Issue Date: May 10, 2004

Book Review
Memoir shines light on secret commando unit

By Don De Nevi
Special to the Times

Riding the wave of success he attained with “SOG: The Secret Wars of America’s Commandos in Vietnam” (2002), John L. Plaster follows up with “Secret Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines with the Elite Warriors of SOG,” which contains harrowing true stories of courage and sacrifice.
The Studies and Observation Group was assigned to rescue downed American pilots, in addition to working behind enemy lines to sabotage and kill.

In this gritty sequel, Plaster — who served three one-year tours in SOG — reveals hitherto untold accounts of risky covert missions along the heavily defended Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and Cambodia. Consisting of fewer than a dozen men, the SOG teams, always in dangerous territory and greatly outnumbered, fought beyond radio and artillery range.

Plaster’s first-person narrative describes his own and other SOG teams as they select their targets, tap phone lines, kidnap enemy officers, are pursued by the enemy, mine jungle trails, rescue defenseless pilots and collect information — all while at risk of being ambushed.

In a kind of diary where fidelity to facts is beyond question, “Secret Commandos” leads us almost day to day through an amazing number of experiences.

Beginning with his graduation from high school in 1967 and his enlistment in the Army, we follow Plaster as he undergoes basic training in sweltering Fort Campbell, Ky., and the humid pine forests of Fort Gordon, Ga., then emerges as a Green Beret in South Vietnam in 1969. There, he quickly volunteers for the 5th Special Forces Group and eventually ends up as a member of SOG.

Throughout the remaining chapters, we are privy to and participate in complicated maneuvers and heroics normally considered pure fiction for Hollywood. More than mere military adventure stories muddied by stupid, sticky dialogue and artificial characters, “Secret Commandos” plunges us into real squads as combatants engage in jungle incursions of enemy territory.

The horrors of the Vietnam experience are vividly captured by Plaster, thanks in part to many of his buddies who served, fought and, all too often, died beside him.

The SOG teams paid an awful price for their victories.

After the war, they were the most highly decorated unit and the one with the heaviest casualties during America’s longest and most controversial conflict.

A unique perspective, “Secret Commandos” divulges that 10 teams vanished without a trace in Viet Cong-held areas. An additional 14 other SOG teams were overrun, including one of Plaster’s own.

This revealing memoir of SOG’s super-secret missions, its superb successes and heart-wrenching failures is a welcome tribute to an elite commando unit that few of us knew existed.


Secret Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines with the Elite Warriors of SOG by John L. Plaster. Simon & Schuster. 384 pages, $25.


Don De Nevi is a freelance writer and author. He lives in California.

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Ellie