Talk:Recondo

The "Recondo" article does not mention the three-week 82nd Airborne Division Recondo School that operated until the late 1970's, when it was shut down because it was not easy enough to graduate from, and because non-Airborne artillery and support personnel who were stationed at the same Army post as the paratroopers, but who could make little use in combat of the skills taught at the school, were sad that they could not attend. Nor does the article mention the 18th Airborne Corps Recondo School which replaced the 82nd school, was easier to graduate from, and accepted a wider range of soldiers.

Almost as soon as it was shut down, the 82nd Airborne Division Recondo school was replaced by the 18th Airborne Corps Recondo School. Since 1.) The 18th Airborne Corps at that time included large numbers of non-airborne qualified troops (called "legs" by the paratroopers); 2.) Those "legs" were allowed to attend the new school (when they had not been allowed to attend the 82nd school); and since 3.) The 18th Airborne Corps Recondo school was deliberately made easier to pass, paratroopers (who consider themselves far better soldiers than any "leg") referred to the new school as "Leg Recondo School", and attendance by paratroopers was diminished in comparison to attendance the 82nd Airborne Recondo school had had.

What happened after the 70's, I don't know.

The following image file is probably not in the public domain. http://www.mooremilitaria.com/82nd%20Recondo.jpg However, it is a reference for both the subdued (black and olive green) 82nd Airborne Division Recondo patch and the non-subdued (red, white, and blue) patch. Perhaps a similar image file in the public domain can be located.

The Recondo patch was worn on the right breast pocket by 82nd Airborne Division Recondo School graduates. The subdued patch in the image file appears to have been sewn onto a uniform and later removed.

The Beast from The East (talk) 04:12, 29 November 2009 (UTC) The Beast from The East

Stuff moved from article
I'm moving the following paragraphs from the External links section of the article as they don't belong there:
 * SFC-Dr. Michael J. LeHew, PhD, graduate US Army Recondo School, 82nd Airborne near Holland Drop zone. Your dates do not coincide with the closure of the school whether it was unofficially ran or not; it continued well into the late 1970's early 1980 to create General Warner's First Division Ready Forces; for the All Volunteer Army; and I was a graduate.\
 * (It may have changed; watered down from the 101st Viet Nam version; and like many schools of the first ALL VOLUNTEER ARMY; are not DOD recognized; NEVER HAPPENED (I have the diplomas; spent the 20 days in a country; but the PENTAGON never checked off on the Curriculum" *
 * 82ND AIRBORNE DIVISION RECONDO SCHOOL at Ft. Bragg, NC near Holland drop zone.
 * Source-Official US Army Certificate signed by LTC. Hudson; Commanding; US Army 301 form; and DD214 on File US Army, KY as well as www.lehew.com archive; Dr. Michael J. LeHew, PhD; Evaluator US Army Schools for the American Council on Education. I will point out finally that I will not track every one of the posts; but anyone also working these NAM/DRAFT-DEP/BeAllThatYouCanBe phase of the Army; please note that all NCO's were predominately NAM VETS running OFFFICIAL OR NON-OFFICIAL NAM LIKE SCHOOLS to toughen the soldiers; we were a "GAP" GENERATION; until the AFGHAN KIDS (my nephews) arrived.

DexDor (talk) 06:50, 2 November 2012 (UTC)

In the 1970s and early 1980s there were a lot of schools run by separate brigades and divisions. They are different from Westmoreland's Recondo program. There were also Recondo challenge courses that individual personnel could (and still do) attend (like at West Point). The various "pet project" schools were either shut down or centralized and standardized after 1983. Another thing is that the graduates of the Vietnam program had division and brigade variants of the Recondo Patch, but their parent units did not run programs of their own. That's the source of all the 82nd Airborne patches. Hotspur23 (talk) 09:42, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

The XVIIIth Airborne Corps is a unity of the 82nd Airborne Division and other groups at Fort Bragg. All members from cook to payroll clerk are airborne qualified or they would not be permitted to be assigned. The Recondo patch is worn on the breast pocket of Class C uniforms from either the right or left depending which is not already having a patch. If it's the first patch awarded it is worn on the right. The Recondo school is run by airborne ranger black hats chosen from units of the 82nd who are best qualified to instruct based on ability. Part of the training consists of a parachute night jump from a helicopter during mid training at the start of patrolling. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mtsflorida (talk • contribs) 01:33, 2 August 2015 (UTC)

You have it reversed. The 82d Abn Div is a unit of the XVIII Abn Corps, not vice versa, and not all members of the 82d or XVIII Abn Corps are Airborne qualified or on jump status. Over a decade ago a review was made of actual requirements and those who in positions (such as certain support personnel) who would not be expected to jump in combat were taken off jump status, as it was a waste of limited resources to send them to Airborne training, pay them jump pay, require them to make parachute jumps, use up limited USAF troop transport time, necessitate a larger number of parachutes and riggers to pack them, etc. All personnel still wear maroon berets as unit headgear but are not necessarily on jump status. They may wear cloth wing backgrounds if they happen to have earned jump wings, but again, that's because they're assigned to the division and doesn't guarantee they're on jump status. The division's aviation brigade went off jump status (there was no need for aviators to make jumps) around 2005 and in the sustainment brigade only the riggers are on jump status, but all personnel wear the maroon beret of paratroopers as it is unit headgear.

As for the wear of Recondo patches, they're not worn at all, here or anywhere else. You'll also find no mention of them in AR 670-1, the uniform regulation covering the wear of uniforms and insignia. The XVIII Abn Corps' Recondo course was formed around 1980 (I remember the article about it in the Army Times but not the date) but didn't last for too long. You won't see anyone wearing them at Fort Bragg and it's unlikely you'll find anyone assigned there now who even remembers the course, as it came and went before most assigned there now were born. The course has been gone for so long that you're not likely to even find Recondo patches, or the metallic versions, in the uniform and insignia shops on Yadkin Road just outside of the post.

In recent years XVIII Abn Corps started its own Air Assault course, which in some ways takes the place of Recondo courses from the old days, giving soldiers on post the opportunity to earn an additional badge, in no small part for morale and motivation purposes.VilePig (talk).

Acronym
I've had to change it back yet again but it's a documented fact that RECONDO was a supposed to be an acronym cobbled together from Reconnaissance, Commando and Doughboy. General Westmoreland came up with the concept back when he ran the 101st Airborne and he wrote about it in his memoirs https://books.google.com/books?id=0oJuAAAAMAAJ&dq=westmoreland+a+soldier+reports&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Recondo you can't get any more authoritative than that. It's also listed in a contemporary article in the Feb 1969 Army Digest https://books.google.com/books?id=JusfAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA57#v=onepage&q=RECONDO&f=false Anyway, stop changing back whoever is doing it.John Simpson54 (talk) 16:07, 13 March 2021 (UTC)

The Recondo Patch in this article is not the original patch,you need to do better research.
The Recondo Patch in this article is not the original patch,you need to do better research. 2607:DA80:3:767:7078:F7B6:B6EC:2840 (talk) 21:21, 26 March 2022 (UTC)