Charlie Rangers

xi, [1], 307, [1] pages. Illustrations. Includes Acknowledgments, Prologue, Epilogue, and Appendix. Includes chapters on Military History/Basic Training; Cam Ranh Bay; Bong Son Don Ericson; Phan Thiet Don Ericson; Ranger School/An Khe John L. Rotundo School; Phan Thiet Don Ericson; Pleiku John L. Rotundo; An Ke Don Ericson; Dalat Don Ericson. Don Ericson served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970 with the 173rd Airborne Brigade and C Company, 75th Infantry (Airborne Rangers). John L. Rotundo served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1971 with the 173rd Airborne Brigade and C Company, 75th Infantry (Airborne Rangers). For 18 months, Rotundo and Ericson braved the best of war at its most bloody, growing from boys into men as "Charlie Rangers". A consistent success, this first book-length nonfiction account of operations conducted by a single Ranger company in Vietnam had a significant following. They were the biggest Ranger company in Vietnam, and the best. For eighteen months, John L. Rotundo and Don Ericson braved the test of war at its most bloody and most raw, specializing in ambushing the enemy and fighting jungle guerillas using their own tactics. From the undiluted high of a "contact" with the enemy to the anguished mourning of a fallen comrade, they experienced nearly every emotion known to man--most of all, the power and the pride of being the finest on America's front lines. This work includes Acknowledgments, Prologue, Epilogue, and Appendix. Includes chapters on Military History/Basic Training; Cam Ranh Bay; Bong Son Don Ericson; Phan Thiet Don Ericson; Ranger School/An Khe John L. Rotundo School; Phan Thiet Don Ericson; Pleiku John L. Rotundo; An Ke Don Ericson; Dalat Don Ericson. Don Ericson served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970 with the 173rd Airborne Brigade and C Company, 75th Infantry (Airborne Rangers). John L. Rotundo served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1971 with the 173rd Airborne Brigade and C Company, 75th Infantry (Airborne Rangers). For 18 months, Rotundo and Ericson braved the best of war at its most bloody, growing from boys into men as "Charlie Rangers". The 75th Infantry Regiment (Ranger) (officially 75th Infantry Regiment or 75th Infantry) was initially a parent regiment for all the US Army Ranger units during the Vietnam War and the early 1980s and then the headquarters for the Ranger battalions. On 1 February 1969, as part of the U.S. Army Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS), all U.S. Army Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) units were reorganized as the 75th Infantry Regiment (Ranger). Fifteen Ranger companies were formed from reconnaissance units in Europe and Vietnam with lineage to Merrill's Marauders (5307th Composite Unit). The firms were given the letters C through I and K through P. To avoid confusion with the similar "I" (or India) designation on typed documents, there was no "J" Ranger Company. Companies A and B were kept stateside as a strategic reserve in case they were needed overseas in Europe or the Americas. The Ranger companies were composed of small, heavily armed long range reconnaissance teams that patrolled deep in enemy-held territory. Each independent company was attached to a separate division or brigade and acted as the eyes and ears of those units. Rangers collected intelligence, discovered enemy troop locations, surveilled trails and enemy hot spots, directed artillery and air strikes, performed bomb damage assessments, and conducted ambushes. Additionally, Rangers attempted to recover prisoners of war, capture enemy soldiers for interrogation, tap the wire communications of the North Vietnam Army and the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam (Vietcong) on the Ho Chi Minh trail, and mine enemy trails and roads. Company C, 75th Infantry (Ranger) had a strength of 230 men divided into a company Headquarters, operations section, communications platoon, and four patrol platoons.…