Commander of TT III Siliwangi formed the TT III Siliwangi Commando Unit (Kesko TT III). Their success interested the Army Headquarters in Jakarta to endorse the formation of a Special Forces Unit. As such, in 1954, the Army Commando Unit (Korps Komando Angkatan Darat or KKAD) was formed. Moerdani was assigned as a trainer for the soldiers wishing to join KKAD and was appointed Head of the Teaching Bureau. In 1955, KKAD went through a name change, and it was now known as the Army Paracommando Regiment (Resimen Para Komando Angkatan Darat or RPKAD). Not long after, Moerdani was appointed a Company Commander. As a member of RPKAD, Moerdani became part of the battle to suppress the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PRRI), a Sumatran-based rebel group. In March 1958, Moerdani parachuted down behind enemy lines in Pekanbaru and Medan to prepare the groundwork for ABRI to take over the two cities. A month later, on 17 April 1958, Moerdani took part in Operation 17 August, an operation which struck the killing blow on the PRRI rebellion. Moerdani's next assignment was against the Universal Struggle Charter (Permesta), another rebel group in Sulawesi. Similar to what he did in Sumatra, Moerdani and his troops laid down the foundations for an all out attack on Permesta who surrendered in June 1958. After PRRI and Permesta's surrenders, Moerdani, was stationed in Aceh. In the beginning of 1960, he contemplated becoming an Army Aircraft Pilot but was dissuaded from it by Ahmad Yani who sent him to the United States to join the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. There, Moerdani took part in an Infantry Officers Advanced Course and trained with the 101st Airborne Division. Papua Moerdani returned to Indonesia in 1961 to find ABRI preparing itself for a takeover of West Irian. His first assignment was to train the paratroopers who were supposed to land behind enemy lines and infiltrate. As the months went on, the infiltration did not bring concrete results. In May 1962, Moerdani was assigned to lead a paratroop drop which consisted of RPKAD and Kostrad soldiers. After landing in West Irian in late June 1962, Moerdani led his troops in fighting skirmishes against members of the Dutch Marine until the United Nations intervened in August 1962 and decided to give West Irian to Indonesia. Once there was a ceasefire, Moerdani was placed in