15 Months in SOG: A Warrior’s Tour

When we cross the border: no ID, and it’s kiss yourself good-bye if Charlie gets ahold of you.

In Vietnam, the Military Assistance Command’s Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) fielded small recon teams in areas infested with VC and NVA. Because SOG operations suffered extraordinary casualties, they required extraordinary soldiers. So when Capt. Thom Nicholson arrived at Command and Control North (CCN) in Da Nang, SOG’s northernmost base camp, he knew he was going to be working with the cream of the crop.

As commander of Company B, CCN’s Raider Company, Nicholson commanded four platoons, comprising nearly two hundred men, in some of the war’s most deadly missions, including ready-reaction missions for patrols in contact with the enemy, patrol extractions under fire, and top-secret expeditions over the fence into Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam. Colonel Nicholson spares no one, including himself, as he provides a rare glimpse into the workings of one of the military’s most carefully concealed reconnaissance campaigns.