Vietnam War Rangers


Department of the Army for public distribution



The 75th Ranger Regiment is linked directly and historically to the 13 Infantry Companies of the 75th that were active in Vietnam from February 1, 1969 until August 15, 1972. The longest sustained combat history for an American Ranger unit in more than three hundred years of U.S. Army Ranger History. 


The 75th Infantry Regiment was activated in Okinawa during 1954 and traced its lineage to the 475th Infantry Regiment, thence to the 5307th Composite Provisional Unit, popularly known as Merrill's Marauders. 


Historically, company I (Ranger) 75th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division and Company G, (Ranger) 75th Infantry, 23rd Infantry Division (Americal) produced the first two U.S. Army Rangers to be awarded the Medal of Honor as a member of and while serving in a combat Ranger company. Specialist Four Robert D. Law was awarded the first Medal of Honor with I\75 while on long range patrol in Tinh Phoc Province RVN. He was from Texas. Staff Sergeant Robert J. Pruden was awarded the second Medal of Honor with G\75 while on reconnaissance mission in Quang Ni Province RVN. He was from Minnesota. In addition to the two Medal of Honor recipients above, Staff Sergeant Lazlo Rabel was awarded the Medal of Honor while serving with the 74th Infantry Detachment (LRP), a predecessor to Company N, (Ranger) 75th Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade while on a long range patrol Binh Dinh Province, RVN. He was from Pennsylvania. 


Conversion of the Long Range Patrol Companies of the 20th, 50th, 51st, 52nd, 58th, 71st, 78th, and 79th Infantry Detachment and Company D, 151st Infantry Long Range Patrol of the Indiana National Guard, to Ranger Companies of the 75th Infantry began on February 1, 1969. Only Company D, 151st retained their unit identity and did not become a 75th Ranger Company, however, they did become a Ranger Company and continued the mission in Vietnam. Companies C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O and P (Ranger) 75th Infantry conducted Ranger missions for three years and seven months every day of the year while in Vietnam.



Like the original unit from whence their lineage as Neo Marauders was drawn, 75th Rangers came from Infantry, Artillery, Engineers, Signal, Medical, Military Police, Food Service, Parachute Riggers and other Army units. They were joined by former adversaries, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army Soldiers who became "Kit Carson Scouts", and fought alongside the Rangers against their former units and comrades. Unlike Rangers of other eras in the 20th century who trained in the United States or in friendly nations overseas, LRP and Rangers in Vietnam were activated, trained and fought in the same geographical areas in Vietnam. 


Training was a combat mission for volunteers. Volunteers were assigned, not accepted in the various Ranger Companies, until, after a series of patrols, the volunteer had passed the acid test of a Ranger, Combat, and was accepted by his peers. Following the peer acceptance, the volunteer was allowed to wear the black beret and wear the Red, White and Black scroll shoulder sleeve insignia bearing his Ranger Company identity. 


All Long Range Patrol Companies and 75th Ranger Companies were authorized Parachute pay. Modus Operandi for patrol insertion varied, however, the helicopter was the primary means for insertion and exfiltration of enemy rear areas. Other methods included foot, wheeled, tracked vehicle, airboats, Navy Swift Boats, and stay behind missions where the Rangers remained in place as a larger tactical unit withdrew. 



False insertions by helicopter was a means of security from ever present enemy trail watchers. General missions consisted of locating the enemy bases and lines of communication. Special missions included wiretap, prisoner snatch, Platoon and Company size Raid Missions and Bomb Damage Assessment (BDA) following B-52 Arc-Light missions. 


Staffed initially by graduates of the U.S. Army Ranger School (at the outset of the war, later by volunteers, some of whom were graduates of the in-country Ranger School, 
the Recondo School and, line company cadres), Paratroopers, and Special Forces trained men, the bulk of the Ranger volunteers came from the Soldiers who had no chance to attend the schools, but carried the fight to the enemy. 


These Rangers remained with their units through some of the most difficult patrolling actions in Army history, and frequently fought much larger enemy forces when compromised on their reconnaissance missions. 


Army Chief of Staff Creighton Abrams, who observed the 75th Ranger operations in Vietnam as Commander of all U.S. Forces there, selected the 75th Rangers as the role model for the first U.S. Army Ranger units formed during peacetime in the history of the U.S. Army.