SOG: The Secret Wars of America's Commandos in Vietnam

Finished too quick 😆

Studies & Observations Group. Seldom has a military unit's title so inadequately described what they actually did. Which was, of course, the point.I have read many books on the subject of Special Forces & covert ops in Vietnam. This is, without doubt, the best. Still utterly compelling and inspiring, even now on the third read.What you have to keep reminding yourself, when reading this book, is that it is a true account of a secret war. So brave, heroic, selfless & daring were the deeds carried out by the men of SOG, it is easy to forget that they were real events that happened to real people in real danger.It's a gripping account of the activities of men, who's job it was to play the most dangerous game of `cat & mouse' imaginable. SOG men volunteered to go into hostile territory in small teams (typically 6 to 8 men), surrounded by thousands of enemy soldiers and bring back vital intelligence which was almost certainly responsible for saving many thousands of American lives. Sometime they did this completely undetected, all too often they had to run and fight for their lives to escape a vastly numerically superior foe intent on their destruction.John Plaster recounts many recon missions and the battle for survival SOG men faced each time they waged their silent war against the VC and NVA. You can almost feel the fear and adrenaline generated from such dangerous work. Almost. No book could ever truly give you a full understanding of how it felt to do what SOG did, but this book gets closer than any other I've read.At times this book also made me angry. All too often, deeds of heroism and bravery went unrecognized, due partly to the secret nature of what SOG did but sometimes due to the incompetence of the military. Although several SOG men received The Congressional Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War, it is clear many more should have. That said, the men of SOG didn't fight for medals or for some ideological hatred of communism. They fought and died for each other, their fellow soldiers, their "brothers". The greatest accolade for a SOG man wasn't a medal, (Purple Hearts were often not even requested) it was to be considered to be "good in the woods" by their peers.During The Vietnam War, SOG suffered a casualty rate of over 100% (every man wounded at least once). The unit had a kill ratio of 150:1 (150 enemy dead for each SOG operator killed). After reading this book you'll understand why they were so effective and you'll be amazed that their casualty rate wasn't higher.

I bought this book to read as I have taken an interest in other 20th century conflicts in addition to the two world wars.Well what an eye opener. Major(Ret) Plaster is an incredible man who documents the experiences of daring special operations within vietnam in a way that only a veteran could.He takes you through the entire involvement in the war, from prior to major US involvement, throughout the main years of the US led war effort and in the aftermath and the wind down, in which SOG were still very active throughout.He documents how this extraordinary band of men were the true meaning of "economy of force" by punching well above their weight and providing a return of losses in the region of NVA 250:1 SOG Trooper. He documents their incredible missions with tremendous detail to keep the reader interested and accounts how SOG pioneered many innovative and now regular special forces techniques such as HALO jumping insertion, Bright Light patrols and certain psychological warfare deception techniques etc.He also portrayed to me the fickle nature of the politicians, regularly downgrading or even failing to recognise the tremendous contribution of the average SOG soldier in this bitter campaign they waged simply because the missions were secret, not 100% by the book or similar poor excuses. It is similar to the constant failure of recognition of British troops in small cold war conflicts such as Oman in the 70's.This book gives a good insight into special forces operations and the dark arts of cold war operations and how truly path-forging these operatives were with their unique ability to push boundaries and pioneer new techniques. It is noteworthy that some of the missions in this book were used as the basis for the Vietnam missions in the Call of Duty Black Ops game, a true testament to their daring nature!!I highly recommend this book to anyone with even a casual interest in the Vietnam War, special forces development or just military history - it has earned a rightful place on my shelf!!!

This book was incredibly interesting from beginning to end. I had never known that any of what was detailed within had been carried out by Green Berets and Navy Seals in Vietnam, despite reading a lot around the subject, and this book really brings the action, courage and tragedy of the events it describes to life. It is very enlightening about the wide array of secret operations that were carried out by this group, but also tying in to the actions of other groups such as the CIA airline Air America about which I had read before this book. The men of SOG were truly the forebears of America's present special forces, pioneering such techniques as HALO parachute jumps, and deserved all and many more of the decorations that their small unit was awarded throughout the course of the vietnam War.From reconnaissance missions in small seven to eight man teams behind enemy lines in Laos and Cambodia, to rescuing downed pilots, including the true version of the BAT 21 incident that the Gene Hackman movie of the same name was based on, this book is cover to cover action showing how these men were able to punch way above their weight in terms of numbers so that they held up tens of thousands of Vietnamese soldiers who could have fought elsewhere in the war but instead had to guard their rear areas from the attentions of these daring commandos who the Vietnamese hunted down with particular malice. This book really takes you there with the men, amongst the jungle, straight to the Ho Chi Minh trail against which they so often made their attacks and called in air strikes so that it shows the Vietnam War in a completely different light to most accounts.