MACV-SOG

The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam-Studies and Observation Group, MACV-SOG, was a highly-classified, black operations group who operated during the Vietnam War. Founded on the 24th of January, 1964, the group operated as a reconnaissance force providing surveillance over both South and North Vietnam and the countries Laos and Cambodia. After the incident in the Tonkin Gulf, MACV-SOG began to participate in American operations like Operation Steel Tiger, Operation Commando Hunt, and the Cambodian Campaign. After the Tet Offensive, the group began to fall apart. MACV-SOG later launched bombing attacks along the Ho Chi Minh Trail to disperse North Vietnamese Army troops or Viet Cong guerrillas; however, to no avail. After President Nixon's decision to withdraw all American troops and combatants, the role of the black ops group declined and finally met its end.