1st Recon Battalion Association

1st Recon Battalion Association

Thanks for your service.

Part 37

2025

April 1st Half

1st Reconnaissance Battalion
Missions / Patrol Reports

Are you looking for your Old Patrol Reports? Check out this page on my website:

http://www.weststpaulantiques.com/reconmissions.html

Too close to whisper...
...one click for "yes", two for "no"...
"Brothers of the Bush"

----------------------------
Recon...their name is
their honor...and nothing more
need be said...Recon

Floyd Ruggles

Check Out New Messages/Newsletter

...

All Companies

Photo Gallery

The Memory Remains Not All Wounds Are Visible.

"A Brotherhood Forged In Combat"

1st Reconnaissance Battalion Index

Message Board Links

Part 1 - 2018-2019 

Part 2 - 2019-2020 

Part 3 - 2020 

Part 4 - 2020 

Part 5  - 2020

Past Message Board

Past Newsletters 

Part 1 - 2017-2018 

Part 2 - 2018 

Part 3 - 2018 

Part 4 - 2018-2019 

Past Reunions 

Past Stories 

Send in your photos

Part 6  - 2020

Past Photos Galleries 

Part 7  - 2020

Part 8  - 2020

Bobby Bare

 

 

Photo Gallery

Part 10  - 2021

Click a photo to link to a page on our  website or Facebook. Links are found on nearly all Web pages. Links allow users to click their way from page to page. You will find thousands of links on the 1st recon battalion association website.

In Remembrance of our brother Reconnaissance Marines & Corpsmen killed in action or otherwise while on duty.

Look at it as your Time Capsule. This website won't stand long after we are all gone.

 

Daniel M Turpin

1st Recon Battalion Association

Part 11  - 2021

1st Reconnaissance Battalion
Missions / Patrol Reports

Too close to whisper...
...one click for "yes", two for "no"...
"Brothers of the Bush"

----------------------------
Recon...their name is
their honor...and nothing more
need be said...Recon
------------------------

YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN

Bravo Company 1968-1969

Part 12  - 2021

Meet some of our members of our association.

To all Association Members,

Please reply and update or confirm your Information.
Your 1st Recon Battalion Association Website Information
can be found at: 1streconbn.org/members.html

Hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks for all your help.

My email address is floyd@weststpaulantiques.com.
Please keep your information up to date.

This will allow the Association to send messages out from time to time by email or by mail.

Semper Fi,
Floyd Ruggles
Membership Director & Webmaster

1st Recon Battalion Association

New Members to the Association of the Natural Warrior

2023

Part 13  - 2021-2022

Part 14  - 2022

Part 15  - 2022

Part 16  - 2023

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

1st Recon Battalion Association

Message Board will be our newsletter going forward. 

It's ongoing and you can be a part of it, each month through out the year.

1st Recon Battalion Association

Message Board will be our newsletter going forward. 

It's ongoing and you can be a part of it, each month through out the year.

1st Recon Battalion Association

Message Board will be our newsletter going forward. 

It's ongoing and you can be a part of it, each month through out the year.

Click a photo to link to a page on our website. Links are found on nearly all Web pages.
Links allow users to click their way from page to page.

Navigator is at the top of each page.

**WELCOME to FIRST RECON'S WEBSITE** 2009-2023 

Don't be fooled by the warning signs it's a safe website, it's just an old platfrom. Just hit advance, you will enjoy this website, it's my personal website.

1st Recon Battalion Association

Message Board will be our newsletter going forward. 

It's ongoing and you can be a part of it, each month through out the year.

Association Purpose

Our mission is to help locate former Recon Marines and their families, and to recognize those who paid the ultimate price through the 1st Recon Memorial Fund which has established and will help maintain the permanent memorial at the Marine Corps Historical Museum at Camp Quantico Virginia.

Message from webmaster!

April 2025 - 1st Half Newsletter

Part 17  - 2023

Part 18  - 2023

Part 19  - 2023

Part 20  - 2023

Part 21  - 2023

Part 22  - 2024

Member of 1st Recon Battalion Association

1st Recon Bn KIA Vietnam War

..

War Story

.....

Rest in Peace

The Jim Southall Story, Over 200 1st Recon Battalion Marines involved in this story. The story is a work in progress over the next year. Over 100 Patrol Reports.

Some Give It All

Vietnam 1968-1969

Thoughts of that Day

Doug Wolfe's Story

Patrol Report #349-68

98 hours on Charlie Ridge

Index by dates & names

Sergeant Jim Southall - Hill 200 1969

Are Message Board is now our new newsletter.

1968

1969

Membership Director & Webmaster

2016-2025

Floyd

Last night I awoke to the sounds of thunder. I was recalling a small part of a day a long time ago. As if it was yesterday...

Today is a particularly dreary, rainy day. Lookout Mountain is socked in good. It is not unusual for it to be socked in. Hell they fought the Battle Above the Clouds there during the Civil War.

However, today it put me in mind of another dreary, socked in ridge I was on for around 2 hours on 3 June, 1968. Known only to me as Hill 200, it was a desolate, indefensible place that somebody in the 1st Mardiv G3 shop picked off the map to insert my platoon on as an observation post & radio relay.

Stories from Members

Some Give It All

THE DAY THE CRAP WENT UP IN FLAMES
By Gary Graves, HM3

5 Minutes ‘Til Forever

Part 38

Coming Soon

Applicants

1st RECONNAISSANCE BATTALION ASSOCIATION

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS

ARTICLE II – MEMBERSHIP

SECTION 4. DUES. Association members have no mandatory dues. However, Members and Associate Members are encouraged to make donations, annually, to help defray the Association’s operating expenses. An annual donation of $10.00 is suggested.

Semper Fi, Floyd Ruggles

Membership Director & Webmaster

1st Recon Battalion Association

Welcome to our New Members Page

1st Recon Battalion Association

Next Page

Previous Page

Some of the 1st Marines into Afghanistan in the aftermath of 9/11

For Membership in 1st Recon Battalion Association

All Units
March 1966 - May 1971

This link is to my old website It's a safe website on a old plarform follow instructions to the webpage. 

Part 24  - 2024

Part 25  - 2024

Part 9  - 2020

1st Recon Battalion

Association of the Natural Warrior

April 2025 - 1st Half Newsletter

Part 26  - 2024

Part 27  - 2024

Part 29  - 2024

Click a photo to link to a page on our website. Links are found on nearly all Web pages.Links allow users to click their way from page to page. You will find thousands of links on this website.

1st Recon Battalion Association is a non-profit organization of former and current members of the 1st Recon Battalion, 1st Marine Division

Thanks for taking the time to stop by our website today.

Your Webmaster

Floyd Ruggles

Coming Soon

Thanks for stopping by today

Part 28  - 2024

Part 30  - 2024

Part 31  - 2025

Floyd,

The Force Recon Association (FRA) invites our members to join the FRA. !st Recon members are also invited to attend the FRA reunion, 24 - 27 Apri 2025.l
Please post their announcement.

Thanks,
Charlie

CKershaw <invictus7@earthlink.net> 12/17/2024 4:01 PM FRA Recon 2025 - FRA Annual Reunion

Email from:

From: FRA Vice President and Executive Director, Dave Jarvis
To: All FRA Members
Subj: 2025 FRA Annual Reunion
 
Attn: Alan Sniadecki    FRA#: 2064   Dues Paid Through: LIFEMBR    Member Status: A
 
2025 FRA Annual Reunion
 
Mark your calendars, as our reunion dates are set for 24-27 April, in San Diego, California!  Attached to this email is our schedule of events and registration form should you want to pay with check or money order by mail.  You can also register and find out all the details through our website at: www.forcerecon.com
 
The hotel block of rooms is on a first come first serve basis so don’t wait to make reservations!  I’ll be sending out a 90 and 45 day email reminder along with any adjustments to the schedule of events. 
 
Holiday Inn Bayside Hotel Information:
 
The Holiday Inn San Diego Bayside is located in Point Loma across from the San Diego Bay and only 1.5 miles from the San Diego International Airport at: 4875 N. Harbor Drive San Diego, CA.
 
Our overnight accommodations are scheduled from 04/23/2025-04/27/2025.  The group discount code is T0P, and rates are valid for booking through 03/24/2025.
 
Click here Force Recon Association Reunion to proceed directly to your reservation desk.
 
The group rate is available for three days pre and post event based on room availability via the provided link or contact hotel reservations directly at Holiday Inn San Diego Bayside.  Call toll free (800) 662-8899 to book by phone.  If you need to speak to someone at the hotel directly for special assistance, please call 619-221-3052 from Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm PST.

• Complimentary Airport Shuttle Service
•  Parking Fee = WAIVED (value = $23 per day, per vehicle)
• Complimentary Wi-Fi in all guest rooms and meeting rooms
• Hotel will allow our group to bring in their own Snacks & Beverages, including alcohol, into their designated Hospitality Room at no additional charge.
• Complimentary Fitness Center
• On-site Restaurant serving daily breakfast, lunch & dinner, plus a wide variety of great restaurant options within close walking distance, including several waterfront restaurants across the street.
• Weekday Happy Hour Specials from 4:00pm – 7:00pm
• 10% Discount in Point Loma Café for Senior Discount
 
Should you have any questions at all please feel free to reach out to me at any time.
 
I look forward to seeing many of you at our next reunion!
 
 
Semper Fidelis
Dave Jarvis
Jarvisda77@gmail.com
C: (760) 716-3713
Vice President and Executive Director

2025 Reunion

Rest In Peace, Marines!

from: Bruce Fogarty
I remember that day. I met Colonel Leftwich’s son in Washington Naval Yard for a Recon Reunion. I remember that day as if it was yesterday

Part 32  - 2025

Work in Progress

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Work in Progress

Work in Progress

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Part 33  - 2025

April 2025 - 1st Half Newsletter

April 2025 - 1st Half Newsletter

April 2025 - 1st Half Newsletter

Vietnam War 1st Recon Battalion 1965-1971

Part 34  - 2025

SAVE the DATE :1st Recon Battalion Association 2025 Reunion

Book signing , 11-17 August Washington , D.C./ Quantico

Marines and Corpsmen,

 

I hope to see all of you at the 2025 Reunion in Washington DC in August! Please pass the word. This is a combo Reunion First Marine Division Association and 1st Recon Bn. Association.

 

I plan on attending the 1st Recon Reunion in August in Washington/Quantico. I will be signing my just released NEW BOOK; Hill 119, Defending a Reconnaissance Marines' OP, Vietnam, 1969-1970.

 

This book covers Delta Companies OP Hill 119 but also covers other Recon teams’ actions like Echo Company’s, Team Bad Actor lead by 1st Lt Earl Hailston. If you lived at Camp Reasoner or were part of Team Mission Impossible, its all in this 500+ page history book with over 50 pictures. The Forward is by legendary Marine and author, Bing West.

 

For many of you, this is your history with 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. Buy a book, bring it with you to the 1st Recon Battalion Association Reunion , 11-17 August, Washington DC / Quantico. I will sign it for you at the Reunion.

 

Register thru FMDA website for further details https://1stmda.org/  Our 78th Annual Reunion 10-17 August 2025 in Arlington, Virginia ,Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel.

 

Book:  Hill 119, Defending a Reconnaissance Marines' OP, Vietnam, 1969-1970 is now available for pre-order.

 

Websites to pre-order: www.pog-llc.com   https://www.pog-llc.com/

 

Casemate Publisher: https://www.casematepublishers.com/9781636245928/hill-119/

 

Amazon https://a.co/d/4GRUwYs

 

Hope to see you at the reunion !

Semper Fi

Mike

Marine

Delta-1

1st Recon Bn., 1970

3/26, 1969

1/1, 1990/91

https://www.pog-llc.com/

Coming Summer 2025

Defending a Reconnaissance Marines’ OP, Vietnam, 1969-1970
by Michael Fallon, Colonel,
U.S. Marine Corps, Retired

.

.

A narrative account of Reconnaissance Marines in Vietnam. Small Teams launching daring deep Stingray patrols in the bush. On the Observation Post, Hill 119 defending for 600 relentless days and nights. Surrounded by the NVA with the constant challenge of determining friendly Vietnamese civilians from hard corps Viet Cong and North Vietnamese regulars. Their lifeline were the Marine helicopters that flew out bringing water, ammo, food, and their replacement platoon. In 1969 and 1970, Delta Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division manned the OP and ran patrols in Phu Loc Valley and Go Noi Island. This firsthand account of the Marines and Corpsmen who patrolled deep and occupied the OP describes their struggle to survive. Based on participant interviews and the detailed declassified debriefing reports compiled after each patrol returned to their rear base, at Camp Reasoner, Da Nang in the Republic of South Vietnam. This is their history!

Learn More & Pre-Order

Coming Summer 2025

Learn More & Pre-Order

Email from

2025 Reunion Informaion

Message from Charlie regarding Team Rush Act and our 2025 reunion. We will be having a memorial ceremony.
Rest in peace.

Join your 1st Recon brothers at a Rush Act memorial service in Quantico at the Marine Corps Memorial Park August 2025

(Recon Reunion details to follow next spring)
Semper Fidelis,


Charlie Charles Kershaw


Here are the details about the reunion from Ralph M. Witkin

1st Recon Battalion Association Facebook Page

Marine's and Corpsmen who have served with 1st Marine Reconnaissance Battalion from it's inception 1 March 1937 at Quantico, Virginia as the 1st Tank Company and assigned to the 1st Marine Brigade until today's current force. Only members can see who's in the group and what they post.

Passed away on February 8, 2022

3 years ago

Gunny Pu

I have a picture Gunny Pu gave to me 15-20 years of him and his PRU company. He told me that they worked out of a building in Danang they called the White House. I was interviewing Reconners for their personal history. I had arranged a mini-reunion in LV, about 20 people including spouses showed. It was past 0200 and well into our cups listening to Gunny weave his stories, mostly emphasized with grunts and sneers. I had recently completed a visit to VN and I asked Gunny to return with me. I promised him we would find the White House.  david snider <docsnidley@aol.com>

Original Photo, Doc David Snider 

Floyd could you please post this query to the Battalion Web site. Thank You

 

Current lineup: Back Row L-R: Unk; SSgt Beardslee; GySgt Terry Moore; Unk; SSgt Muchett

 Front Row L-R: LCpl Dan Nelson; LCpl Sparks; Sgt Papua; Unk; Cpl Randle Manella; Doc Hunt; MSgt Rene Regalot

1969 - 55 Years Ago Camp Reasoner - Da Nang Vietnam

Vietnam
July 1968 - July 1969

I can recall that day I arrived in Nam as a green know it all rookie marine with an attitude. I was going to win the war by myself. What a dumb kid I must have been then. Only moments after arriving that day, reality set in and I learn quickly that I was in hell or some where close.

The Memory Remains,

Not All Wounds Are Visible.

Part 36  - 2025

Part 35  - 2025

Part 38  - 2025

John C. Clary III. John Passed Away on April 2nd, 2018, 7 years ago today.

He is greatly missed by all of his family, friends and all of his Recon Buddies from the 1st Recon Battalion Association.

John served 3 years of active duty with USMC (Vietnam) 1967-1969, and 28 years active duty with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 

Commissioned Officer Corps, including two sea assignments as Commanding Officer (CO) of NOAA Ships Chapman and Miller Freeman, and a final shore assignment as CO of the Pacific Marine Center. He retired from NOAA Corps in 2006, at which time he assumed the civilian position of Logistics Officer at NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center until his final retirement on July 31, 2016.

Remember you are not forgotten while I am still on patrol.

On 02/12/2025 3:11 PM EST 1st Recon Battalion Association <form-1streconbn.org@apps.registeredsite.com> wrote:


Your Name: Edward M StClair
Your Address: AL
Your Email: estclai1@san.rr.com
Your Phone number: 8587740803
Guest Book Message: Just checking in.

Thanks You,

Semper Fi

Save the date for the 140th
Saint Paul Winter Carnival
January 22nd – February 1th, 2026

Alan Carleton Enfinger

Bravo Company

7/70-8/72

Alan was born in Pensacola, Florida, on August 5, 1951 to Auston "LaVerne" and Annie “Inez” Enfinger. Following his graduation from Pensacola High School, Alan joined the United States Marine Corps, where he served in the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion Unit during the Vietnam War until his return home in 1972.


Alan married his wife of almost 45 years, Connie, in 1977, and they jointly owned and managed a successful business through his passing. Alan was also a proud officer of the American Legion post 340 and, during his lifetime, was an avid scuba diver, traveled to several continents, and enjoyed cooking and riding his motorcycle.


Alan is preceded in death by both of his parents, as well as his brother, Donnie Enfinger. Alan is survived by his wife, Connie; his three daughters, Erica Enfinger, Michelle Enfinger, and Constance “Suzy” Schneider (Jared); and his three grandsons, Reed, Grant and Pierce Schneider. He is also survived by his remaining brothers, Ray Hall (Ann), Adrian Enfinger (Patsy) and Ronnie Enfinger, as well as various nieces and nephews. A private service will be held at a later date.


If you would like to honor Alan’s memory, please consider a donation to the Marine Reconnaissance Foundation.

In Memory of
Alan Carleton Enfinger
August 5, 1951 - April 20, 2022

Bravo Company 1970