other ranks, was based in Nui Dat, South Vietnam and served in the 1st Australian Task Force, attached to the Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR).The troopers were primarily employed on Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrols to collect information for 1ATF and were sometimes additionally tasked to conduct ambushes of communist forces.

The NZSAS did a total of 155 patrols in their 26 months of service in Vietnam and it was a NZ patrol that made the last contact with enemy forces before Australian and New Zealand SAS operations ceased, killing two Viet Cong soldiers north-west of Thua Tich on 4 February 1971.

[The Diddlerr]

Excellent write up, was not aware that New Zealand had deployed SAS troops in those numbers to Vietnam, always thought they mainly deployed artillerymen, which is basically akin to infantry anyway in vietnam given that firebases were often directly assaulted. Interesting that they were deployed on long range patrols in the tactical IV corps, always thought those LRRPS were done further up in second and 1st TCZ, around the central highlands and into laos and cambodia. Thanks again for this.

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