The U.S. Army Communication-Electronics Command has a long history of supporting America's Warfighters through equipping and sustainment programs. During the Vietnam War, CECOM's predecessor organization--the Electronics Command, ECOM--was supplying the Army with the most advanced communications and electronics systems any Army had ever seen.
ECOM managed signal research, development, and logistics support, and supplied combat troops with a number of technological commodities during the war. These included mortar locators, aerial reconnaissance equipment, sensors, air traffic control systems, night vision devices, and surveillance systems. However, to some who walked patrols through the dense, treacherous jungles of Vietnam, perhaps none was as significant as the AN/PPS-5 manportable
surveillance radar.
ECOM developed the AN/PPS-5 man-portable surveillance radar to replace the AN/PPS-4 and AN/TPS-33. The new, 95-pound set had a 360-degree scan capability and could detect personnel within five kilometers and vehicles within ten kilometers. ECOM awarded the production contract in April 1966 following evaluation of engineering development models in Southeast Asia. There were more than 350 sets in theater by the end of 1970. Though often 'dead-lined' for lack of repair parts, the set was popular with the troops because it reduced the need for hazardous surveillance patrols. According to historical documents, one officer said, "One AN/ PPS-5 in operating condition is worth 500 men."
The high-technology commodities supported during the Vietnam conflict also included communications equipment. ECOM Commander, Maj. Gen. Frank W. Moorman, ordered the new,
transistorized FM radios of the AN/VRC-12/PRC-25 families shipped to Vietnam in July 1965 in response to Gen. William C. Westmoreland's complaints about the AN/PRC-10.
The new FM radios soon became the mainstay of tactical communications in Southeast Asia. ECOM awarded competing production contracts to sustain the flow. ECOM's next commander, Maj. Gen. William B. Latta, took a personal interest to ensure timely delivery of this product. In three and a half years, ECOM delivered 20,000 VRC-12 and 33,000 PRC-25 radios to Southeast Asia.
But it was not just top brass that had an affinity for the AN/PRC-25 radio set. In interviews with service members who had tours in Vietnam, and in recorded oral histories from the CECOM Historical Office Archive, officers and enlisted men alike recalled the AN/PRC-25 radio.
Retired Army Major Frank Wynne spoke about the AN/PRC-25, which was on the helicopters he flew during two separate tours at Camp Eagle near Hue, Vietnam. A U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2) with the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade at the time, Wynne said, "the PRC-25 was the most used radio in the Vietnam War; every unit on the ground carried one and without it, we would have never found some ground units. If, for example, a unit was unsure of their location they could give us a short count and we had FM homers on all of our Hueys [that could help us find them]."
He said the United States Air Force used them as well. Wynne stated that occasionally, "you would find [the] PRC-25 on some Air Force cargo planes such as the C-130. The Air Force did not have FM radios so they used the AN/PRC-25 to check where the artillery was active so they
would not fly into the gun target line."
In a series of interviews recorded by the U.S. Army Signal Corps during Vietnam, individuals recorded their thoughts about this equipment. These recordings were only recently transcribed.
From a November 1967 recording, Captain Robert Lee, the Signal Officer for the 101st Airborne Division, recorded his interview after spending approximately 9 months in theater, both as Signal Officer and earlier "with Brigade Headquarters as the communications center and signal maintenance platoon leader." Captain Lee wished that all equipment was made "with the same reliability and ruggedness that the AN/PRC-25 has."
Spc. Page with the 2nd of the 327 Infantry and the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, recorded his thoughts on Signal Equipment after being in Vietnam "a little over 8 months and I've
experienced quite a bit with radios and communications equipment." His recording in January 1969 talked about the durability and staying power of the AN/PRC-25. Lee said, "as far as PRC-25 go, they hold up for a substantial period of time. Some pieces of equipment were in use for over a year!"
The impact of CECOM on the success in battle is still a vital mission, and one that has been a part
of the organization's tradition for decades. CECOM is still supplying the Army with cuttingedge
communications and providing support for equipment wherever it is fielded.
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