Customer Reviews
fantastic, but sobering - By: Antony A. Jones, 10 Jul 2008 
firstly, just buy this book & read it you will not be dissapointed.
this book details many missions that the sog went on during the vietnam war, & one thing that gets you almost immediately was the sheer loss of life that these units experienced. the missions they went on were virtual suicide missions. they knew they would have contact with the enemy as soon as they had been inserted,they knew there was a molein saigon relaying their mission details to hanoi, & they knew they would be persued constantly while they werein cambodia & laos, yet they still went on the missions. this book is gripping, if you can cope with the many deaths describedin the book.
excellent read, not glorified or gung ho at all.
Excellent - Informative & Gripping - One of the best - By: D. Hart, 16 May 2008 When I began to read the very first few pages of this book, I thought there was such a lot of detail, would it turn out to be a bit of a dry read?
However, I quickly realised I was wrong & found myself immersedin this fascinating & excellently written history of the US Special Forces operationsin Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia during the Vietnam conflict.
The volume combines a comprehensive chronology of events & participants with a gripping narrative about the missions that keeps the reader riveted for more & the next chapter.
This is a truly excellent book. The only thing I would say is lacking is that there is next to no detail on the flysheet about the author himself, which is a shame as he was obviouslyin the thick of the action as well as later writing such a great account. A highly recommended read.
Loved it! - By: Sirwalter, 07 Jun 2007 Thought this was going to be full of brief accounts of battles that only served to whet my appetite, but i was wrong, jam packed with 3rd person accounts of some ferocious engagements, & a insight the the darker world of "Black Ops" & psychological warefare - a fascinating read, a book i couldn't put down
SOG. Utterly compelling, gripping and inspiring - By: Dirk Hardcharger, 16 Jul 2003 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 opsin Vietnam. This is, without doubt, the best. Still utterly compelling & 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 peoplein 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 territoryin small teams (typically 6 to 8 men), surrounded by thousands of enemy soldiers & 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 & fight for their lives to escape a vastly numerically superior foe intent on their destruction.
John Plaster recounts many recon missions & the battle for survival SOG men faced each time they waged their silent war against the VC & NVA. You can almost feel the fear & 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 & 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 & 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 "goodin 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 & you'll be amazed that their casualty rate wasn't higher.
Stellar - By: matrixmarshal@aol.com, 04 Jul 2001 This book, & more particularly the Studies & Operations Group itself, are simply awesome. The incredible danger these men placed themselves into is unequalled. The USA made the mistake of underestimating & not respecting the NVA. This book will show you how squared away the NVA was as a military force. And SOG was operating right smackin the middle of their world.
