SPECOM

In late 1971 construction began on a training centre at Seno, near Savannakhet in the Third Military Region (MR 3), to provide Commando instruction for the Royal Lao Army (RLA) newly formed 2nd Strike Division ({{lang|fr|2éme Division d'infanterie d'Intervention}}). The training cadre, consisting of several Laotian graduates of the U.S. Special Forces (USSF) course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in the United States,Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), p. 19. were converted into the core of an elite Special Commando Company (French: Compagnie Commando Speciale – CCS) or SPECOM for short. The new unit was actually the brainchild of Brigadier general Thao Ty, the commanding officer of the 2nd Strike Division and reported directly to him.Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75 (1989), p. 13.Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), p. 61.

Put in charge of creating the new formation was Captain Oroth Insisiengmay, a Fort Bragg and Fort Benning graduate who had earlier been a member of the Combat Arms Training Centre (CATC) training staff at Phou Khao Khouay military base.Conboy, The Erawan War – Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974 (2022b), p. 43. Assisting Oroth was Lieutenant Khammouang Santy, one of three FAR students who had recently completed Jungle warfare, weapons, and Commando courses in Australia. Together, Oroth and Khammouang solicited volunteers from the RLA. The 21st Brigade donated a full company – of its worst troops. Building on this dubious foundation, a set of M60 machine guns was obtained from CIA irregular troops in trade and M72 LAW Anti-tank rocket launchers were siphoned off from Phou Khao Khouay. In addition, a sympathetic Deputy Chief (DepChief) of the Joint US Military Assistance Group Thailand, ultimately diverted Jungle boots, rucksacks, and some early-model XM148 grenade launchers fixed under M16 rifles. Thao Ly even donated to the group a pair of Willys M38A1 MD jeeps, which were emblazoned with divisional insignia and fitted with pintle-mounted M60 machine guns at the back.Conboy, The Erawan War – Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974 (2022b), p. 46.

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)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. and a heavy weapons company was added, bringing the unit to battalion strength. Captain Oroth held the overall command of the new unit, whilst Lt. Khammouang was encharged of its Headquarters' Company.

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).Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), p. 19. Commanded by Captain (later, Major) Oroth Insisiengmay, 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.Conboy, The Erawan War – Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974 (2022b), p. 48.

{{See also|List of military operations of the Laotian Civil War}}

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 H-34 helicopter crash site north-east of Seno. In the opening months of 1973, SPECOM recon teams were sent to Thakhek to bolster its defences when North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units began pressuring the city. By mid-year elements of the unit were heli-lifted again north-east of Seno to place a listening station near the Ho Chi Minh trail, the main NVA supply route extended through Laos. A planned SPECOM assault into the national capital Vientiane after a group of renegade Royal Lao Air Force (RLAF) officers led by former Brigadier general Thao Ma captured Wattay Airbase in August was cancelled when their coup attempt quickly fell apart.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040815052329/http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_349.shtml Article title]}} Retrieved 30 April 2012. Conboy and Morrison, Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos (1995), pp. 406-407. In April 1974 SPECOM's 2nd recon company was moved to Vientiane to provide VIP security to rightist members of the new coalition government.

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 ({{lang|fr|Bataillons de Parachutistes}} – BP), the 711er, 712e, and 713e BPs grouped into the RLA's 7th Para Brigade raised at Seno under the command of Colonel Bounthavy Phousangiem. SPECOM was then converted into the brigade's fourth parachute battalion, 714e BP.Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75 (1989), p. 47, Plate G3. 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. The 7th Para Brigade was disbanded after Pathet Lao guerrilla forces took control of Vientiane on 23 August 1975.

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 AK-47 assault rifles that allowed its personnel to use ammunition retrieved from enemy caches while on operations. The unit also fielded crew-served heavy weapons, such as mortars and recoilless rifles.

• {{USA}} Smith & Wesson Model 10 Revolver
• {{USA}} Colt.45 M1911A1 Pistol
• {{USA}} Smith & Wesson Model 39 Pistol
• {{USSR}} TT-33 Pistol
• {{CHN}} Type 56 assault rifle
• {{CHN}} Type 56-1 Assault rifle
• {{USSR}} AK-47 Assault rifle
• {{USSR}} AKM Assault rifle
• {{USA}} M16A1 Assault rifleConboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), p. 59.
• {{USA}} CAR-15 Assault carbine
• {{USSR}} RPD Light machine gun
• {{CHN}} Type 56 Light machine gun
• {{USA}} M1918A2 BAR Light machine gun
• {{USA}} M60 Light machine gun
• {{USA}} M72 LAW Anti-tank rocket launcher
• {{USA}} M79 grenade launcher
• {{USA}} XM148 grenade launcher
• {{USA}} M203 grenade launcher
• {{USA}} Browning M1919A6 .30 Cal light machine gunConboy, The Erawan War – Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974 (2022b), p. 18.
• {{USA}} Browning M1919A4 .30 Cal Medium machine gun
• {{USA}} Browning M2HB .50 Cal Heavy machine gun
• {{USA}} M2 4.2 inch mortar 107 mm
• {{USA}} M67 recoilless rifle 90 mm
• {{USA}} M18 Claymore anti-personnel mines

• {{USA}} Willys M38A1 MD ¼-ton (4×4) jeep: two in service with SPECOM.Conboy, The Erawan War – Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974 (2022b), pp. 45-46.

• Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces (LLDB)
• Air America (airline)
• Commando Raider Teams
• Directorate of National Coordination
• Laotian Civil War
• Lao People's Armed Forces
• List of weapons of the Laotian Civil War
• Khmer Special Forces
• Military Region 5 Commandos
• Pathet Lao
• Project Unity (Laos)
• Royal Lao Armed Forces
• Royal Lao Army Airborne
• Royal Lao Police
• Special Guerrilla Units (SGU)
• Vietnam War

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

• Kenneth Conboy and Don Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975, Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., Carrollton, Texas 1994. {{ISBN|0897473159}}
• Kenneth Conboy and Simon McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75, Men-at-arms series 217, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1989. {{ISBN|9780850459388}}
• Kenneth Conboy and Simon McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces, Elite series 33, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1991. {{ISBN|1-85532-106-8}}
• Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison, Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos, Boulder CO: Paladin Press, 1995. {{ISBN|978-1581605358}}, 1581605358
• Ken Conboy, The Erawan War – Volume 1: The CIA Paramilitary Campaign in Laos, 1961-1969, Asia@War Volume 24, Helion & Company Limited, Warwick UK 2021. {{ISBN|978-1-804510-65-0}}
• Ken Conboy, The Erawan War – Volume 2: The CIA Paramilitary Campaign in Laos, 1969-1974, Asia@War Volume 28, Helion & Company Limited, Warwick UK 2022a. {{ISBN|978-1-915113-59-7}}
• Ken Conboy, The Erawan War – Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974, Asia@War Volume 37, Helion & Company Limited, Warwick UK 2022b. {{ISBN|978-1-804512-87-6}}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

• Brig. Gen. Soutchay Vongsavanh, RLG Military Operations and Activities in the Laotian Panhandle, Indochina monographs series, United States Army Center of Military History, Washington D.C. 1981. {{ISBN|0-923135-05-7}}, 9780923135058 for 1989 reprint. – [https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA132062.pdf]
• Gordon L. Rottman and Ron Volstad, US Army Special Forces 1952–84, Elite series 4, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1985. {{ISBN|9780850456103}}
• Gordon L. Rottman and Kevin Lyles, Green Beret in Vietnam 1957–73, Warrior series 28, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2002. {{ISBN|9781855325685}}
• Khambang Sibounheuang (edited by Edward Y. Hall), White Dragon Two: A Royal Laotian Commando's Escape from Laos, Spartanburg, SC: Honoribus Press, 2002. {{ISBN|978-1885354143}}

{{refend}}

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Category:Military units and formations of Laos

Category:Military units and formations established in 1972

Category:Special Forces of Laos

Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1975

Category:1975 disestablishments