U.S. ARMY RECONDO School Fort Carson, 1960s Recruiting Movie

RECONDO is a short U.S. military film, most likely from the 1960s, that shows viewers the degree of training that the men of Recondo school go through at the school’s training camp near Fort Carson, CO. The film opens with footage of men moving through jungle terrain on reconnaissance patrol, presumably in Vietnam.

The film then cuts to a shot of men at training camp, repelling down a cliff face (01:10) and sliding down zip lines. Recondo instructors discuss training at the camp (02:30). Sergeant First Class James Griffith, lead instructor at the Recondo school, talks with his men during the meeting. Footage shows men fighting in Vietnam; then the film returns to a classroom at the training camp, dubbed Camp Red Devil, where students sit for orientation (04:21).

The film presents viewers with shots of the nearby terrain, where men participate in a “mountain walk” up the side of a mountain lightly covered in snow (06:55). Men climb up rocks as they summit the mountain. Next, the men repel down a cliff (08:30). Harald “Pop” Sorensen, a former Olympic ski jumping coach, trains the men to repel.

The trainees put on their gloves, harnesses, and then go over the edge. An instructor demonstrates how to tie appropriate knots. Later, the men slide down a zipline from atop a cliff. Men exercise to build endurance (14:25). The film shows several of the instructors teaching the Recondo trainees in the classroom. The trainees go out on a training patrol (16:35).

Griffith smokes a cigarette next to the camp’s barracks (18:18). Men practice patrol maneuvers in a riverbed, climbing up and out of the steep banks. Footage shows trainees looking at maps, repelling down a cliff, and shooting rifles.

The men participate in a convoy attack training (21:30). Recondo trainees move across the terrain back to base, attempting to avoid an “enemy” patrol force. Colonel Gordon addresses the Recondo class during the graduation ceremony (24:55). The film concludes by alternating between the men graduating from the training program and footage of the fighting in Vietnam.

Recondo is an American military term for RECONnaissance and commanDO for highly specialized infantry training or a graduate of a Recondo School who led small, heavily armed long-range reconnaissance teams that patrol deep in enemy-held territory.

Periscope Films