scout dog unit

2LT Robert Chavis makes a difference.

September A Special Forces trained 2LT by the name of Robert Chavis was arrived at the 720th MP Battalion and was assigned to the B Company Ambush Platoon. Under his leadership the tactics used by the squads changed drastically, for the better.

Operations were targeted to the back rivers of the Tactical Area Of Responsibility [TAOR] and 2LT Chavis added a new wrinkle to transportation to the area for night ambush patrols. Before the month was over the Lieutenant acquired a seven man rubber raft and trained the men for its use in night ambush patrols on the back river and streams of the TAOR.

The training was done in the Rach Bien River by the Steel Bridge that separated Long Hung and An Hoa Hung Villages. Use of the raft resulted in several successful ambushes both on and off the river.

3 October, 1400 hours At 2:00 PM, the following information was received and recorded in the Battalion Daily Log. At approximately 1105 hours [11:05 AM] 3 October 1968, a Vietnamese National, male, Dao Van Lan, civilian, Long Binh Tahn, ID#161755, DOB 1927, was bitten by a Scout Dog named “Princess,” ID #6X16, from the 212th MP Company (Sentry Dog).

She Didn't Act Like A Princess SP/4 Mel R. Steinhauer, 212th MP Company, Scout Dog Unit, 720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, July 1968 to June 1969.

20 October SP/4 David Richards of the Scout Dog Unit, and SP/4 Brownenberg, B Company, a member of the National Police Station liaison staff, were both wounded by small arms fire when their ambush team, on a night recon patrol, encountered a squad of Viet Cong in the south eastern sector An Hoa Hung Village. There was a brief exchange of gunfire before the VC melted back into the darkness.