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The Khmer Special Forces, also designated 'Khmer SF' for short or Forces Speciales Khmères (FSK) in French, were the elite Special Operations unit of the Khmer National Armed Forces (commonly known by their French acronym, FANK) during the 1970-75 Cambodian Civil War. ==Origins== The history of the Khmer Special Forces began in October 1971, when the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) was organized at Phnom Penh under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel (later, Brigadier-General) Thach Reng. The Khmer SF were actually a creation of Lt. Col. Ronnie Mendoza, a Special Forces-qualified US Army officier assigned to the American Military Equipment Delivery Team, Cambodia (MEDTC) earlier in June 1971. A prominent member of the MEDTC’s Plans and Programs Section, Mendoza focused on providing the Cambodian Army unconventional warfare units capable of carrying out guerrilla operations in the northern and eastern Cambodian provinces under the control of both the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and their Khmer Rouge allies.〔Conboy, ''FANK: A History of the Cambodian Armed Forces, 1970-1975'' (2011), p. 203.〕 Two other SF groups, the 2nd Special Forces Group (Airborne) and the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) were activated in the following year. Under the auspices of Operation “Freedom Runner” – a FANK training program set up in November 1971 by the United States Special Forces (USSF) –, Khmer Special Forces teams began to be sent to South Vietnam to attend Parachute courses at the ARVN Airborne Training Centre in Long Thành, and the Special Forces’ (SF) course at the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces (LLDB) Dong Ba Thin Training Centre near Cam Ranh Bay. Manned by the USSF Detachment B-51, assisted by New Zealand Army instructors from the 2nd NZ Army Training Team Vietnam (2 NZATTV)〔Lyles, ''Vietnam ANZACs - Australian & New Zealand Troops in Vietnam 1962-72'' (2004), p. 55, Plate C1.〕 and modelled on the USSF/LLDB own training programs, the course began with four weeks of basic SF skills followed by training in one of six SF job skills: operations and intelligence, demolitions, light weapons, heavy weapons, radio communications, or medical. Other advanced additional courses included psychological warfare, political warfare, anti-tank warfare, and Taekwondo. A two-week ‘live-fire’ field exercise (sometimes complemented by a field operation against NVA/Vietcong (VC) forces in the surrounding areas of the training centre〔Conboy and Bowra, ''The War in Cambodia 1970-75'' (1989), p. 11.〕) completed the SF course. More specialised SF training was carried out in the United States and Thailand since December 1972. Khmer SF trainees attended technical courses at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, by the USSF 5th Special Forces Group and at the Royal Thai Army (RTA) Special Warfare Centre at Fort Narai, Lopburi Province by the US 46th Special Forces Company; additional Guerrilla and ‘Commando’ skills were taught by Thai instructors from the Royal Thai Army Special Forces (RTSF) and Royal Thai Police Police Aerial Resupply Unit (PARU) at the latter’s Phitsanulok and Hua Hin training camps.〔Conboy and McCouaig, ''South-East Asian Special Forces'' (1991), pp. 48-50.〕 Advanced Ranger/LRRP and radio communications’ courses also took place in early 1973 at the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) Recondo School at Nha Trang, South Vietnam, manned by the USSF Detachment B-36, and at the RTA Recondo School co-located at Ft. Narai, Thailand, before “Freedom Runner” was concluded on July that year. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Khmer Special Forces」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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