Commando Raiders
| Commando Raiders Commando Raider Teams |
|
|---|---|
| Active | 1968 - 1973 |
| Country |
 Kingdom of Laos
|
| Allegiance | Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Royal Lao Government |
| Type | Special Forces |
| Role | Reconnaissance, Commando, Intelligence-gathering |
| Size | 200 men (at height) |
| Part of | Royal Lao Armed Forces |
| Headquarters |
Pha Khao "Whiskey-3" Camp, near Savannakhet PS 22 Camp, near Pakse |
| Nickname(s) | Raiders, CRTs |
| Engagements |
Operation Counterpunch Operation Golden Mountain Operation Phou Phiang II Operation Maharat Operation Thao La Operation Sayasila Operation Black Lion III |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
(unknown) |
The Commando Raiders or Commando Raider Teams (CRTs) were a Laotian elite paramilitary Special Operations and pathfinder force, which operated closely with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the final phase of the Laotian Civil War, from 1968 to 1973.
In late 1968, the Savannakhet Unit of the CIA decided to raise a special irregular commando raider unit for specialised ‘behind the lines’ missions, prisoner-of-war rescue, cross-border raids, reconnaissance, and crash-site recovery along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Taking especial care to select educated and physically fit young Laotian candidates, two separate groups or "classes" of 40 men each were raised during early 1969. There was a class from Military Region 2 of northern Laos and another from southern Laos; in Autumn 1969, another class of 60 volunteers from Savannakhet was enrolled into the Commando Raiders program.
In March 1969, a U.S. Special Forces (USSF) 17-man team was sent to Phitscamp, Thailand, in order to set up a training camp there for the Commando Raiders' course. Some of the USSF team's members had prior experience in unconventional warfare as participants in the earlier Operation Pincushion or with the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG); the latter organization devised the three-month curriculum for the training program to be held at Phitscamp. The two early classes were trained separately from one another for two main reasons: one was the animosity between the classes, which had different ethnical backgrounds; the other was that the American trainers did not want the trainees to discover that the pay rates differed between the two classes, with the southerners receiving higher wages.
Upon arriving to Phitscamp, the trainees were divided into eight-man teams, with a USSF adviser being assigned to each team. As part of their training programme, they were familiarized with both friendly and enemy weaponry and equipment they would use on their missions. Besides attending weapons handling and Commando courses, the teams were also given parachute training just before their graduation in August 1969. After completing the Commando Raider course, they were then sent to their operational base in Laos, an isolated CIA camp located northeast of Savannakhet dubbed "Whiskey-3".
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Wikipedia