On the Ground

The Secret War in Vietnam

By: John Stryker Meyer, John E. Peters

Narrated by: John Stryker Meyer

Inside MACV-SOG

During the Vietnam War, a “secret war” was fought across the fence in Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam, unknown to the media or the public, under the aegis of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam’s top secret Studies and Observations Group. SOG’s chain of command for missions and after-action reports extended to the White House and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Small Green Beret-lead teams ran missions into Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam without assistance from conventional artillery, tank or infantry units. Once on the ground, their sole support was provided by Air Force Tactical Air and helicopter units, US Army and Marine helicopter aviation personnel and aircrews, and from the South Vietnam Air Force’s 219th Special Operations Squadron, code named Kingbees.

In Laos, the communists dedicated 50,000 troops to the Ho Chi Minh Trail, including highly trained sappers from the 305th Sapper Battalion, its sole mission: Attack SOG teams.

©2007, 2017, 2018 John Stryker Meyer (P)2020 John Stryker Meyer

The man who lived it!

I loved the fact that the man who narrates the story, is the same man who lived it! Unparalleled courage. A real history of the time and events in Southeast Asia.

TREMENDOUS BRAVERY

It was a great listen; I'd recommend listening to Jocko Willink to get to know this humble SOG warrior before listening to the book.

Absolutely awesome!

I listened to Across the Fence first and it took me a few to get accustomed to Mr Meyer’s reading style. It worked best for me on 1.2x speed. I would much rather listen to these stories straight from this heros mouth rather than a voice actor. The book itself is just incredible, its unimaginable what these men did for us and the people of Vietnam. I loved everything about this book, the drama, the humor, the bravery, the commitment and love these men have for their brothers in arms even when they are from completely different worlds and can barely speak the same language. Even if you arent a fan of war stories this book is a must listen/read. Huge thank you to John Stryker Meyer and all the men of SOG.

Good Read

Excellent story and definitely worth reading. The author probably should have let a professional read it.

Absolutely incredible

This book is nothing short of amazing and when I start to feel my trivial problems in life are overwhelming I think about Tilt and the guys from SOG and what they went through and in their early 20s. I appreciate it was read by the man himself and I can’t imagine it any other way, despite other reviews. Thank you Tilt for sharing your stories personally as I’m sure some are painful. Thank you for your service. Read these books people.

Just the best

If you want a no nonsense book this is it ! Read very well paying attention to detail I hated to finish. I hope there is another book by this author.

Great Book Overall, with a few caveats...

Overall I enjoyed the stories that were chosen for this book. my few gripes with it are the narration aspects.

I think John did a great job of narrating but I there seemed to be alot of misread words made when reading. Can't really fault him for that, as people get tongue-tied but it there was little or no editing of the audio after they recorded the book (examples below).

At one point John stops narrating to speak with his editor/producer about rereading a certain section (you can hear the other voice on the background).

Another point somewhere in the middle chapters John straight up burps for a good 3 seconds before continuing to narrate. I don't know how that was not removed before publishing.

Lastly, John seemed to be congested while reading the last few chapters. I assume he had to meet deadlines. I just kept wanted to clear my throat as I heard him speak. please let the man be in his best form for the next book.

I understand mistakes happen and there is a whole production associates with the audiobook creation, but the seemingly lack of revision and cleaning up of the audio really took away from the experience,

Absolutely incredible

John Stryker Meyer and those he served with are absolute heroes for all they did and their stories are breathtaking. I highly recommend the book!!!

A++ choice

great listening. amazing stories recounted. will listen to another one of John Stryker Meyer books

MACV-SOG ...AIRBORNE!

loved both books, and how he tells the story. This one was great because his no nonsense way of putting things and how he told it like it was at the end of his career as an SF guy.