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SPECOM

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Special Commando
Commando Speciale
Active1972 – May 1975
CountryLaos Kingdom of Laos
AllegianceRoyal Lao Government
BranchRoyal Lao Army
TypeCommando
RoleAir assault
Anti-tank warfare
Artillery observer
Close-quarters combat
Counterinsurgency
Direct action
Direct fire
Executive protection
Force protection
Forward air control
Irregular warfare
Jungle warfare
Long-range penetration
Mountain warfare
Parachuting
Patrolling
Raiding
Reconnaissance
Riot control
Special operations
Special reconnaissance
Tracking
Size412 men (at height)
Part ofRoyal Lao Armed Forces
HeadquartersSeno, near Savannakhet
Nickname(s)Special Commando (SPECOM), CCS in French
EngagementsBattle of Thakhek
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Thao Ty
Oroth Insisiengmay

SPECOM was the English acronym for Special Commando or Commando Speciale in French, the commando unit of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (commonly known by its French acronym FAR), which operated during the final phase of the Laotian Civil War from 1972 to 1975.

Origins

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In late 1971 construction began on a training centre at Seno, near Savannakhet in the Third Military Region (MR 3), to provide Commando instruction for the Royal Lao Army (RLA) newly formed 2nd Strike Division (2éme Division d'Intervention). The training cadre, consisting of several Laotian graduates of the U.S. Special Forces (USSF) course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in the United States,[1] were converted into the core of an elite Special Commando Company (French: Compagnie Commando Speciale – CCS) or SPECOM for short. The new unit was actually the brainchild of Brigadier general Thao Ty, the commanding officer of the 2nd Strike Division and reported directly to him.[2][3]

Put in charge of creating the new formation was Captain Oroth Insisiengmay, a Fort Bragg and Fort Benning graduate who had earlier been a member of the CATC training staff. Assisting Oroth was Lieutenant Khammouang Santy, one of three FAR students who had recently completed Jungle warfare, weapons, and Commando courses in Australia. Together, Oroth and Khammouang solicited volunteers from the RLA. The 21st Brigade donated a full company – of its worst troops. Building on this dubious foundation, a set of M60 machine guns was obtained from CIA irregular troops in trade and M72 LAW Anti-tank rocket launchers were siphoned off from Phou Khao Khouai. In addition, a sympathetic DepChief ultimately diverted Jungle boots, rucksacks, and some early-model XM148 grenade launchers fixed under M16 rifles. Thao Ly even donated to the group a pair of Willys M38A1 MD jeeps, which were emblazoned with divisional insignia and fitted with pintle-mounted M60 machine guns at the back.[4]

By mid-1972 SPECOM had expanded from a single understrength company to two airborne reconnaissance (recon) companies; a third was raised in mid-1973 when 140 former para-commandos were transferred from the Savannakhet-based irregular Commando Raider Teams (CRTs)[5][6] and a heavy weapons company was added, bringing the unit to battalion strength. Captain Oroth held the overall command of the new unit, whilst Lt. Khammouang was encharged of its Headquarters' Company.[4]

Structure and organization

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By early 1974, SPECOM strength reached 412 officers and enlisted men, all airborne qualified volunteers, organized into a reinforced battalion comprising one headquarters (HQ), four company HQ sections, three recon companies – 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, each broken into 12-men teams – and a heavy weapons company (4th).[7] Commanded by Captain (later, Major) Oroth Insisiengmay, the unit was headquartered in Seno, near Savannakhet and was subordinated to the 2nd Strike Division until the latter formation's disbandment in April of that same year, when the former was transferred to the RLA Airborne Forces command.[7][8]

Operational history 1972–75

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See also: List of military operations of the Laotian Civil War

The missions performed by SPECOM during its brief existence were varied, ranging from crash site recovery, long range strategic and tactical reconnaissance to deep penetration raids, identify targets for fire support with airstrikes, artillery, and mortars in dangerous areas, pathfinder, providing security to military bases that are at high risk of attack, special operations behind enemy lines, and support riot control duties.

The first true combat assignment of the SPECOM occurred in late 1972, when they were used to secure a H-34 helicopter crash site north-east of Seno. In the opening months of 1973, SPECOM recon teams were sent to Thakhek to bolster its defences when North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units began pressuring the city. By mid-year elements of the unit were heli-lifted again north-east of Seno to place a listening station near the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the main NVA supply route extended through Laos. A planned SPECOM assault into the national capital Vientiane after a group of renegade Royal Lao Air Force (RLAF) officers led by former Brigadier general Thao Ma captured Wattay Airbase in August was cancelled when their coup attempt quickly fell apart.[9][10] In April 1974 SPECOM's 2nd recon company was moved to Vientiane to provide VIP security to rightist members of the new coalition government.[7]

Disbandement

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In May 1974 the FAR High Command dissolved the ineffective 2nd Strike Division and elements of its three understrength brigades were reorganized into three new parachute battalions (Bataillons de Parachutistes – BP), the 711er, 712e, and 713e BPs grouped into the RLA's 7th Para Brigade raised at Seno under the command of Colonel Bounthavy Phousangiem. SPECOM was then converted into the brigade's fourth parachute battalion, 714e BP.[11] Elements of 714e BP were deployed in early 1975 to Thakhek to reinforce local Royal Lao Police (PRL) and RLA infantry units in an unsuccessful attempt to quell pro-communist demonstrations. By May 1975 the 7th Para Brigade was disbanded after Pathet Lao guerrilla forces took control of Vientiane.[7]

Weapons and equipment

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The SPECOM used the standard weaponry and equipment of US origin issued to FAR units, complemented by captured Soviet or Chinese small-arms such as AK-47 assault rifles that allowed its personnel to use ammunition retrieved from enemy caches while on operations. The unit also fielded crew-served heavy weapons, such as mortars and recoilless rifles.

Vehicles

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See also

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Endnotes

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  1. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), p. 19.
  2. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75 (1989), p. 13.
  3. ^ Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), p. 61.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Conboy, The Erawan War – Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974 (2022b), p. 46.
  5. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75 (1989), pp. 41–42, Plate C3.
  6. ^ Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), p. 39.
  7. ^ a b c d Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), p. 19.
  8. ^ Conboy, The Erawan War – Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974 (2022b), p. 48.
  9. ^ http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_349.shtml Retrieved 30 April 2012. Archived March 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Conboy and Morrison, Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos (1995), pp. 406-407.
  11. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75 (1989), p. 47, Plate G3.
  12. ^ a b c d Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), p. 59.
  13. ^ Conboy, The Erawan War – Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974 (2022b), p. 18.
  14. ^ Conboy, The Erawan War – Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974 (2022b), pp. 45-46.

References

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  • Kenneth Conboy and Don Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975, Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., Carrollton, Texas 1994. ISBN 0897473159
  • Kenneth Conboy and Simon McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75, Men-at-arms series 217, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1989. ISBN 9780850459388
  • Kenneth Conboy and Simon McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces, Elite series 33, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1991. ISBN 1-85532-106-8
  • Kenneth Conboy with James Morrison, Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos, Boulder CO: Paladin Press, 1995. ISBN 978-1581605358, 1581605358
  • Ken Conboy, The Erawan War – Volume 1: The CIA Paramilitary Campaign in Laos, 1961-1969, Asia@War Volume 24, Helion & Company Limited, Warwick UK 2021. ISBN 978-1-804510-65-0
  • Ken Conboy, The Erawan War – Volume 2: The CIA Paramilitary Campaign in Laos, 1969-1974, Asia@War Volume 28, Helion & Company Limited, Warwick UK 2022a. ISBN 978-1-915113-59-7
  • Ken Conboy, The Erawan War – Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974, Asia@War Volume 37, Helion & Company Limited, Warwick UK 2022b. ISBN 978-1-804512-87-6

Further reading

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  • Gordon L. Rottman and Ron Volstad, US Army Special Forces 1952–84, Elite series 4, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1985. ISBN 9780850456103
  • Gordon L. Rottman and Kevin Lyles, Green Beret in Vietnam 1957–73, Warrior series 28, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2002. ISBN 9781855325685
  • Khambang Sibounheuang (edited by Edward Y. Hall), White Dragon Two: A Royal Laotian Commando's Escape from Laos, Spartanburg, SC: Honoribus Press, 2002. ISBN 978-1885354143
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