By Tom Laemlein<\/a><\/p>\n M<\/span>ajor John L. Plaster, U.S. Army Reserve (retired), is a man who knows what he is talking about. Plaster is a veteran of three one-year tours in Southeast Asia, serving with the secret Special Forces unit MACV-SOG (which stood for \u201cMilitary Assistance Command, Vietnam \u2014 Studies and Observations Group\u201d). Even beyond his service during the Vietnam War, we owe him our thanks for his documentation of our Special Forces in that long and deadly conflict, and for detailing the history of American sniping in many other books and numerous magazine articles.<\/p>\n When he left Vietnam as a staff sergeant, he was commissioned as a reserve officer. He also took advantage of the G.I. Bill and earned his degree in Journalism from the University of Minnesota. By 1983, Plaster had co-founded the National Guard Sniper School and developed it into a major training resource for military and law enforcement snipers of the United States and several allied nations. Along the way, John Plaster has written several important books, sharing his knowledge of sniping and the history of U.S. special operations in SE Asia with the rest of us.<\/p>\n \u201cSOG: A Photo History of the Secret Wars\u201d (Casemate Publishers, 2022), gives us a rare look into the shadowy operations of the top-secret Studies and Observations Group. To provide some context of the importance of the photos that Plaster has assembled in this book, the U.S. military effectively destroyed all the official photos of SOG during 1972-73.<\/p>\n As an experienced photo researcher, I can tell you that those images are gone without a trace, and without the efforts of John Plaster and his fellow veterans of MACV-SOG, we would know little about that important part of the Vietnam War. Working with a group of veterans, he created this 400-page book to offer readers a fantastic collection of more than 700 photos that would have otherwise remained unseen. Telling their own story, in detail, is SOG\u2019s final battle, and that fact alone earns this newest edition of the book a place in your library.<\/p>\n Major Plaster covers the full spectrum of the covert war in Vietnam, beginning with the birth of SOG, and the subsequent operations to map out and perform interdictions on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Details of the SOG recon missions and tactics are particularly revealing, as are those of the North Vietnamese counter-recon units and their tactics.<\/p>\n Particularly interesting for\u00a0The Armory Life<\/em>\u00a0readers are Plaster\u2019s descriptions of the SOG\u2019s many unique weapons \u2014 including the 13mm Gyrojet rocket pistol, a true James Bond weapon (shown in \u201cYou Only Live Twice\u201d) in the hands of American covert ops men. Another Hollywood-like weapon of the SOG were the devious \u201cProject Eldest Son\u201d AK-47 and mortar rounds that exploded in the weapon when used, killing or maiming the NVA soldiers that used them. This was a part of SOG\u2019s psychological warfare branch, working to drive a wedge of distrust between the North Vietnamese and their Communist Chinese weapons suppliers.<\/p>\n Plaster also discusses SOG\u2019s all-important air assets, ranging from the C-130 Blackbirds and the many specialized helicopters modified for covert insertion and extraction to the powerful air weapons (including the AC-130 Spectre, armed with a twin Bofors 40mm gun along with a gyro-stabilized 105mm howitzer!).<\/p>\n This book easily earns the highest possible recommendation from me, not only for its fascinating content, but also for its great tribute to America\u2019s unsung covert warriors in SE Asia. Thank you, gentlemen, for your dedication, courage and sacrifice.<\/p>\n To give you an idea of the breadth of images in Major Plaster\u2019s book, but not to intrude upon any of the rare images published within, I\u2019ve included a group of photos from my collection to support this article.<\/p>\n You can find your copy online at Amazon.com, at your local Barnes & Noble bookstore, or buy direct from the publisher at the link below. I cannot recommend this book enough, I am sure you will appreciate it just as much as I did.<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note: Please be sure to check out The Armory Life Forum, where you can comment about our daily articles, as well as just talk guns and gear. Click the \u201cGo To Forum Thread\u201d link below to jump in and discuss this article and much more!<\/em><\/p>\n Go to forum thread<\/a><\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nSOG: A Photo History of the Secret Wars <\/h3>\n
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