Best of SOF

Technical Sergeant John E. Boitnott, Korean War Sniper By Maj. John L. Plaster, USAR (Ret.) From the December 2008 issue of SOF CHICOMS TARGET OUTPOST YOKE To instruct the 5th Marine Regiment’s newly organized sniper school, the regimental commander recruited his unit’s Distinguished Riflemen and high expert shooters, among them …

OPERATION PHANTOM FURY/AL-FAJR From the OCT 2010 files of SOF I Fought in the Fiercest Urban Combat the US had fought since the Battle of Hue, Vietnam in 1968 By Jonathan Cuney As I sit back and reflect on my time at war, no combat experience sticks out more clearly …

Cowboy was handsome, flamboyant, courageous, clever, and cruel. He got his nickname from the Green Berets who worked with him in the Highlands of South Vietnam in the 1960s. “You’ve got to take the bad with the good,” one Special Forces captain explained. “And Cowboy is a good interpreter.” But …

SOF Interview with Gordon Rottman—Grunt Slang in Vietnam: Words of the War. 1. Cover Grunt Slang in Vietnam: Words of the War 2. Introduction Have you ever found yourself throwing out some slang word recalled from Vietnam at an appropriate or not so appropriate moment? Most Vietnam vets have done …

NVA THROUGH THE WIRE…..By John “Tilt” Stryker Meyer, One Zero of Spike Team Idaho As the first flare ignited over the camp, Sergeant Patrick N “Pat” Watkins, Jr., made out an NVA soldier standing in the door of the BOQ. “He was wearing a breech-cloth and bandana,” recalls Watkins, and was …

HELL ON THE HO CHI MINH TRAIL: THE HUNT FOR AN EXTINCT COW By Robert K. Brown and Vann Spencer From I Am Soldier of Fortune Lurch, jolt, lurch, jolt. Riding elephants for 12 hours a day at three klicks an hour was proving to be a mind- and butt-numbing …

  SOF’s Robert Brown Interviews SOG Author John Stryker “Tilt” Meyer Lt. Col. Brown: “Tilt, when did you first start writing about SOG, you know the Military Assistance Command Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group, where you ran top secret missions for 19 months during the eight-year secret war waged …

The Frying Pan By Nick Brokhausen Former SOG operator When the grass whispers, the lion stalks the land… Ashanti Proverb The serenity of the South China Sea, splashed with the hues of the sunset, provides the backdrop to my musings. I am sitting on one of the bunkers on the …

From the January, 2008 issue of SOF Message from his family: SGT Jayme Pohovey passed away recently in a non combat related incident while still serving active duty in a non combat related death. He served our country for 12 years, as an Army Combat Medic, with two tours to …

by John Stryker Meyer During the eight-year secret war in Vietnam, when Green Beret-led reconnaissance teams and company-sized elements ran top-secret missions across the fence into Cambodia, Laos and N. Vietnam, many of those missions were compromised before the Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Studies and Observations Group units landed on the …