Across The Fence

QUOTE: "As the commander of SOG, I can say that "Across The Fence" accurately reflects why the secret war was hazardous for our troops and so deadly for the enemy. Major General John K. Singlaub (U.S. Army Ret.) ----------------------------------------- Far beyond the battlefields of Vietnam, across the fence in Laos and Cambodia, America fought a deadly secret war. Known only as SOG, the Special Forces men of the Studies and Operations Group didn't play by the rules. They used every trick in the book to defeat the communist forces and if those didn't work they made up new ones. SOG operators tapped into phone wires, ambushed enemy units and gathered some of the most important intelligence of the war. All of this came at a staggering price in terms of casualties. At one point the casualty rate exceeded one hundred percent. So, what kept these extraordinary men running missions that were sure to get them wounded or killed? Why did they return to Vietnam for a second tour of duty with SOG? The answers to those questions are in this book.

"For eight years, far beyond the battlefields of Vietnam and the glare of media distortions, American Green Berets fought a deadly secret war in Laos and Cambodia under the aegis of the top secret Military Assistance Command Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group, or SOG."--Back cover. This book recounts the author's experiences running SOG reconnaissance missions across the border of South Vietnam into the North Vietnamese Army's sanctuaries in Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam.

John Plaster’s riveting account of his covert activities as a member of a special operations team during the Vietnam War is “a true insider’s account, this eye-opening report will leave readers feeling as if they’ve been given a hot scoop on a highly classified project” (Publishers Weekly). Code-named the Studies and Observations Group, SOG was the most secret elite US military unit to serve in the Vietnam War—so secret its very existence was denied by the government. Composed entirely of volunteers from such ace fighting units as the Army Green Berets, Air Force Air Commandos, and Navy SEALs, SOG took on the most dangerous covert assignments, in the deadliest and most forbidding theaters of operation. In SOG, Major John L. Plaster, a three-tour SOG veteran, shares the gripping exploits of these true American warriors in a minute-by-minute, heartbeat-by-heartbeat account of the group’s stunning operations behind enemy lines—penetrating heavily defended North Vietnamese military facilities, holding off mass enemy attacks, launching daring missions to rescue downed US pilots. Some of the most extraordinary true stories of honor and heroism in the history of the US military, from sabotage to espionage to hand-to-hand combat, Plaster’s account is “a detailed history of this little-known aspect of the Vietnam War…a worthy act of historical rescue from an unjustified, willed oblivion” (The New York Times).

This extraordinary story of courage and faith is based on the actual experiences of three girls who fled from the repressive life of Moore River Native Settlement, following along the rabbit-proof fence back to their homelands. Assimilationist policy dictated that these girls be taken from their kin and their homes in order to be made white. Settlement life was unbearable with its chains and padlocks, barred windows, hard cold beds, and horrible food. Solitary confinement was doled out as regular punishment. The girls were not even allowed to speak their language. Of all the journeys made since white people set foot on Australian soil, the journey made by these girls born of Aboriginal mothers and white fathers speaks something to everyone.

In 1978, Musa, a black farmer's daughter, and Diana, the daughter of a white farmer, meet at the boundary fence dividing their families' lands. In war-torn Rhodesia, their friendship spans the fence, leading the two brave girls towards each other's worlds and into the new Zimbabwe.

This work explores the differences between temperamental traits and psychological disorders. What is the difference between a child who is temperamentally sad and one who has depression? Can a child be angry by temperament without being mentally ill? Here, the author discusses the factors that can propel children with particular temperamental tendencies towards or away from more problematic trajectories.

"From 1964 to 1972, far beyond the battlefields of Vietnam and the glare of media distortions, American Green Berets and their indigenous troops fought a deadly secret war in Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam under the aegis of the top secret Military Assistance Command Vietnam -- Studies and Observations Group, or simply SOG.... The centerpiece of SOG Chronicles Volume One is the 1970 story of Operation Tailwind, features a SOG element of 16 Green Berets and 120 indigenous soldiers that went deeper into Laos than any operation during the secret war"--Page 4 of cover.

Hidden from the media and the public, hundreds of US elite soldiers under the wraps of "top secret" were on missions carried out across the fence in Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam. To military insiders, it was the "secret war." Mission authority was carried out under the aegis of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam's top secret Studies and Observations Group. SOG's chain of command for after-action reports extended to the White House and Joint Chiefs of Staff. When the secret war ended eight years later in 1972, most SOG military records were destroyed. The cloak of secrecy remained over SOG for 29 years until April 14, 2001, when a Presidential Unit Citation--the military equivalent of the Distinguished Service Cross, our nation's second highest award for valor--was awarded to SOG and its support units.--Publisher description.