Royal Thai Army Special Warfare Command

In 1966, United States Army Special Forces units arrived in Lopburi and began working extensively with the RTSF. By that time an RTSF Special Warfare Center had been established at Camp Narai, Lopburi, with 1 and 2 SF Groups (Airborne). The Special Warfare Commander was Col. Tienchai; SF Groups were commanded by colonels. In addition, 1 Airborne Battalion, commanded by a lieutenant-colonel, and the Quartermaster Aerial Resupply Company came under SWC command at Camp Erawan. The Airborne Battalion's mission was to provide airborne infantry reinforcements for the Army's conventional units.

The RTSF's Laotian missions continued through the late 1960s, with liaison and mobile training teams assigned across Laos. One team was with the Nam Bac garrison when it fell in January 1968. all personnel were rescued after evading enemy patrols for a week. The RTSF also assigned men to 1 Long Range Reconnaissance Troop of the Royal Thai Army Expeditionary Division, Vietnam, from 1969- 1971. By 1971 the widening war in South-East Asia provided the RTSF with more training missions. The RTSF already ran the Special Warfare School at Lopburi, which included airborne training facilities and a ranger course modelled after the US Army Ranger School. By this time the RTSF training facilities were considered among the best in A ia. The RTSF stayed involved in Laos, training Lao personnel at Lopburi until 1973 and occasionally sending teams on reconnaissance operations inside Laos. Othcr RTSF personnel manned the Special Battalion at Phitsanulok, which trained foreign students and conducted cross-border operations. The RTSF also provided men for thc Palace Guard in Bangkok. In addition, RTSF Mobile Training Teams spanned Thailand, conducting civic-action projects and training local anti-Communist militia.

In 1972 the SWC had expanded further with the creation of 3 SF Group (Airborne). Also in the SWC were 1 and 2 SF Groups, the Special Warfare School, 1 Airborne Battalion, the Quartermaster Aerial Resupply Company, the Psychological Operations Battalion, and thc Long Range Reconnaissance Company. The Special Warfare Commander was Maj.Gen. Tienchai. In the final years of the Vietnam War, Thailand was confronted with hostile Communist movements in both Laos and the Khmer Republic. RTSF teams were used on recon operations in Khmer Rouge-held territory along the northern half of the Khmer border. No RTSF personnel were lost on these missions.

By 1977 4 SF Group (Airborne) had becn raised to strength at Phitsanulok after the Special Battalion was fully absorbed by the RTSF. In the same year 1 Airborne Battalion was taken from the SWC and put under the command of 31st Infantry Regiment, 1st Division (King's Guard). In the late 1970s the RTSF was involved with training local village militia units during the height of the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) insurgency. RTSF teams also conducted cross-border operations into Cambodia to gain intelligence on CPT training camps set up by thc sympathetic Khmer Rouge regime.

The RTSF stayed active as a training unit in the early 1980s. Besides helping raise Thai paramilitary militia, the RTSF also provided assistance to the anti-Communist Cambodian resistance as early as 1979, with expanded programmes for the Khmer People's National Liberation Front and the National Sihanoukist Army since 1982. Among other recent missions of the RTSF have been operations along the Cambodian border (prior to October 1987 co-ordinated through Army Operations Center 315), missions along the Laotian border (previously under AOC 309), and strikes against Burmese opium warlords. In the mid- 1980s the RTSF trained members of Task Force 838, an-elite unit that oversees the activities of the Cambodian resistance along the Thai Cambodian border.

In July 1982 the four Special Forces Groups under the SWC were renamed 1, 2, 3, and 4 Special Forces Regiments of I Special Forc'es Division (Airborne). At the same time the entire 31st Infantry Regiment, 1st Division (King's Guard), which controlled I Airborne Battalion co-located at Camp Erawan, was redesignated 31st Infantry Regiment 1st Division. The regiment is currently headquartered at Lopburi, with one airborne battalion rotated through Camp Erawan.

In 1984 the Special Warfare Command was established at Lopburi to co-ordinate all Thai Army elite units. With external threats to Thailand's security from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Burma, the Command is given responsibility for waging war outside the borders of the country. The Special Warfare Command is also known as 5 Army Region, marking it as a lieutenant-general's command equal to the four geographical Army Regions.

While not prone to involvement in Thai domestic politics, the RTSF dispatched I I helicopter-loads of paratroopers to Bangkok during a September 1985 coup attempt. Their intervention was largely symbolic, however, since the government was already well in control by the time they arrived. In May Ig86 the RTSF was again poised for intervention in Bangkok when Army commander-in-chief Arthit appeared ready to launch a coup. Although minor counter-terrorist missions were assumed by units of the paramilitary Rangers (not to be confused with ranger graduates of the RTSF Special Warfare School) in August 1984, the RTSF is responsible for responding to major terrorist incidents and hostage-rescue situations. In 1989 RTSF counter-terrorist missions were handled by Task Force go, based in Lopburi.

The RTSF maintains links with SF units around the world. Several joint training exercises are conducted annually with the US Army Special Forces. Exchange training programmes are held with the Australian SASR and the South Korean Special Forces, among others. In addition to training their own personnel, the RTSF provides instructors for Royal Thai Army Ranger courses located at the SWC, the Infantry Training Center, and the Cavalry Training Center. All RTSF members must be graduates of the nine-week course. With over three decades of combat experience, the RTSF today stands as one of the most capable elite forces in Asia.

In 1989 the RTSF fielded two full divisions. The Special Warfare Command and the SWC remain at Lopburi. I SF Division is headquartered at Camp Erawan, with one of its regiments at each of Lopburi's three military camps: 1 SF Regt. at Camp Pawai, 2 SF Regt. at Camp Narai, and 3 SF Regt. at Camp Erawan. 2 SF Division moved its permanent headquarters to Chieng Mai in early 1988, having been temporarily quarteredat Lopburi over the previous year. The division has two regiments: 4 SF Regt., formerly the Special Battalion, at Phitsanulok, and 5 SF Regt. at Chieng Mai. The Long Range Reconnaissance Company, Ajrborne Resupply Battalion and Psychological Operations Battalion, which seconded personnel in 1988 to the Displaced Persons Protection Unit along the Thai-Cambodian border, are also at Camp Erawan.