Macv-Sog: Shadow Raiders: Secret Missions, Cross-Border Reconnaissance, Ambushes, and America's Hidden War in Vietnam (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798172903601)

They crossed borders they were never supposed to cross, fought battles America could not publicly acknowledge, and disappeared into jungles where rescue was never guaranteed.

During the Vietnam War, the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group-MACV-SOG-conducted some of the most dangerous and highly classified special operations of the conflict.

Small reconnaissance teams slipped across the fence into Laos and Cambodia. They watched enemy movements along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, planted sensors, captured prisoners, called in air strikes, launched ambushes, and entered territory filled with forces determined to hunt them down.

When a mission went wrong, survival could depend on minutes.

MACV-SOG: Shadow Raiders takes readers inside this hidden battlefield and explores the men, missions, tactics, aircraft, weapons, indigenous warriors, and covert programs that defined SOG's extraordinary war.

Inside you'll discover:

- How MACV-SOG emerged from America's expanding covert war in Southeast Asia
- Why tiny reconnaissance teams crossed secretly into Laos and Cambodia
- What happened when SOG teams were discovered deep behind enemy lines
- The role of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in America's secret reconnaissance war
- How FAC aircraft, helicopters, gunships, and tactical airpower kept isolated teams alive
- The SHINING BRASS, PRAIRIE FIRE, and DANIEL BOONE cross-border programs
- Hatchet Force raids, ambushes, prisoner snatches, and emergency extractions
- Operation Tailwind and some of SOG's most controversial missions
- The Bright Light missions launched to recover missing or surrounded Americans
- The crucial role played by Montagnard, Nùng, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and other indigenous personnel
- The specialized weapons, equipment, fieldcraft, communications, and deception techniques used by SOG teams
- Psychological warfare and covert operations directed against North Vietnam
- The enormous human cost of repeatedly going "across the fence"
- How MACV-SOG helped shape the future of American special operations

This is not a conventional history of the Vietnam War.

It is the story of the war inside the war-a campaign fought through secrecy, reconnaissance, airpower, deception, courage, and extraordinary risk.

For readers fascinated by MACV-SOG, Green Berets, Special Forces, Vietnam War history, covert operations, reconnaissance missions, and the hidden history of American warfare, Shadow Raiders opens the door to one of the most remarkable special operations campaigns of the twentieth century.

Enter the secret war.