Recondo isn’t the name of a Latin music group or a condo that is being renovated. Some fans of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line of toys, comic books, and animated series may be familiar with the jungle trooper named Recondo. The military intelligence specialist was noted for sporting an Australian bush hat, tiger stripe camouflage trousers, and a handlebar mustache that no military would likely allow. Though the fictional character was the typical G.I. Joe over-the-top stereotype of a Special Forces operator, Recondo served as a callout to the real RECONnaissance commanDO.
Suggesting that Recondo is a unit or even a team would be a mistake.
Rather, it is the term for those U.S. military personnel who have completed specialized infantry training at a Recondo School. One such facility exists at Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg), North Carolina, where five classes per year train about 50 students in a grueling three-week class that includes daily runs, physical training, and at least one helicopter jump.
Origins of the Recondo
While the famed 101st Airborne Division was an elite among elites during the Second World War, when Major General William Westmoreland took command in 1958, he noted a lack of proficiency in small-unit tactics and patrolling.
Westmoreland had been a veteran of the Normandy campaign, and he recognized the importance of having small unit team leaders and individuals who could take the initiative against superior enemy forces. Though the paratroopers of the Second World War were trained in gathering intelligence, recognition of enemy vehicles, woodland survival, rappelling, and hand-to-hand combat, those skills were dropped in the early stages of the Cold War in favor of producing more qualified paratroopers.
The thinking at the time was that it was better to have more soldiers who were proficient at jumping out of an airplane than their ability to fight on the ground. With nearly seven decades of hindsight and from experiences learned in several conflicts, it would be easy to see how that wasn’t exactly a solid plan!
Westmoreland sought to ensure those in the division were again the elite, but the problem was that the ability to train the men was lacking. The U.S. Army was already sending many officers and senior non-commissioned officers (NCOs) to participate in the eight-week Ranger School. However, that wasn’t seen as ideal or even practical to train the entire 101st.
Instead, a new school was set up – employing those who had completed the Ranger training to pass on their skills to the rest of the division. It was soon dubbed the Recondo and trained those Reconnaissance Commandos.
DO or D’oh!
There remains a debate on the name—and while it is accepted that it is for “RECON,” the “DO” (pronounced “dough”) is less clear. Apparently, to Westmoreland, it was more than just a combination of “Reconnaissance Commandos,” as he saw the “DO” come from the World War I nickname for the American soldiers—as in “Doughboys.”
Soldiers of the era were reportedly more accustomed to the Pillsbury TV commercials with the “Pillsbury Dough Boy.” Few wanted to be compared to the pasty-white portly Dough Boy.
To quote Homer Simpson, “D’oh!”
In the end, RECONnaissance commanDO is what stuck!
Recondo in the Vietnam War
Westmoreland would go on to be a controversial figure in American military history for his leadership during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968 and then as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1968 to 1972. His strategy of attrition against the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces proved to be unsuccessful.
Yet, he was arguably a forward thinker regarding the importance of long-range patrolling and small-unit tactics.
When he took command of American forces in the Vietnam War, he again saw the lack of training necessary for the jungle warfare of Southeast Asia. In September 1966, Westmoreland directed that a Recondo School be set up at Nha Trang in Vietnam to teach those aspects of unconventional warfare. The training was directed by Ranger-qualified instructors from the 5th Special Forces Group. It ensured that those who graduated from the school would learn the skills of patrolling, ambush, sabotage, escape, and evasion.
The new Recondo School was originally intended to train U.S. Special Forces and their South Vietnamese counterparts. However, its success led to its expansion accordingly. Within just a few years, half the students were from regular U.S. Army units and then soldiers from other nations.
According to the History of MACV-SOG, “The school trained selected troops from all Free World Military Assistance Forces in the long-range reconnaissance techniques developed and employed by Project DELTA. The school was able to conduct the following training: a three-week reconnaissance-commando course, with a maximum school capacity of 120 students–a class of 60 students began training every two weeks; a one-week airborne course for reconnaissance-commando students; mandatory subject training such as escape and evasion and survival; a one-week long-range reconnaissance patrol course for men assigned to Projects DELTA, SIGMA and OMEGA and later the Command and Control elements of MACV-SOG; and special training such as high altitude-low opening parachuting, scuba and/or other training missions as required.”
Class in Session
The new Recondo School was open to soldiers and marines from the United States, South Vietnam, South Korea, Australia, and the Philippines. Students were taught not only tactics but skills that included map reading and communication techniques, including proper message reporting. Medical training was also part of the curriculum.
To qualify for the Recondo School, would-be attendees had to be “in-country” for at least one month and have at least six months remaining on their tour upon completion. As We Are Mighty reported, “Students also had to have a combat arms MOS and an actual or pending assignment to an LRRP unit. Finally, they had to be in excellent physical shape and be proficient in general military knowledge.”
Though it was born out of the training that paratroopers received to confront German soldiers in Europe during World War II, the Recondo School offered weapons training on the small arms supplied to the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces provided by the Communist Bloc. Special attention was also paid to mines and booby traps.
One of the core tenets of the Recondo School was patrolling, and while it might not seem like something that needs to be taught, it proved vital against an enemy that relied on concealment. Students spent more than 300 hours training, an average of 12 hours a day. The final exam included an actual combat patrol.
Though Westmoreland’s successor, General Creighton Abrams (for whom the M1 Abrams main battle tank is named), closed the school in December 1970, the Recondo name and training continue. The United States Military Academy at West Point also maintains a challenge, originally setting up a course when Westmoreland was the school’s superintendent.
Today, the legacy of the original Recondo training regime lives on with the modern U.S. Army’s Long-range surveillance (LRS), Reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA), and United States Marine Air-Ground Task Force Reconnaissance – all of which derive their training from those set up with the original Recondo School.
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