Stealth Patrol

Bill Shanahan was troubled by his line company duty in Vietnam: whenever his unit went on patrol, the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong could hear them coming. His unit didn't have a chance against an enemy that quietly emerged from the jungle like ghosts-and just as quickly disappeared. Shanahan wanted a better way to fight . . and to stay alive. And so, just four months after he arrived in Vietnam in 1968, he joined the LRPs (Long Range Patrol).The mission of the Lurps, as they were called,