On the Ground

The Secret War in Vietnam

By: John Stryker Meyer, John E. Peters

Narrated by: John Stryker Meyer

Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Inside MACV-SOG

During the Vietnam War, a “secret war” was fought across the fence in Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam, unknown to the media or the public, under the aegis of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam’s top secret Studies and Observations Group. SOG’s chain of command for missions and after-action reports extended to the White House and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Small Green Beret-lead teams ran missions into Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam without assistance from conventional artillery, tank or infantry units. Once on the ground, their sole support was provided by Air Force Tactical Air and helicopter units, US Army and Marine helicopter aviation personnel and aircrews, and from the South Vietnam Air Force’s 219th Special Operations Squadron, code named Kingbees.

In Laos, the communists dedicated 50,000 troops to the Ho Chi Minh Trail, including highly trained sappers from the 305th Sapper Battalion, its sole mission: Attack SOG teams.

©2007, 2017, 2018 John Stryker Meyer (P)2020 John Stryker Meyer

The man who lived it!

I loved the fact that the man who narrates the story, is the same man who lived it! Unparalleled courage. A real history of the time and events in Southeast Asia.

TREMENDOUS BRAVERY

It was a great listen; I'd recommend listening to Jocko Willink to get to know this humble SOG warrior before listening to the book.

Absolutely awesome!

I listened to Across the Fence first and it took me a few to get accustomed to Mr Meyer’s reading style. It worked best for me on 1.2x speed. I would much rather listen to these stories straight from this heros mouth rather than a voice actor. The book itself is just incredible, its unimaginable what these men did for us and the people of Vietnam. I loved everything about this book, the drama, the humor, the bravery, the commitment and love these men have for their brothers in arms even when they are from completely different worlds and can barely speak the same language. Even if you arent a fan of war stories this book is a must listen/read. Huge thank you to John Stryker Meyer and all the men of SOG.

Good Read

Excellent story and definitely worth reading. The author probably should have let a professional read it.

Ooof the reading is hard to listen to…

- [ ] Let me start by saying I have the absolute utmost respect for Tilt. I’ve listen to just about every podcast he’s been on (thanks Jocko) and purchased all his books. The book is written in his typical first person perspective. It is well written. The breaks down however is the same as his other book, it’s the readings. When you compare it to other MACVSOG books like Uncommon Valor, SOG Medic, We Few, Whispers in the Tall Grass, there is a clear difference is the experience. On the Ground is jarring to listen to. The halting cadence of the read is distracting and the unedited repeats at the start of the book could have easily been edited in post production. It is the audio version of someone using a typewriter, get to the end of the line and use the handle to shift up and back to the left. It’s extremely difficult to listen to. The most a coward part is in Chapter 3 when additional, first-person emphasis is placed on certain folks. This book should take its place alongside the above mentioned SOG titles and perhaps it does in written form. The audio though makes it one I want to listen to more than once but will not because there are better books available. If production costs are the issue, Tilt it would be my honor to cover the costs. Your tireless efforts to memorialize the memory of MACVSOG should have every advantage available. Happy to help.

Outstanding

First the slow voice is tough but if you speed it up to 1.3x it’s perfect. I loved this book. Great SOG stories told by a great man. Makes my heart hurt for the indigs though.

Welcome home and thank you for telling your stories!

SOG and their South Vietnamese brothers

These men endured awe-inspiring hardship and peril. Their stories are nothing short of national treasures.

Absolutely incredible

This book is nothing short of amazing and when I start to feel my trivial problems in life are overwhelming I think about Tilt and the guys from SOG and what they went through and in their early 20s. I appreciate it was read by the man himself and I can’t imagine it any other way, despite other reviews. Thank you Tilt for sharing your stories personally as I’m sure some are painful. Thank you for your service. Read these books people.

Just the best

If you want a no nonsense book this is it ! Read very well paying attention to detail I hated to finish. I hope there is another book by this author.

Great Book Overall, with a few caveats...

Overall I enjoyed the stories that were chosen for this book. my few gripes with it are the narration aspects.

I think John did a great job of narrating but I there seemed to be alot of misread words made when reading. Can't really fault him for that, as people get tongue-tied but it there was little or no editing of the audio after they recorded the book (examples below).

At one point John stops narrating to speak with his editor/producer about rereading a certain section (you can hear the other voice on the background).

Another point somewhere in the middle chapters John straight up burps for a good 3 seconds before continuing to narrate. I don't know how that was not removed before publishing.

Lastly, John seemed to be congested while reading the last few chapters. I assume he had to meet deadlines. I just kept wanted to clear my throat as I heard him speak. please let the man be in his best form for the next book.

I understand mistakes happen and there is a whole production associates with the audiobook creation, but the seemingly lack of revision and cleaning up of the audio really took away from the experience,