page_title: Recondo
section_title: 101st Airborne Division
hierarchical_section_title: Recondo / History / 101st Airborne Division
caption_attribution_description: English: Recondo School trained men for the harsh rigors of long-range patrolling.
context_page_description: Recondo is an American military acronym for a highly specialized infantry training or a graduate of a Recondo School who leads a small, heavily armed long-range reconnaissance team that patrols deep in enemy-held territory.
context_section_description: In late 1958 Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division, Major General William Westmoreland, noticed a lack of proficiency in squad, fire team and patrol leaders during the Exercise White Cloud. General Westmoreland was a veteran of the Normandy invasion and knew the importance of small unit leaders and individuals separated from their parent companies to take initiative against superior enemy forces.
  The United States Army sent many of their officers and senior non-commissioned officers to the eight-week Ranger School. However, since not every unit leader could be sent to the course, Ranger School graduates were expected to train their platoon or squad members in Ranger tactics. Thus, when it was suggested to General Westmoreland that some of the 101st Airborne's Ranger trained personnel start a school for the entire division in Ranger tactics, Westmoreland recommended that Major Lewis Millett command the school. The name chosen was "Recondo" for Reconnaissance Commando.
  The course stressed improvised demolitions, the art of patrolling and intelligence gathering, recognition of enemy vehicles, woodlands survival (including a segment on snake handling), land navigation, rappelling, firearms skills of allied and enemy weapons, and aggressive hand-to-hand combat drills. These skills were formerly part of the Airborne curriculum during World War II. They were dropped in favor of producing qualified paratroopers; it was seen as more effective to provide the extra training through other courses rather than fail candidates who had passed the main airborne portion.
  The exercises involved an airborne insertion followed by patrolling, ambush, antitank, and sabotage missions, escape, and evasion techniques. Leadership duties would rotate between fire-team and squad members to test and demonstrate the troopers' abilities. The module ended with the platoon being captured by the enemy, taken to a simulated POW camp and resisting interrogation. Troopers who received poor evaluations were transferred out of the division.
caption: Recondo School trained men for the harsh rigors of long-range patrolling.
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