Military Assistance Command-Vietnam Studies and Observations Group, known as MACV-SOG was probably the hairiest assignment in the entire Vietnam War.
A typical patrol consisted of two or three American Special Forces soldiers and a half dozen indigenous soldiers, usually Montagnards or the Nùng. The kicker was that each patrol did recon deep behind enemy lines in countries like Laos and Cambodia, all without the benefits of a passport!
MACV-SOG was shrouded in secrecy for decades but today, a Canadian named Jason Collins has picked up the torch for the unit and chronicles the first-person accounts of these Vietnam veterans in his Pucker Factor book series and on his website.
"Both of my grandfathers served in the military as well as many other family members. One family member had been K.I.A on a bombing raid over Europe, one had been a POW with the Japanese, another machine gunned in the ill-fated Dieppe raid," Collins said, explaining his initial interest in the military.
Collins started a military history Facebook page and through it was introduced to a lot of Vietnam veterans, many of whom had served in Special Forces. "As time went on I met John Stryker Meyer and soon after Lynne Black Jr. It was then that I thought about creating a private page for the vets and families of the men of SOG. I got the green light from John," Collins told Connecting Vets. "The gate was open, the trust given, and the history began to flow."
As for the contents of the Pucker Factor series, sure there are stories about firefights, but Collins isn't just interested in that and wants to capture to totality of what the Vietnam War was like for the veterans he speaks to. Those stories could be funny events that happened on R&R or even how one veteran met the woman who became his wife in Australia.
"I get these stories from the vets with some photos then it is my time to work and use my three years of art school graphics education to weave together a visual story with added maps and factual documents from the period," he said.
When asked what were some of the most interesting stories he has heard from the SOG veterans, Collins replied, "Many of those "interesting/surprising revelations" will remain private. These men were all young and wild to a new level! Grandpa wants to keep his rep intact," he said.
However, he also explained that even today there are still some topics about the war and the unit that the men who served in are still cautious about.
"Although 99 percent of SOG activities are now public there are some that are still classified. What they are is above my pay grade but normally it involves another country which does not want history to record its actions," he said.
With four books in the Pucker Factor series now available on the web, along with a history of the 20th SOS Green Hornets, and another about the Canadians who served in Vietnam, Collins is working on four more projects including the continuation of the Pucker Factor books, a follow up on the Green Hornets, and a book about SOG's naval division.