Green Beret in Vietnam by Gordon Rottman

Author:Gordon Rottman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Green Beret in Vietnam: 1957 –73
ISBN: 9781782000518
Publisher: Osprey Publishing

A USSF officer inspects the Danish Madsen 9mm M/50 submachine guns of a platoon of Rhade Montagnard Mountain Scouts. Some in the left-rear are armed with .30cal M1903 rifles. With their weapons concealed in back-pack baskets they would scout mountain trails posing as food gathers to report VC activities. Note the officer’s World-War-Two-era jungle boots.

WEAPONS OF THE SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIER

Special Forces and the CIDG used a wide range of weapons dating from before World War Two to the latest available. Most of the older weapons initially issued to the CIDG were obtained from Army and CIA contingency stocks. SF and CIDG missions demanded weapons suitable for light-infantry operations, reconnaissance, and camp defense in widely different types of terrain. Reliability, simple operation, and light weight were the main prerequisites. The latter was a major issue due to the small stature of Asians and the demands of jungle, swamp, and mountain warfare.

The use of exotic weapons (for example, foreign submachine guns, shotguns, etc.) must be mentioned. Simply put, they were not widely used for a variety of reasons foremost of which, was ammunition and magazine compatibility. It was impractical, and dangerous, to use a weapon that used ammunition and magazines different from the remainder of the unit. It was just as impractical for hastily assembled helicopter resupply loads to include different calibers of ammunition. It was common practice for the enemy to fire on any weapon that sounded different or at an individual armed differently. One’s own troops might even fire on a different-sounding weapon.

SF troopers tended to be inventive, and unauthorized weapon modifications and bizarre experiments with munitions were common. Group frequently issued directives forbidding such grassroots research and development, usually after an accident or reported safety violation, which tended to be extreme. SF “R & D” led to .30cal quad-mounted machine guns, ground-launched 2.75in. helicopter rockets, small arms with cut-down barrels and stocks, and all sorts of devilish demolitions and booby traps.

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