60th Infantry Regiment (United States) - Vietnam War

Vietnam War

After service as the 2nd Battle Group, 60th Infantry from 1958–1962, three battalions (2/60, 3/60, and 5/60 Mech) were activated at Fort Riley, Kansas, and assigned to the 9th Infantry Division for its deployment to the Republic of Vietnam in December 1966. The division was the only major U.S. combat unit to conduct operations in the Mekong Delta. The battalions of the 60th participated in both Riverine operations and "jitterbug tactics" which featured split-second timing of airmobile insertions in close proximity to enemy units. These operations won the battalions unit citations and campaign streamers, including one Presidential Unit Citation. The 9th Infantry Division was the first to be withdrawn from Vietnam, and returned to the Ft. Lewis, Washington, in 1970 where its battalions were inactivated.

2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry was reactivated on 21 October 1972 at Ft. Lewis, then inactivated at Fort Lewis and relieved from assignment to the 9th Infantry Division in February 1991. The regiment was assigned to the Training and Doctrine Command on 27 August 1996, with the 2nd Battalion activated at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

3d Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment "River Raiders" is currently also assigned to the 193d Infantry Brigade in Ft Jackson, South Carolina (along with the 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry, 1st Battalion, 13th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 13th Infantry Regiment, and 3rd Battalion, 13th Infantry Regiment) and serving as a basic combat training battalion with A,B, C, D, E, and F companies.