Luc Luong Dac Biet

The Lac Luong Dac Biet (LLDB) were Special Forces of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, originally a paramilitary organization reporting to the office of President Ngo Dinh Diem. After Diem's overthrow and death in the Vietnam War, Buddhist crisis and military coup of 1963, it was brought under miltary authority, where it first had a variety of covert action, reconnaissance, and unconventional warfare roles. Its functions were then narrowed to be a counterpart to the main United States Army Special Forces role in the Vietnam War, in organizing the Civilian Irregular Defense Groups. Some LLDB personnel later became involved in the Vietnamese counterpart to the MACV-SOG U.S. special reconnaissance and covert action organization, the Strategic Technical Directorate.

Precursors

In 1957, the 300-man 1st Observation Group was formed, trained by United States Army Special Forces for special reconnaissance and unconventional warfare. While it was under the office of the President, it was originally based in Nha Trang, and perhaps was comparable to the paramilitary side of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Role under Diem

A year after its formation, it was slightly increased in size, but moved to Saigon to be more responsive to Diem. While it did take on some border reconnaissance, it was primarily a presidential guard, and used to carry out paramilitary missions for the Diem and his immediate advisors.

Under COL Le Quang Tung, it participated in the 1963 raids against Buddhist pagodas. Shortly after Diem's overthrow, Tung was executed.

Focus on counterpart operations

a paramilitary organization reporting to the office of President Ngo Dinh Diem before his overthrow, then a combination of a counterpart to United States Army Special Forces and a clandestine human-source intelligence and covert action organization, and eventually a pure counterpart organization. ref name=LLDB-Abn>Rottman, Gordon L. & Ron Volstad (1990), Vietnam Airborne: 1940-90, Osprey Publishing, pp. 30-31</ref>