need help

[cavguy]

Good work Shawker! That sounds highly plausible that he might have been part of that Combined Reconnaissance and Intelligence Platoon, vs. being a tabbed member of a SF group. Recon on the black beret also goes along with the LRRP vs SF, I am pretty sure that once upon a time there was a LRRP school - run by the Army so if he attended this course and graduated it might even be on his DD-214 . If he was a squad leader which in an Infantry type platoon could be very likely of a senior E4, he might have even attended Ranger school!

[shawker71]

Wikipedia:

In December 1965, the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, formed a LRRP platoon, and by April 1966, the 1st Infantry Division, 25th Infantry Division and each of the four Battalions of the 173rd Airborne Brigade formed LRRP units as well.

Sounds quite plausible to me. The problem with in theatre schools/training is that they don't always show on a DD-214. Of course if you have the year(s) served or specifically units served in it is much easier to nail down. With the site cavguy provided you could ask if anyone remembers that name, especially since it clearly states that all CRIP personnel would have been assigned to the HHC company. That is where photos can possibly pop up or small stories of remembrance.

[Name_not_found]

Very sorry for your loss

[parafireboy]

Sorry for your loss elandil.

[elandil]

so, after talking with my brother last nite (who had more info than I did), turns out he was a Tunnel Rat at at least one point in his tour. I'm gonna slowly reach out to my aunt over the holidays, see if I can't get more info.

[BlackDogBob]

Not sure if this helps, but...... You might want to see if she has any old letters from him while he was in theatre. I say this because mid way thru the war, the brigade set up a ranger unit that operated at the Brigade level.

The 75th Rangers. They were deactivated toward the end of the war, but were re-activated in the late 80s.

Anyway, not sure how it was during Vietnam, would have to ask my dad, but when I was deployed overseas, our mail was addressed to us by unit. So if she has any mail from when he was in Vietnam, the address should show his unit.

[rabidwolf]

Wow, a Tunnel Rat! Crazy brave individuals needed for that job, or if not, basically voluntold to crawl under ground. In places made by people a lot smaller than the average American. I would feel safer running into a burning structure.

[RockyRaab]

Trust me when I say that ANYthing was possible in Vietnam. The outfit I was assigned to did not officially exist, and the Air Force to this day does not acknowledge that our mission ever happened. But it did - for four years.

[rattattoo]

Trust me when I say that ANYthing was possible in Vietnam. The outfit I was assigned to did not officially exist, and the Air Force to this day does not acknowledge that our mission ever happened. But it did - for four years.

I believe the term was "plausible deniability". Many things never happened in VietNam.

[RockyRaab]

Square on the head, sir. I learned many years later that had I been shot down, the official US stance would have been that I had probably been running drugs. Imagine what my widow would have gone through.