The Royal Thai Army Special Warfare Command ( th, หน่วยบัญชาการสงครามพิเศษ) also known as Pa Wai Airborne ( th, พลร่มป่าหวาย) is the special forces of the
Royal Thai Army
The Royal Thai Army or RTA ( th, กองทัพบกไทย; ) is the army of Thailand and the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces.
History
Origin
The Royal Thai Army is responsible for protecting the kingdom's so ...
. Its headquarters are King Narai Camp in
Lopburi
Lopburi ( th, ลพบุรี, , ) is the capital city of Lopburi Province in Thailand. It is about northeast of Bangkok. It has a population of 58,000. The town (''thesaban mueang'') covers the whole ''tambon'' Tha Hin and parts of Th ...
.
History
The
Royal Thai Army
The Royal Thai Army or RTA ( th, กองทัพบกไทย; ) is the army of Thailand and the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces.
History
Origin
The Royal Thai Army is responsible for protecting the kingdom's so ...
recognizes the importance and necessity of warfare that can confront and reduce the threat from outside the country. It set up a special forces unit on June 4, 1954, at Ban Pa Wai Patan, Lopburi. Royal Thai Army special forces settled was first known as
Parachute Infantry Battalion, with Lieutenant Colonel Tianchai Sirisumpan as the battalion commander.
The Parachute Infantry Battalion acted according to the plans set out by the
Royal Thai Army
The Royal Thai Army or RTA ( th, กองทัพบกไทย; ) is the army of Thailand and the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces.
History
Origin
The Royal Thai Army is responsible for protecting the kingdom's so ...
and
Internal Security Operations Command ('Conquer evil by the power of good')
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during its first mission, and its performance was deemed acceptable to supervisors at all levels. As a result, the paratroopers battalion was expanded initially with the goal of protecting the country from the threats posed by communism.
In 1953 the first US Army advisors arrived in Thailand to help the
Royal Thai Army
The Royal Thai Army or RTA ( th, กองทัพบกไทย; ) is the army of Thailand and the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces.
History
Origin
The Royal Thai Army is responsible for protecting the kingdom's so ...
set up an airborne formation. In that year Camp Erawan was established at Lopburi for the fledgling parachute unit. The site had been previously occupied by the
PARU
The Border Patrol Police ( th, ตำรวจตระเวนชายแดน); (BPP) is a Thai paramilitary police under the jurisdiction of the Royal Thai Police, responsible for border security and counterinsurgency.
History
The Thai Bo ...
, which had since moved down to Hua Hin. In the same year Capt. Tienchai Sirisumpan, a company commander in the
1st Infantry Regiment, was sent as one of the first foreign students to
US Army Ranger training at
Fort Benning
Fort Benning is a United States Army post near Columbus, Georgia, adjacent to the Alabama–Georgia border. Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees and civilian employees ...
, Georgia. Tienchai returned to Thailand the following year and was given command in 1955 of the newly designated Airborne Ranger Unit.
In 1956 the Rangers were used together with the BPP on operations along the southern border with
British Malaya
The term "British Malaya" (; ms, Tanah Melayu British) loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. U ...
. During the following year, the Unit secured the capital as Police Gen. Phao was overthrown by
Army commander Field Marshal Sarit. By that time, the Rangers had expanded into an Airborne Ranger Battalion numbering 580 men divided into 26 detachments. Over the next few years the paratroopers conducted field operations throughout the northern provinces, identifying loyal village leaders in the event of a Communist insurgency similar to the ones growing elsewhere in
South-East Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
.
The deteriorating situation in Laos soon commanded the attention of the Rangers. In July 1959 interpreters from the Rangers were sent to Vientiane to begin assisting the Laotian army. These forces were temporarily assigned to Headquarters 333, Thailand's command unit for missions in Laos. Meanwhile, the Laotian 2e Bataillon Parachutiste was sent in November to Lopburi for refresher training. The Laotian 1st Bataillon Parachutiste arrived at Lopburi in mid-1960, but was rushed back after the 2 BP rebelled and took over the capital. In 1961 radio operators and otherspecialists were sent from the Ranger Battalion·to assist the Lao army. In 1963 the Airborne Ranger Battalion was expanded and renamed the Special Forces Group (Airborne). Composed of six companies, the new Group was tasked with unconventional warfare behind enemy lines, psychological warfare operations, counter-insurgency missions, and the raising of village defence units.
The Royal Thai Special Forces (RTSF)' resumed the training of Lao military units in 1965 when parachute and infantry battalions arrived for refresher training at Camp Erawan, Lopburi. In the same year the first two RTSF training teams were sent to northern Laos to train local forces. One Thai sergeant was captured from these teams in May, and was not to be released until 1974. RTSF recon teams also started operating along the
Ho Chi Minh Trail.
RTSF 1966 to 1975
In 1966,
United States Army Special Forces
The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service Berets of the United States Army, headgear, are a special operations special operations force, force of the United States Ar ...
units arrived in Lopburi and began working extensively with the RTSF. By that time an RTSF Special Warfare Center had been established at Camp Narai, Lopburi, with 1 and 2 SF Groups (Airborne). The Special Warfare Commander was Col. Tienchai; SF Groups were commanded by colonels. In addition, 1 Airborne Battalion, commanded by a lieutenant-colonel, and the Quartermaster Aerial Resupply Company came under SWC command at Camp Erawan. The Airborne Battalion's mission was to provide airborne infantry reinforcements for the Army's conventional units.
The RTSF's Laotian missions continued through the late 1960s, with liaison and mobile training teams assigned across Laos. One team was with the
Nam Bac garrison when it fell in January 1968. all personnel were rescued after evading enemy patrols for a week. The RTSF also assigned men to 1 Long Range Reconnaissance Troop of the
Royal Thai Army Expeditionary Division
The Royal Thai Army Volunteer Force ( th, กองพลทหารอาสาสมัคร), or the Black Panthers (กองพลเสือดำ) was a unit of the Royal Thai Army which served in the Vietnam War, replacing the Royal Th ...
, Vietnam, from 1969- 1971. By 1971 the widening war in South-East Asia provided the RTSF with more training missions. The RTSF already ran the Special Warfare School at Lopburi, which included airborne training facilities and a ranger course modelled after the
US Army Ranger School. By this time the RTSF training facilities were considered among the best in A ia. The RTSF stayed involved in Laos, training Lao personnel at Lopburi until 1973 and occasionally sending teams on reconnaissance operations inside Laos. Othcr RTSF personnel manned the Special Battalion at Phitsanulok, which trained foreign students and conducted cross-border operations. The RTSF also provided men for thc Palace Guard in Bangkok. In addition, RTSF Mobile Training Teams spanned Thailand, conducting civic-action projects and training local anti-Communist militia.
In 1972 the SWC had expanded further with the creation of 3 SF Group (Airborne). Also in the SWC were 1 and 2 SF Groups, the Special Warfare School, 1 Airborne Battalion, the Quartermaster Aerial Resupply Company, the Psychological Operations Battalion, and thc Long Range Reconnaissance Company. The Special Warfare Commander was Maj.Gen. Tienchai. In the final years of the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, Thailand was confronted with hostile Communist movements in both
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
and the
Khmer Republic
The Khmer Republic ( km, សាធារណរដ្ឋខ្មែរ, ; french: République khmère) was a pro-United States military-led republican government of Cambodia that was formally declared on 9 October 1970. The Khmer Republic wa ...
. RTSF teams were used on recon operations in Khmer Rouge-held territory along the northern half of the Khmer border. No RTSF personnel were lost on these missions.
RTSF post-Vietnam War
By 1977 4 SF Group (Airborne) had becn raised to strength at Phitsanulok after the Special Battalion was fully absorbed by the RTSF. In the same year 1 Airborne Battalion was taken from the SWC and put under the command of
31st Infantry Regiment,
1st Division (King's Guard). In the late 1970s the RTSF was involved with training local village militia units during the height of the
Communist Party of Thailand
The Communist Party of Thailand ( Abrv: CPT; th, พรรคคอมมิวนิสต์แห่งประเทศไทย, ) was a communist party in Thailand active from 1942 until the 1990s.
Initially known as the Communist Party ...
(CPT)
insurgency
An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregu ...
. RTSF teams also conducted cross-border operations into Cambodia to gain intelligence on CPT training camps set up by thc sympathetic
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. ...
regime.
The RTSF stayed active as a training unit in the early 1980s. Besides helping raise
Thai paramilitary militia, the RTSF also provided assistance to the anti-Communist Cambodian resistance as early as 1979, with expanded programmes for the
Khmer People's National Liberation Front
The Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF, km, រណសិរ្សរំដោះជាតិប្រជាជនខ្មែរ) was a political front organized in 1979 in opposition to the Vietnamese-installed People's Republic of ...
and the National Sihanoukist Army since 1982. Among other recent missions of the RTSF have been operations along the
Cambodian border (prior to October 1987 co-ordinated through Army Operations Center 315), missions along the
Laotian border (previously under AOC 309), and strikes against
Burmese opium warlords. In the mid- 1980s the RTSF trained members of Task Force 838, an-elite unit that oversees the activities of the Cambodian resistance along the Thai Cambodian border.
In July 1982 the four Special Forces Groups under the SWC were renamed 1, 2, 3, and 4 Special Forces Regiments of I Special Forc'es Division (Airborne). At the same time the entire
31st Infantry Regiment,
1st Division (King's Guard), which controlled I Airborne Battalion co-located at Camp Erawan, was redesignated 31st Infantry Regiment 1st Division. The regiment is currently headquartered at Lopburi, with one airborne battalion rotated through Camp Erawan.
In 1984 the Special Warfare Command was established at Lopburi to co-ordinate all Thai Army elite units. With external threats to Thailand's security from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Burma, the Command is given responsibility for waging war outside the borders of the country. The Special Warfare Command is also known as 5 Army Region, marking it as a lieutenant-general's command equal to the four geographical Army Regions.
While not prone to involvement in Thai domestic politics, the RTSF dispatched I I helicopter-loads of paratroopers to Bangkok during a September 1985 coup attempt. Their intervention was largely symbolic, however, since the government was already well in control by the time they arrived. In May Ig86 the RTSF was again poised for intervention in Bangkok when Army commander-in-chief Arthit appeared ready to launch a coup. Although minor counter-terrorist missions were assumed by units of the paramilitary Rangers (not to be confused with ranger graduates of the RTSF Special Warfare School) in August 1984, the RTSF is responsible for responding to major terrorist incidents and hostage-rescue situations. In 1989 RTSF counter-terrorist missions were handled by Task Force go, based in Lopburi.
The RTSF maintains links with SF units around the world. Several joint training exercises are conducted annually with the
US Army Special Forces
The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army.
The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal mis ...
. Exchange training programmes are held with the
Australian SASR and the
South Korean Special Forces, among others. In addition to training their own personnel, the RTSF provides instructors for Royal Thai Army Ranger courses located at the SWC, the Infantry Training Center, and the Cavalry Training Center. All RTSF members must be graduates of the nine-week course. With over three decades of combat experience, the RTSF today stands as one of the most capable elite forces in Asia.
In 1989 the RTSF fielded two full divisions. The Special Warfare Command and the SWC remain at Lopburi. I SF Division is headquartered at Camp Erawan, with one of its regiments at each of Lopburi's three military camps: 1 SF Regt. at Camp Pawai, 2 SF Regt. at Camp Narai, and 3 SF Regt. at Camp Erawan. 2 SF Division moved its permanent headquarters to Chieng Mai in early 1988, having been temporarily quarteredat Lopburi over the previous year. The division has two regiments: 4 SF Regt., formerly the Special Battalion, at Phitsanulok, and 5 SF Regt. at Chieng Mai. The Long Range Reconnaissance Company, Ajrborne Resupply Battalion and Psychological Operations Battalion, which seconded personnel in 1988 to the Displaced Persons Protection Unit along the Thai-Cambodian border, are also at Camp Erawan.
Organization
Royal Thai Army Special Warfare Command Headquarters
* Special Warfare Center
** Special Warfare School
*** Basic Training Course
*** Ranger Training Center
*** Airborne Training Center
*** Special Force Training Center
*** Psychological Operations Training Course
* 1st Special Forces Division
** 1st Special Forces Regiment (Airborne)
*** 1st Special Forces Battalion (Airborne)
*** 2nd Special Forces Battalion (Airborne)
** 2nd Special Forces Regiment (Airborne)
*** 1st Special Forces Battalion (Airborne)
*** 2nd Special Forces Battalion (Airborne)
** 3rd Special Forces Regiment, King's Guard (Airborne)
***
Special Operation Battalion, King's Guard
***
Ranger Battalion, King's Guard
**** 1st Ranger Company, Ranger Battalion, King's Guard
**** 2nd Ranger Company, Ranger Battalion, King's Guard
**** 3rd Ranger Company, Ranger Battalion, King's Guard
** 4th Special Forces Regiment (Airborne)
*** 1st Special Forces Battalion (Airborne)
*** 2nd Special Forces Battalion (Airborne)
** 5th Special Forces Regiment (Airborne)
*** 1st Special Forces Battalion (Airborne)
*** 2nd Special Forces Battalion (Airborne)
**
Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols Company (
LRRP
A long-range reconnaissance patrol, or LRRP (pronounced "lurp"), is a small, well-armed reconnaissance team that patrols deep in enemy-held territory.Ankony, Robert C., ''Lurps: A Ranger's Diary of Tet, Khe Sanh, A Shau, and Quang Tri,'' revised ...
)
** Psychological Operations Battalion
** Quartermaster Aerial Supply Company
** 35th Signal Corp Battalion
*** 1st Signal Corp Company
*** 2nd Signal Corp Company
*** 3rd Signal Corp Company
Weapons
See also
*
Royal Thai Special Force
*
Thai Force Reconnaissance Marine
*
Royal Thai Air Force Security Force Regiment
The RTAF Security Force Command () is a Division size unit in the Royal Thai Air Force. It has been in existence since 1937. They are based near Don Mueang International Airport. The RTAF Security Force Command is the main air force ground forces ...
*
Royal Thai Air Force Special Operations Regiment
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
*
Royal Thai Marine Corps
The Royal Thai Marine Corps or RTMC ( th, ราชนาวิกโยธินแห่งราชอาณาจักรไทย) are the marines of the Royal Thai Navy. The Royal Thai Marine Corps was founded in 1932, when the first batta ...
*
Royal Thai Army
The Royal Thai Army or RTA ( th, กองทัพบกไทย; ) is the army of Thailand and the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces.
History
Origin
The Royal Thai Army is responsible for protecting the kingdom's so ...
*
Royal Thai Navy
The Royal Thai Navy ( Abrv: RTN, ทร.; th, กองทัพเรือไทย, ) is the naval warfare force of Thailand. Established in 1906, it was modernised by the Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartiwongse (1880–1923) who is known as ...
*
Royal Thai Air Force
"Royal Thai Air Force March"
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 9 April 1937 (Royal Thai Air Force Day)
, equipment =
, equipment_label =
, battles ...
External links
thai Army Special Warfare Command official Website
Thai Army Special Warfare School
References
{{Military of Thailand
Special forces of Thailand
Airborne units and formations of Thailand
Military units and formations established in 1954
1954 establishments in Thailand