In 1969 some 300 selected Laotian personnel from the Royal Lao Army (RLA) were sent to Thailand to attend advanced Airborne and Ranger courses manned by instructors from the Royal Thai Special Forces (RTSF) at their Special Warfare Centre and Recondo School co-located at Fort Narai in Lopburi Province.

[1] The unit was based in Ban Y Lai, north of Vientiane, Laos capital city.

[2] The MR 5 Cdos were initially employed primarily on counter-insurgency sweeps targeting Pathet Lao guerrilla units around Vientiane, though in later years they were deployed in other military regions to demonstrate symbolic support from the Royal Lao Government.

During September 1971 one company participated in Operation Golden Mountain, the successful capture of Phou Khout Mountain, overlooking Muang Soui in Military Region 2 (Long Tieng),[3] and in 1972 two companies were sent to Military Region 4 (Pakse) to assist RLA units in the recapture of Khong Sedone.

As late as May 1975, after the collapse of the FAR, a single remaining company from the MR 5 Cdos was fighting Pathet Lao forces north of the Laotian capital city.