In "Fallen Angels," the fictional Lurp team (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) foreshadows the danger and uncertainty that the main characters will face in Vietnam. The Lurps' mission to scout ahead and gather information reflects the unpredictable nature of war and hints at the challenges that the protagonists will encounter as soldiers on the frontlines. Additionally, the Lurps' experiences serve as a warning of the harsh realities and brutality of combat that lie ahead for the main characters.
According to SOWPODS (the combination of Scrabble dictionaries used around the world) there are 2 words with the pattern -LURP--. That is, seven letter words with 2nd letter L and 3rd letter U and 4th letter R and 5th letter P. In alphabetical order, they are: slurped slurper
US Army tank crewmen carried a .45 Colt pistol (in a brown leather shoulder holster or black leather hip holster). Grunts carried an M-14 rifle up until late 1966, then transitioned to the new "Mattel Toy"...the M-16 FULLY AUTOMATIC rifle (Rock 'N Roll is no longer authorized by the US Army...except for special cases; today's M-16 "type" weapons fire in short bursts only). Men wore a steel (M-1 helmet), and possessed no armor, other than a flak vest, which was normally never worn (Marines wore them a lot though). Carried several either 1 quart or 2 quart green plastic canteens, and 3 or more bandoleers of M-16 ammo...seven magazines per bandoleer, loaded with 18 rounds per magazine. They held 20, but 18 rds put less pressure on the spring (when kept in the suppressed position for an extended time). EVERY rifleman carried a belt of M-60 ammo (.308 Winchester/7.62 MM NATO) for the machinegunner, he carried 300 rounds himself, plus the 21 pound machinegun. Two belts, at 100 rounds apiece came in a .308/7.62mm ammo can. Two or three frags was about the norm for the average GI (hand grenades...the new all round "baseball" type or the smooth "pineapple" type). The WW2 type grenades had "checkered" squares on them, like the Hollywood movies like to show.Probably the biggest difference in appearance from the WW2 "Dog-Face" and the Vietnam War "Grunt" was the M-16 Rifle, Smooth Outer Shell Grenades, and the Helicopter. Remove those three items, and the Vietnam Grunt looked like a regular WW2 Infantrymen.The GI was issued two sets of jungle fatigues, a pair of jungle grade boots, and six pairs of socks. In addition to this, they were also issued their pack (towards the end of the war the pack system became somewhat modular), and a web utility belt with suspenders.The utility belt used a double hole and clip system for affixing things to it - the scabbard for a knife, canteen holders, and a variety of other items.Personal items were largely kept to a minimum - every ounce you had to carry was carefully considered by the soldier who had to carry it! Still it was common to have letters, photos, and paperback books, as well as good luck charms and religious medals.On short patrols the GI's did not carry more than the number of meal units that were required by them until they reached their first resupply point - a place designated on their map where a supply chopper would drop off food, ammo, and other required supplies.A special type of patrol - called a Long Rage Patrol, or LRP (pronounced LURP) - mostly consisting of Army Rangers, Navy Seals, or Green Berets, carried a special ration, called a Lurp Ration, that contained highly condensed foods in order to save weight and maximize nutrition - or so the military claimed. They were not exactly tasty.Also, if you are in the mood for a good read, a great recommendation is Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, a collection of short stories by Tim O'Brien who served in Vietnam. While it is not a memoir, it is semi-autobiographical (strangely, a character's name is Tim O'Brien but is not represented as the author). In the first chapter (a.k.a story), it lists practically everything an infantryman in Vietnam carried, that being weapons and non-weapons (rations, stationary, etc) in a literary way. It also describes emotions and burdens they carried throughout the war, and allows one to comprehend the soldier's position, rather than just the knowledge of their physical items they 'humped' along with them. Again, it is for one with time and interest, but it is a great and equivalent answer. It is an excellent book and it is recommended to read the entire collection, but that shouldn't be necessary to ask, as it most likely won't leave your hands!
Marc Wasserman has: Played Street Kid 1 in "The Streets of San Francisco" in 1972. Played Lurp in "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" in 1973. Played Sleestak Kid in "Land of the Lost" in 1974. Played Matt in "CHiPs" in 1977. Played Orphan 1 in "Magnum, P.I." in 1980. Played Ted in "Family Ties" in 1982. Played Officer Watts in "21 Jump Street" in 1987. Played Customer in "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd" in 1987. Played Student 1 in "The Wonder Years" in 1988. Played Ted in "Saved by the Bell" in 1989. Played MacKenzie in "Blossom" in 1990. Played Student in "Beverly Hills, 90210" in 1990. Played Football Fan in "Just Perfect" in 1990. Played Darryl in "Ghost Rider" in 1999. Performed in "Eye on Entertainment" in 2005. Played Man in "Grappling with your Demons" in 2008. Played himself in "The Commuter Talk Show" in 2008. Played Oleg Wietzman in "Taxi Man" in 2008. Played Nightmare man in "The Sphere of the Lycanthrope" in 2009. Played Kevin in "Kendall" in 2009. Played Commuter in "Commute" in 2009. Played himself in "SKAcumentary" in 2009. Played Ted in "Tales of Absolute Debauchery" in 2010. Played MacKenzie MacDoodle in "Falling Down" in 2010. Played Boz Hasseldorf in "Dahmer vs. Gacy" in 2010. Performed in "Satisfied" in 2011. Played Dave Cohen in "Repressed" in 2011. Played Marc Wasserman in "Insignificant Celluloid" in 2011. Played The Commuter in "The Angry Baby Monkey Show" in 2012. Performed in "These are the Days" in 2012. Performed in "The Angry Baby Monkey Show" in 2012. Played Marco in "3 References" in 2013. Played Cop in "Al Gets Busted" in 2013. Played Himself - Attorney in "Tarot: A Documentary Love Story" in 2014. Played Buff sniper in "DaZe: Vol. Too (sic) - NonSeNse" in 2014. Played Alan Snow in "Radical" in 2014. Played Michael in "Falling Down 2" in 2015.
Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol, or LRRP(pronounced and sometimes spelled "LuRP"), were special small four to six-man teams utilized in the Vietnam War on highly dangerous special operations missions deep into enemy terrtory. History The first ever group to be formed to provide Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) was the British Long Range Desert Group, made famous by its co-operation with the Special Air Service Regiment. In the mid to late 1960s, the U.S. Army Special Forces trained[citation needed] volunteer LRRP's for the purpose of locating enemy units in guerrilla warfare, as well as in artillery spotting, intelligence gathering, forward air control, and bomb damage assessment. Early in the Vietnam war long range reconnaissance patrols were performed by a limited number of infantry battalion Recon Platoons, including the Chinese Bandit Recon LRRP Team 1st Bn (ABN) 8th Cav 1965-66 which performed Department of Defense/MACV/OP-35 directed missions to locate regimental size units along both the borders of Cambodia and Laos. Later LRRP units were provisional platoon-sized units. By 1967, formal LRRP companies were organized, some having two platoons, each with eight six-man patrols. Training was notoriously rigorous. Similar missions, although more likely to be clandestine, deeper penetrating, and more like Special reconnaissance, were run in Vietnam by the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) Studies and Observation Group (SOG). Within the U.S. Marine Corps, these missions were typically assigned to Marine Recon, especially Force Recon, units assigned to corps-level (i.e., Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF)) level, as opposed to the Battalion Recon units answering to battalion commanders. Beginning in February 1969, all LRRPs were folded into the newly-formed 75th Rangers, bringing back operational Ranger units. The Army had disbanded Ranger units after Korea, but kept Ranger school, on the theory that spreading Ranger School graduates throughout the Army would improve overall performance. The LRRP operated on reconnaissance and combat patrols, either obtaining highly vital intelligence, or performing highly dangerous raids and ambushes. The tactical employment of LRRPs was later evaluated to be generally used far too dangerously by strategic commanders, who were pleased by the extraordinary kill ratios for LRRPs teams (sometimes reported as high as 400 enemy troops for every LRRP killed). Their use was reconsidered and restructured into modern day Long Range Surveillance (LRS) units. One commentator writes: "During the course of the war LuRPs conducted around 23,000 long-range patrols, of this amount two-thirds resulted in enemy sightings. LuRPs also accounted for approximately 10,000 enemy KIA through ambushes, sniping, air strikes, and calling in artillery fire." [1] Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol, or LRRP (pronounced and sometimes spelled "LuRP"), were special small four to six-man teams utilized in the Vietnam War on highly dangerous special operations missions deep into enemy terrtory. History The first ever group to be formed to provide Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) was the British Long Range Desert Group, made famous by its co-operation with the Special Air Service Regiment. In the mid to late 1960s, the U.S. Army Special Forces trained[citation needed] volunteer LRRP's for the purpose of locating enemy units in guerrilla warfare, as well as in artillery spotting, intelligence gathering, forward air control, and bomb damage assessment. Early in the Vietnam war long range reconnaissance patrols were performed by a limited number of infantry battalion Recon Platoons, including the Chinese Bandit Recon LRRP Team 1st Bn (ABN) 8th Cav 1965-66 which performed Department of Defense/MACV/OP-35 directed missions to locate regimental size units along both the borders of Cambodia and Laos. Later LRRP units were provisional platoon-sized units. By 1967, formal LRRP companies were organized, some having two platoons, each with eight six-man patrols. Training was notoriously rigorous. Similar missions, although more likely to be clandestine, deeper penetrating, and more like Special reconnaissance, were run in Vietnam by the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) Studies and Observation Group (SOG). Within the U.S. Marine Corps, these missions were typically assigned to Marine Recon, especially Force Recon, units assigned to corps-level (i.e., Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF)) level, as opposed to the Battalion Recon units answering to battalion commanders. Beginning in February 1969, all LRRPs were folded into the newly-formed 75th Rangers, bringing back operational Ranger units. The Army had disbanded Ranger units after Korea, but kept Ranger school, on the theory that spreading Ranger School graduates throughout the Army would improve overall performance. The LRRP operated on reconnaissance and combat patrols, either obtaining highly vital intelligence, or performing highly dangerous raids and ambushes. The tactical employment of LRRPs was later evaluated to be generally used far too dangerously by strategic commanders, who were pleased by the extraordinary kill ratios for LRRPs teams (sometimes reported as high as 400 enemy troops for every LRRP killed). Their use was reconsidered and restructured into modern day Long Range Surveillance (LRS) units. One commentator writes: "During the course of the war LuRPs conducted around 23,000 long-range patrols, of this amount two-thirds resulted in enemy sightings. LuRPs also accounted for approximately 10,000 enemy KIA through ambushes, sniping, air strikes, and calling in artillery fire." [1] Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol, or LRRP (pronounced and sometimes spelled "LuRP"), were special small four to six-man teams utilized in the Vietnam War on highly dangerous special operations missions deep into enemy terrtory. History The first ever group to be formed to provide Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) was the British Long Range Desert Group, made famous by its co-operation with the Special Air Service Regiment. In the mid to late 1960s, the U.S. Army Special Forces trained[citation needed] volunteer LRRP's for the purpose of locating enemy units in guerrilla warfare, as well as in artillery spotting, intelligence gathering, forward air control, and bomb damage assessment. Early in the Vietnam war long range reconnaissance patrols were performed by a limited number of infantry battalion Recon Platoons, including the Chinese Bandit Recon LRRP Team 1st Bn (ABN) 8th Cav 1965-66 which performed Department of Defense/MACV/OP-35 directed missions to locate regimental size units along both the borders of Cambodia and Laos. Later LRRP units were provisional platoon-sized units. By 1967, formal LRRP companies were organized, some having two platoons, each with eight six-man patrols. Training was notoriously rigorous. Similar missions, although more likely to be clandestine, deeper penetrating, and more like Special reconnaissance, were run in Vietnam by the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) Studies and Observation Group (SOG). Within the U.S. Marine Corps, these missions were typically assigned to Marine Recon, especially Force Recon, units assigned to corps-level (i.e., Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF)) level, as opposed to the Battalion Recon units answering to battalion commanders. Beginning in February 1969, all LRRPs were folded into the newly-formed 75th Rangers, bringing back operational Ranger units. The Army had disbanded Ranger units after Korea, but kept Ranger school, on the theory that spreading Ranger School graduates throughout the Army would improve overall performance. The LRRP operated on reconnaissance and combat patrols, either obtaining highly vital intelligence, or performing highly dangerous raids and ambushes. The tactical employment of LRRPs was later evaluated to be generally used far too dangerously by strategic commanders, who were pleased by the extraordinary kill ratios for LRRPs teams (sometimes reported as high as 400 enemy troops for every LRRP killed). Their use was reconsidered and restructured into modern day Long Range Surveillance (LRS) units. One commentator writes: "During the course of the war LuRPs conducted around 23,000 long-range patrols, of this amount two-thirds resulted in enemy sightings. LuRPs also accounted for approximately 10,000 enemy KIA through ambushes, sniping, air strikes, and calling in artillery fire." [1]