John Stryker \u2018Tilt\u2019 Meyer was part of Studies and Observations Group (SOG), a highly classified unit conducting covert unconventional warfare missions during the Vietnam War. In this clip, John first shares statistics on SOG before recounting a significant event on Christmas Day 1968 along the Ho Chi Minh Trail – a mission that nearly cost him his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each team had a code name. On this mission, John was part of Recon Team ST Idaho, which was assigned to locate and destroy a fuel pipeline inside Laos. The pipeline eventually stretched from the Chinese border and ran through North and South Vietnam and Laos to just outside Saigon, where it shipped nearly 300,000 tonnes of petrol by the end of the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John was the One-Zero – team leader of ST Idaho – with two other US Green Berets and three indigenous personnel serving with him. They landed on a knoll in a canyon surrounded by mountains. The entire area was overgrown with thick, ten-foot-tall elephant grass, which hindered the team’s progress as they searched for higher ground to spend the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After patrolling for a few minutes, the point man spotted something suspicious and suddenly opened fire. The North Vietnamese Army quickly retaliated, returning fire and launching rocket-propelled grenades towards them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ST Idaho team debated whether they could shake the enemy and continue with their mission but ultimately decided against it. John declared a Prairie Fire\u2014the code word indicating troops were in contact, which would redirect all available aircraft to their location – and called for immediate extraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n