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A Picture From History: Vietnam ARVN Ranger

AVRN Ranger
In a new series for PPT, we explore moments in history caught on camera you might not know about. Come get your learn on!
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    ARVN Ranger
    ARVN Ranger, South Vietnam, circa 1966-68

    A fallacy common among some Americans is that wars were won singly handedly or that American armed forces were always and without doubt the best trained or the most feared. While American forces have left their mark around the world, there are others equally deserving of reverence.

    The 22 Ranger Battalions of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam were some of the best trained and most respected units of the Vietnam war.

    Those 22 battalions would earn 11 U.S. Presidential Unit Citations from two American Presidents.

    One battalion, the 37th Rangers, earned three citations. One of those three citations reads:

    arvn citation

    Under American advisers, ARVN Rangers mostly trained at bases established in Vietnam by the French commando units in the ’50s. Small numbers of the ARVN Rangers were even brought to America to train at the U.S. Army Ranger School at Ft. Benning

    The Ranger in the photo above wears their signature “Duck Hunter” camo.

    Starting life as an American Marine camo pattern in WWII, the ARVN Rangers commonly wore it and it was popular across other special operation forces in Vietnam.

    American in Vietnam wearing Duck Hunter camo
    Unknown American, probably a SEAL, wearing “Duck Hunter” camo in Vietnam with a non-standard M16 (XM16 lower, SP-01 upper)

    Due to the legendary status of the Rangers, they were allowed to dress and use equipment as they pleased to accomplish their missions.

    This is a new style of article for Pew Pew Tactical, if you liked it — let us know in the comments! If you want to see more, also let us know! If you didn’t enjoy it…well phooey. For a little more history, check out the Best Historical Guns (You Can Still Buy).

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    16 Leave a Reply

    • ken zeitz

      HI,
      Enjoying the history .If you really like shooting and history come to an Appleseed project event.It's a natural combo and I'll bet you learn something.

      August 5, 2021 6:26 am
    • Duke Starkel

      Enjoy history. Please continue with info about men in battle.

      April 27, 2021 12:39 pm
    • Tom Franciosi

      Springfield has been doing historic articles like this recently. I love reading them. Nice to see Pew Pew joining in the history lessons. I really enjoy reading stuff like this!

      [Sic] "Those who don't learn from history, are destined to repeat it"

      April 22, 2021 6:18 pm
    • Steve

      Thank you. Good read. I'd appreciate more articles like this.

      April 20, 2021 2:23 am
    • NATHAN HUFF

      GOOD READ

      April 19, 2021 8:09 am
    • Mike L.

      Great content....c/o of my high school ROTC unit was a LRRP Ranger, many awesome stories from 9 Vietnam deployments!
      Please keep these coming!

      April 19, 2021 7:24 am
    • Jimmy

      Keep it going. Ken burns Vietnam Netflix documentary talks a lot. But would love to learn more about nin US units.

      April 19, 2021 12:36 am
    • Trem

      I found this interesting. More please.

      April 18, 2021 10:43 pm
    • Steve S.

      Nice article. Keep them coming!

      April 18, 2021 7:03 pm
    • Tom N.

      Served in Vietnam, and many of their units had great soldiers.

      April 18, 2021 4:37 pm
    • Gil

      Great enjoyed learning about this time in our history

      April 18, 2021 4:21 pm
    • Jack Doyle

      Loved it! Keep it coming.

      April 18, 2021 12:58 pm
    • goob

      More history plz.

      April 17, 2021 5:21 am
    • Phil RN

      More please.

      April 16, 2021 7:13 pm
    • Bobby Martin

      MORE OF THESE!

      April 16, 2021 12:21 pm
      • Alternator

        Agreed.

        April 16, 2021 1:52 pm
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