United States Army Reconnaissance and Surveillance Leaders Course (RSLC) (formerly known as the Long Range Surveillance Leaders Course, or LRSLC) is a 29-day (four weeks and one day) school designed on mastering reconnaissance fundamentals of officers and non-commissioned officers eligible for assignments to those units whose primary mission is to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance, target acquisition, and combat assessment operations. RSLC is taught by the 4th Ranger Training Battalion, Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade. The school is open to Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen to train them to expert levels in reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, battle damage assessment, communications, planning, foreign vehicle identification, and other skills. The school was originally created to serve leaders from Long Range Surveillance Units (LRSU's), but now provides the specific reconnaissance training needed to ensure the effectiveness of small unit reconnaissance elements (teams and squads) for the U.S. Army and joint force. Given the training focus and difficulty of the RSLC, the school is still commonly attended by operators from U.S. Army Special Forces, the 75th Ranger Regiment's Regimental Reconnaissance Company, U.S. Army Civil Affairs (95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Special Operations) (Airborne) and 83d Civil Affairs Battalion), Navy SEALs, and Marine reconnaissance units; today's students also come from more conventional infantry, Stryker and armored Brigade Combat Teams (BCT). Following the US Army decision to disband US Army LRS companies, the reconnaissance fundamentals taught in the course also provides U.S. military commanders the ability to preserve key LRS skills and abilities within the conventional force.
Given the importance of timely, accurate and relevant battlefield information, U.S. Military commanders require reconnaissance professionals be well-trained, highly skilled and disciplined, and capable of operating forward of BCTs. The course curriculum is primarily designed to train small unit leaders assigned to reconnaissance formations to include infantry, Stryker and armored BCT cavalry squadrons; infantry, Stryker, and Combined Arms Battalion (CAB) scout platoons; and special operations forces. The RSLC program of Instruction (PoI) is continuously assessed and refined to ensure it meets these needs, the needs of reconnaissance units, and those of a U.S. Joint force at war.
History
In 1958, the commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division, Major General William Westmoreland, noticed a failing of proficiency and initiative in squad, fireteam, and patrol leaders during an exercise code named White Cloud. General (GEN) Westmoreland was a veteran of the Invasion of Normandy and realized the importance of small unit leaders and individuals who had been separated from their parent units to take action against superior enemy forces. GEN Westmoreland decided that his division needed relevant training to rectify their deficiencies before their deployment.
The U.S. Army sent many of their officers and senior non-commissioned officers to Ranger School. However, not every unit leader could be sent to the course. Second Lieutenant Donald Bernstein suggested that some of the 101st Airborne's Ranger trained personnel start a school for the entire division in small unit tactics. When the idea was brought to GEN Westmoreland he recommended that Major Lewis L. Millett command the two-week school.
The course was named the Recondo School, a combination of the words "reconnaissance" and "doughboy" or "commando." From the early 1960s through the mid-1980s, there was more than one Recondo School in the U.S. Army. The U.S. Military Academy, the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), the 5th Infantry Division, the 25th Infantry Division, the 82nd Airborne Division, the 101st Airborne Division, and the XVIII Airborne Corps all had their own Recondo Schools with their own course of instruction.
MACV's Recondo School was a three-week course conducted in Vietnam and was taught by members of the 5th Special Forces Group. The first week of training focused on classroom instruction, the second week on air operations, and the third week used real reconnaissance missions to teach students the critical skills needed to successfully infiltrate, observer, report, evade, and extract using small unit tactics in a jungle environment. This real-world training endeared the MACV Recondo School with the nickname, "The deadliest school on Earth." The other U.S. Army Recondo Schools had a two or three week curriculum conducted at the home garrison of the perspective unit and focused on training students in the fundamentals of: