Lot of Vietnam War Patches - Patch / Patches x 25 Patch / Patches

Darlac Montagnard - Local Militias - Mike Force - CIDG

South Vietnam Special Forces - Mobile Strike Force

Extraction - Special Forces - MACV-SOG - MAAG - CIA

CIA Formed, Strike Force - King Dao Recon, Border Recon Team 48, Both Blue and Red Units, Black Dragons - Tay NInh Crack Recon (Yellow, Black Bat) - Police - Ben Hai River Hippo Recon - DMZ - Highway 9 - Border Ghosts, Airborne, Black Bats - Village Militia, Saigon - Loi Hoa - Montagnards - Navy SEALs - VNMC, Marines - Airborne - Tiger Force Rangers - Tay Ninh PRU - Darlac PRU - VNAF, Air Force and much more.

“Khắc Phục Gian Khổ” = “Overcome Hardship” / “Conquer Difficulties”

“Bảo Quốc Trấn Không” = “Protect the Nation, Defend the Skies” (Republic of Vietnam Air Force motto)

“Gấu Đen” = “Black Bear”- 532nd Air Attack

“Lôi Hỏa” = “Thunder and Fire” / “Lightning Fire”- Artillery

“Hào Hạm Tam Sét” = Lightning Thunder Assault Vessel

“Tổ Quốc, Công Minh Liêm Chính” = “Nation, Justice, Integrity, Honesty”- Police

“Danh Dự Tổ Quốc” = “Honour and Fatherland”

“TTHL” = “Trung Tâm Huấn Luyện” = “Training Center” VNMC

“Hải Quân, Vùng 1 Duyên Hải” = “Navy, Coastal Region 1”

“Trinh Sát 48” = “Reconnaissance Unit 48” / “Scout Unit 48”

“Vương Đạo” = “Royal Way” / “Way of the King” King Dao Recon

“Nhân Dân Tự Vệ” = “People’s Self-Defense Force”

Biệt Động Quân = “Ranger Force”

“Thần Long 427” = “Divine Dragon 427” / “Sacred Dragon 427”- Caribou

“Diệt Cộng Phỉ, Bảo Vệ Tổ Quốc” = “Destroy Communist Bandits, Defend the Fatherland”

“PRU” = “Provincial Reconnaissance Unit” (CIA/Phoenix-associated counterinsurgency units)

Evolution of PRU

In the late 1950s, the CIA, recognizing the failure of conventional forces to counter growing Communist insurgency, began building a covert network of paramilitary units across South Vietnam. 

This initiative laid the foundation for the Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) program, targeting both the remote Central Highlands and key urban and lowland areas. Initially under CIA control and later transferred to U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) and MACV-SOG, these irregular forces combined ethnic hill tribe fighters, local militias, urban auxiliaries, and anti-Communist mercenaries into a broad-spectrum counterinsurgency network.

The hill tribe forces, Nung, Rhade, Koho, Bru, Katu, Hre, Raglai, Sedang, Rengao, and Meo and more, formed the rural core of the CIDG. 

Many had historical distrust of lowland Vietnamese, making them natural allies against both the Communist North and the ARVN, whom they saw as untrustworthy or abusive. 

Operating in areas like Kontum, Pleiku, Quang Duc, and along the Cambodian and Laotian frontiers, they were trained by Special Forces to conduct ambushes, sabotage, reconnaissance, and early-warning patrols along infiltration routes such as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. 

These units developed into Mobile Strike Forces known as Mike Force, highly mobile quick-reaction teams capable of counterattacks, reconnaissance-in-force, and emergency outpost relief. 

The hill tribes’ deep knowledge of jungle terrain made them indispensable for MACV-SOG cross-border missions into Laos and Cambodia.

Simultaneously, in more populated lowland and urban areas, such as Da Nang, Hue, Can Tho, and Saigon, the CIA and U.S. advisors helped organize non-tribal local militias and paramilitary groups, including village Self-Defense Forces, Combat Youth teams, People’s Self-Defense Forces (PSDF), and urban reaction squads. 

Many of these personnel were recruited from devout Catholics, ex-French colonial soldiers, former Binh Xuyen gangsters, or Southern Vietnamese who had fled the North in 1954. 

These groups operated within hamlets and city districts, providing intelligence on Viet Cong activity, counter-sabotage, and neighborhood defense.

In cities like Da Nang, irregular units included ARVN-affiliated Popular Forces (PFs) and Regional Forces (RFs), but also covert strike teams working under the Phoenix Program, which targeted Viet Cong infrastructure in urban and suburban zones. 

These units used intelligence from CIA informants, defectors, and interrogation centers to locate and eliminate Viet Cong political cadres, often through arrest, assassination, or forced recruitment. Many of the operatives were trained in counterintelligence, language, and cultural skills and operated in plain clothes. 

Urban irregulars also protected key infrastructure such as bridges, rail lines, docks, and communication centers, often working in tandem with ARVN Military Security Service (MSS) or South Vietnamese National Police.

Ethnic Nung mercenaries played a distinct role. Resettled in South Vietnam after service with French colonial forces or Chinese Nationalists, the Nung were heavily armed and frequently employed as bodyguards, reconnaissance units, and shock troops in Mike Force and Special Operations units. 

In the delta and coastal regions, Khmer Krom and Hoa (ethnic Chinese) militias were also utilized. Their integration into U.S.-led counterinsurgency allowed for coverage across linguistic and cultural boundaries the regular ARVN could not penetrate.

The Mobile Guerrilla Forces (MGF), another component of this irregular network, were trained for long-range penetration missions behind enemy lines. Unlike the defensive CIDG village units, MGF teams could operate autonomously for weeks, launching raids, disrupting supply lines, and gathering intelligence. 

Their composition often blended tribal fighters, defected Viet Cong, and trained South Vietnamese irregulars. In I Corps Tactical Zone, tribes like the Katu and Hre supported recon teams in steep terrain near Laos and helped identify enemy staging areas hidden in the mountains.

At its height, the CIDG program fielded over 40,000 men, supported by hundreds of U.S. Special Forces Teams and CIA case officers. 

These irregulars were critical to the interdiction of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the defense of key border zones, and the neutralization of Viet Cong political agents within South Vietnamese society. They provided a level of flexibility, cultural fluency, and deniability that conventional ARVN and U.S. units lacked.

As the war progressed, many CIDG units were “Vietnamized,” formally transferred to ARVN Ranger and Regional Force commands. But loyalty often remained with the Americans. When U.S. forces withdrew, large numbers of tribal and urban irregulars were left vulnerable to reprisal. Many were executed, imprisoned, or forced into reeducation camps. Thousands fled to refugee camps or resettled in the U.S. as political refugees.

The combined effort of hill tribe and non-tribal irregulars, Rhade, Koho, Katu, Meo, Nung, Catholic paramilitaries, and urban militias, formed a dense lattice of counterinsurgency capability that inflicted significant disruption on Viet Cong command networks, supply systems, and territorial ambitions. Though largely invisible in conventional military histories, these irregular forces were among the most committed, effective, and ultimately abandoned allies of the American war in Vietnam.

Binh Xuyen Criminal Syndicate

The Binh Xuyen began as river pirates and evolved into a powerful crime syndicate and militia in southern Vietnam. Led by Lê Văn Viễn (Bảy Viễn), they controlled Saigon’s gambling, opium, and prostitution under French protection in exchange for fighting the Viet Minh. By the early 1950s, they were a de facto power in Saigon with their own army and police.

In 1955, Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm launched a military offensive to dismantle them, defeating the Binh Xuyen in fierce street battles. 

Bảy Viễn fled to France, and the group was officially dissolved. However, remnants remained active in the underworld and were later absorbed into ARVN, the National Police, or CIA-linked urban counterinsurgency efforts during the Vietnam War. Their deep local ties and ruthlessness made them useful but unpredictable tools in the anti-Communist struggle.

Rare Lot of Vietnam War Patches - Lot x 25 Patch / Patches

For your kind Consideration.

Cheesecloth backed Vietnam War patch - Filler - Repro - made for collecting, swapping, made during conflict and through to mid-late 1980's in Vietnam - Pieces were made in Vietnam.

More recent, similar pieces are felt backed (I do not sell felt back) - if you have any questions about anagrams used, translations, unit location etc please ask – I am always happy to answer.