Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol:- LRRP; pronounced as
Lurp.
THE EARLY DAYS:
When the first major combat units were deployed to Vietnam in 1965 the Army found itself in a bit of a predicament. The war which it had become involved was not going to be like the warfare it had trained and equipped itself for; the terrain was nothing like Eastern Europe. This coupled with a jungle terrain, and an enemy that preferred guerrilla tactics as opposed to a stand up and fight set piece battle, meant that an effective means of locating him was required.
This need gave rise to the formation of small reconnaissance units of platoon size which were responsible to the Brigade or Divisional Commander. Two of the earliest examples of these "provisional" LuRRPs were formed by the 196th Inft Brigade and the 173rd Airborne Brigade.
