SPECOM

Special Commando
Special Commando
Commando Speciale
Active	1972 – May 1975
Country	Kingdom of Laos
Allegiance	Royal Lao Government
Branch	Royal Lao Army
Type	Commando
Role	Air 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
Size	412 men (at height)
Part of	Royal Lao Armed Forces
Headquarters	Seno, near Savannakhet
Nickname(s)	Special Commando (SPECOM), CCS in French
Engagements	Battle of Thakhek
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Thao Ty

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

In late 1971 construction began on a training centre 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, directly under the commanding officer of the 2nd Strike Division, Brigadier general Thao Ty.^[2]^[3] 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 Savannakhet-based irregular Commando Raider Teams (CRTs)^[4]^[5]

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).[6] 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]

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

coup attempt quickly fell apart.^[8]^[9] In April 1974 SPECOM's 2nd recon company was moved to Vientiane to provide VIP security to rightist members of the new coalition government.^[10]

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 (Bataillons de Parachutistes – 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.[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.^[12]

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

recoilless rifles

.

United States Smith & Wesson Model 10 Revolver
United States Colt.45 M1911A1 Pistol
United States Smith & Wesson Model 39 Pistol
Soviet Union TT-33 Pistol
China Type 56 assault rifle
China Type 56-1 Assault rifle
Soviet Union AKM Assault rifle
United States M16A1 Assault rifle^[13]
United States CAR-15 Assault carbine
Soviet Union RPD Light machine gun
China Type 56 Light machine gun
United States M1918A2 BAR Light machine gun
United States M60 Light machine gun^[14]
United States M72 LAW Anti-tank rocket launcher
United States M79 grenade launcher
United States XM148 grenade launcher^[15]
United States M203 grenade launcher
United States Browning M1919A4 .30 Cal Medium machine gun
Browning M2HB .50 Cal Heavy machine gun
M2 4.2 inch mortar
107 mm
United States M67 recoilless rifle 90 mm
M18 Claymore anti-personnel mines

Endnotes

^ Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), p. 19.
^ Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75 (1989), p. 13.
^ Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), p. 61.
^ Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75 (1989), pp. 41–42, Plate C3.
^ Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), p. 39.
^ Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), p. 19.
^ Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), p. 19.
^ http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_349.shtml Retrieved 30 April 2012. Archived March 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
^ Conboy and Morrison, Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos (1995), pp. 406-407.
^ Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), p. 19.
^ Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75 (1989), p. 47, Plate G3.
^ Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), p. 19.
^ Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), p. 59.
^ Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), p. 59.
^ Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), p. 59.