Initially, COMSEC personnel in Vietnam were part of the 3rd RRU in Saigon. In March 1963 COMSEC personnel from the 3rd formed the new 7th RRU, still located in Saigon. 7th RRU operators would be assigned their missions and travel to other locations in Vietnam to support various units (usually Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) and Special Forces teams, because that is who was there at the time). They would monitor the supported unit’s communications for a while and return to Saigon to write their report. As Army divisions and separate brigades were deployed to Vietnam, they were accompanied by Radio Research Direct Support Units (DSUs), which included their own COMSEC sections.
In September 1966 the 7th RRU, which was the cover name for the 101st ASA Security Detachment, was re-designated the 101st RRC (no relation to the 101st Airborne Division) and moved out of Saigon, the ‘Paris of the Orient,’ and closer to the war. The 101st RRC, whose tagline became ‘From the Delta to the DMZ,’ was spread throughout the country of South Vietnam, maybe to cut their commute time.
The Company Headquarters was located at Plantation, near Long Binh, which was not a city but a military post a few miles outside of Bien Hoa, which is a city outside of Saigon. Long Binh was also home to the US Army Vietnam (USARV) Installation Stockade (more commonly called the ‘Long Binh Jail’ or simply ‘LBJ’) where USARV quartered its more heinous criminals and chronic malcontents.
The 1st Platoon was located in Danang on the northern coast and supported units throughout I Corps. (Unlike the other Corps areas, I Corps was commonly pronunced “Eye Corps.”) The 2nd Platoon landed in Pleiku in the Central Highlands to support units in all of II Corps, geographically the largest of the four Corps areas. The 3rd Platoon co-located with the Headquarters at Plantation, supporting units of III Corps, the most populous of the Corps areas. The 4th Platoon went south to Can Tho, in the Mekong Delta region, to support units of IV Corps.
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