Any good books on LRRPs?
Long Range Recon Patrols?
or
Long Run Recovery Protocols?
Or…?
Long Range Recon Patrols
.
There has not been much written on LRRP’s since the Vietnam era. The nomenclature for LRRP (Long Range Reconnaisance Patrol) has since generally changed to be designated either LRSU (Long Range Surveillance Unit) or SR (Special Reconnaisance).
There are two LRSU units that I am immediately familiar with , Comapny “G”, 425th Infantry (Ranger/Airborne) Texas National Guard, and Company “F”, 425th Infantry (Ranger/Airborne) Michigan National Guard. I was a Scout Observer/Light Weapons Specialist in patrol 3 Bravo, Company “F” 425 under the cpable command of Capt’s Koehler and Wangen and our outstanding patrol leader, tab Ranger, HALO, SCUBA, sniper schooled Sgt. Chris Surmacz. He went on to become the First Sergeant of the unit.
LRSU units are tasked with the ultra-secret job of gathering intelligence in unsupported environments around the world, 24/7, before any other troops are commited. They are are eyes and boots on the ground where the drones and satelites and SR-71’s can’t see.
Very little is written about LRSU’s becasue of the highly classified, intensely sensitive nature of their mission. As such, they seldom get any credit- nonthat I am aware of publicy- but have played an enormous role in modern warfare in every conflict since their creation. Their intelligence reports often turn the tide of battle in dramatic and sweeping ways.
The LRSU’s are the eyes and ears of the DOD, The intelligence clearing houses and the President himself. It is not unusual for the reports of four men living in a hole in a country who’s name you can’t pronounce all under the age of 30 to wind up on the President’s desk in under 18 hours.
The Churchhill quote comes to mind: “Never before have so many owed so much to so few.”
Additonally, LRSU’s must regularly complete acts of physical endurance that are super human in nature, covering incredible distances unsupported, on foot, without food and water in hostile areas and usually at night in any environment, from 18,000 foot mountains and the arctic to deserts and jungles.
But unfortunately, the LRSU’s are just one of many fine U.S. military units that receive little recognition.
Here’s a photo on a training mission at Michigan’s Camp Grayling prior to deployment to the European Theater of Operations (ETO) under the control of XVIII Airborne Corps for operation Certain Sentinal, circa 1987:
Notice the old Huey and standard M-16, not what we used when deployed.
