SPECOM was the English acronym for Special Commando or in French, the commando unit of the

Royal Lao Armed Forces The Royal Lao Armed Forces (french: Forces Armées du Royaume), best known by its French acronym FAR, were the official armed defense forces of the Kingdom of Laos, a state that existed from 1949 to 1975 in what is now the Laos, Lao People's Dem ...

(commonly known by its French acronym FAR), which operated during the final phase of the

Laotian Civil War The Laotian Civil War (1959–1975) was a civil war in Laos which was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. It is associated with the Cambodian Civil War and the Vietnam War ...

from 1972 to 1975.

Origins

In late 1971 construction began on a training centre at Seno, near

Savannakhet Savannakhet (ສະຫວັນນະເຂດ), officially named Kaysone Phomvihane ( lo, ໄກສອນ ພົມວິຫານ; th, ไกสอน พมวิหาน) since 2005 and previously known as ''Khanthaboury'' (ຄັນທະ ...

, to provide

Commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...

instruction for the

Royal Lao Army The Royal Lao Army (french: Armée royale du Laos – ARL), also designated by its anglicized title RLA, was the Land Component of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR), the official military of the Kingdom of Laos during the North Vietnamese invasi ...

(RLA) newly formed 2nd Strike Division (). The training cadre, consisting of several Laotian graduates of the

U.S. 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 ...

(USSF) course at

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cum ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, in the United States, were converted into the core of an elite Special Commando Company (French: ''Compagnie Commando Speciale'' – CCS) or SPECOM for short, directly under the commanding officer of the 2nd Strike Division,

Brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Thao Ty. Initial progress was rapid and 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

-based irregular Commando Raider Teams (CRTs) and a heavy weapons company was added, bringing the unit to battalion strength.

Structure and organization

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). The unit was headquartered in Seno, near

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.

Operational history 1972–75

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 Thakhek (Lao language: ທ່າແຂກ), the capital of Khammouane Province, is a town in south-central Laos on the Mekong River. The Third Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge, linking Thakhek and Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, across the river, started in ...

to bolster its defences when

North Vietnamese Army The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed win ...

(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 A radio listening station (also: listening post, radio intercept station or wireless intercept station, W/T station for wireless telegraphy) is a facility used for military reconnaissance, especially telecommunications reconnaissance (also kno ...

near the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the main NVA supply route extended through

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

. A planned SPECOM assault into the national capital

Vientiane Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...

after renegade

Royal Lao Air Force The Royal Lao Air Force (french: Aviation Royale Laotiènne – AVRL), best known to the Americans by its English acronym RLAF, was the air force component of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR), the official military of the Royal Lao Government an ...

(RLAF) officers led by former

Thao Ma Brigadier-General Thao Ma (1931–1973) was a Laotian military and political figure of the Laotian Civil War and the Vietnam War (aka Second Indochina War). Thao Ma began his military career as a paratrooper in the French Union Army, when Fran ...

captured Wattay Airbase in August was cancelled when their coup attempt quickly fell apart. In April 1974 SPECOM's 2nd recon company was moved to Vientiane to provide VIP security to rightist members of the new coalition government.

Disbandement

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 ( – BP), the 711er, 712e, and 713e BPs grouped into the RLA's 7th Para Brigade raised at Seno. SPECOM was then converted into the brigade's fourth parachute battalion, 714e BP. Elements of 714e BP were deployed in early 1975 to

to reinforce local

Royal Lao Police The Royal Lao Police ( French: ''Police Royale Laotiènne'' – PRL), was the official national police force of the Kingdom of Laos from 1949 to 1975, operating closely with the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR) during the Laotian Civil War between 1 ...

(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 The Pathet Lao ( lo, ປະເທດລາວ, translit=Pa thēt Lāo, translation=Lao Nation), officially the Lao People's Liberation Army, was a communist political movement and organization in Laos, formed in the mid-20th century. The gro ...

guerrilla forces took control of Vientiane.

Weapons and equipment

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 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas operated, gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian s ...

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 A recoilless rifle, recoilless launcher or recoilless gun, sometimes abbreviated "RR" or "RCL" (for ReCoilLess) is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some form of countermass such as propel ...

. *

Smith & Wesson Model 10 The Smith & Wesson Model 10, previously known as the Smith & Wesson .38 Hand Ejector Model of 1899, the Smith & Wesson Military & Police or the Smith & Wesson Victory Model, is a K-frame revolver of worldwide popularity. In production since 1899 ...

Revolver * Colt.45 M1911A1 Pistol *

Smith & Wesson Model 39 The Smith & Wesson Model 39 is a semi-automatic pistol developed for the United States Army service pistol trials of 1954. After the Army abandoned its search for a new pistol, the Model 39 went on the civilian market in 1955 and was the first of ...

Pistol *

TT-33 The TT-30,, "7.62 mm Tokarev self-loading pistol model 1930", TT stands for Tula-Tokarev) commonly known simply as the Tokarev, is an out-of-production Soviet semi-automatic pistol. It was developed in 1930 by Fedor Tokarev as a service pist ...

Pistol *

Type 56 assault rifle The Type 56 (; literally; "Assault Rifle, Model of 1956") is a Chinese 7.62×39mm rifle. It is a variant of the Soviet-designed AK-47 (specifically Type 3) and AKM rifles.Miller, David (2001). ''The Illustrated Directory of 20th Century Guns''. ...

* Type 56-1 Assault rifle *

AKM The AKM () is an assault rifle designed by Soviet small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1959. It is the most ubiquitous rifle of the Kalashnikov rifles. It was developed as a replacement to the AK-47 introduced a decade prior. Introduc ...

Assault rifle * M16A1 Assault rifle * CAR-15 Assault carbine * RPD Light machine gun * Type 56 Light machine gun * M1918A2 BAR Light machine gun * M60 Light machine gun *

M72 LAW The M72 LAW (light anti-tank weapon, also referred to as the light anti-armor weapon or LAW as well as LAWS: light anti-armor weapons system) is a portable one-shot unguided anti-tank weapon. The solid rocket propulsion unit was developed in th ...

Anti-tank rocket launcher *

M79 grenade launcher The M79 grenade launcher is a single-shot, shoulder-fired, break-action grenade launcher that fires a 40×46mm grenade, which uses what the US Army calls the High-Low Propulsion System to keep recoil forces low, and first appeared during the V ...

XM148 grenade launcher The XM148 was an experimental 40 mm grenade launcher developed by Colt Firearms as the CGL-4 (Colt Grenade Launcher). Colt manufactured the launcher for field testing during the Vietnam era. After problems with the experimental design were discov ...

M203 grenade launcher The M203 is a single-shot 40 mm under-barrel grenade launcher designed to attach to a rifle. It uses the same rounds as the older stand-alone M79 break-action grenade launcher, which utilizes the high-low propulsion system to keep recoil force ...

* Browning M1919A6 .30 Cal

light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sam ...

* Browning M1919A4 .30 Cal Medium machine gun * Browning M2HB .50 Cal Heavy machine gun * M2 4.2 inch mortar 107 mm *

M67 recoilless rifle The M67 recoilless rifle is a 90 mm (3.55 inch) anti-tank recoilless rifle made in the United States and later in South Korea. It could also be employed in an anti-personnel role with the use of the M590 antipersonnel round. It was designed ...

90 mm *

M18 Claymore anti-personnel mine The Claymore mine is a directional anti-personnel mine developed for the United States Armed Forces. Its inventor, Norman MacLeod, named the mine after a claymore, large medieval Scottish sword. Unlike a conventional land mine, the Claymore is c ...

Vehicles

* Willys M38A1 MD ¼-ton (4×4) jeep: two in service with SPECOM.Conboy, ''The Erawan War – Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974'' (2022b), pp. 45-46.

Endnotes

References

*Kenneth Conboy and Don Greer, ''War in Laos 1954–1975'', Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., Carrollton, Texas 1994. *Kenneth Conboy and Simon McCouaig, ''The War in Laos 1960–75'', Men-at-arms series 217, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1989. *Kenneth Conboy and Simon McCouaig, ''South-East Asian Special Forces'', Elite series 33, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1991. *Kenneth Conboy with James Morrison, ''Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos'', Boulder CO: Paladin Press, 1995. , 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. *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. *Ken Conboy, ''The Erawan War – Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974'', Asia@War Volume 37, Helion & Company Limited, Warwick UK 2022b.