"The leading historian of SOG, the elite commando unit in Vietnam, tells the story of the SOG warriors who penetrated enemy lines in operations directed at the Ho Chi Minh Trail." "The warriors of SOG - code-named the Studies and Observations Group - were a secret operations force in Vietnam, the forerunner of today's Delta Force and SEALs. Highly skilled Green Berets, they were the bravest of the brave, the most highly decorated unit in the war. Chief among their activities was observing the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the main North Vietnamese supply route into South Vietnam, and disrupting its operations. SOG warriors secretly penetrated deep into Laos and Cambodia to identify bombing targets, destroy troops, ambush trucks, mine roads, and, in their most difficult assignment, capture North Vietnamese soldiers for intelligence purposes." "Operating in the most dangerous conditions imaginable - always outnumbered, often by as much as 100 to 1 - SOG commandos matched wits with an unrelenting foe that hunted them with trackers and dogs. They suffered an extraordinarily high casualty rate. Ten entire teams disappeared and another fourteen were overrun and annihilated. Many of the missions run by SOG fighters were rescues and attempted rescues of fellow soldiers and downed helicopter pilots who supported SOG missions."--BOOK JACKET.