Episode 34: Part 1 - Mike Stahl (MAC V SOG, Vietnam Veteran)
This is Part One of a two-part podcast. Host Tim K. sits down in Portales, New Mexico with a legend of MAC V SOG, Mike Stahl. The Studies and Observations Group (also known as SOG, MACSOG, and MACV-SOG) was a top-secret, joint unconventional warfare task force created on January 24th, 1964 by the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a subsidiary command of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV). The unit would eventually consist primarily of personnel from the United States Army Special Forces, the United States Navy SEALs, the United States Air Force (USAF), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and elements of the United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance units.
The mission of MAC V SOG was to execute an intensified program of harassment, diversion, political pressure, the capture of prisoners, physical destruction, acquisition of intelligence, generation of propaganda, and diversion of resources, against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Throughout Part One, Mike discusses his time in joining the Army, being recruited into MAC V SOG, and some of those formerly classified missions which took him to some of the most remote locations in Southeast Asia.
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