MACV-SOG Studies and Observations Group Vietnam Patch

Spelled out, MACV-SOG was the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Studies and Observations Group, a plain name for a joint special operations task force that ran missions into North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. It was activated on 24 January 1964 and commanded by an Army Special Forces colonel. Its people came from Army Special Forces, Navy SEALs, the Air Force, Marine Force Recon and the CIA. Much of what they did stayed classified for years after the war. SOG was deactivated on 30 April 1972.

By late 1967 SOG's ground work ran through three field commands. Command and Control North at Da Nang was the largest, Command and Control Central worked out of Kontum, and Command and Control South at Ban Me Thuot, the smallest, ran into southern Cambodia. Maritime operations reached along North Vietnam's coast. Recon teams carried code names drawn from U.S. states, poisonous snakes, weapons, tools and weather. Nine Army SOG soldiers received the Medal of Honor, and the unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.

The patch is a 3 by 4 inch shield with a gold merrowed edge around a red field. At the center a grinning white skull wears a green beret with its flash, set against a black star burst with orange flashes behind it, and two red drops fall from its teeth. White wings with a star in a circle spread across the top. A black banner below reads "MAC" and "SOG" in gold on either side of a big V, and under it an orange anchor-shaped device is wound with white rope. Wings, anchor and green beret read as air, sea and Special Forces on one shield, which fits a task force drawn from every service.

Patches like this were made in-country and were not authorized, and skulls on patches were officially forbidden. Many men wore theirs out of sight, inside a beret or a shirt. They were handed to new team members and to the indigenous troops who ran recon alongside the Americans, as a sign they had been accepted. For a long time SOG veterans could not say much about where they had been or what they had done. The Presidential Unit Citation and those nine Medals of Honor put on the record what the men on the teams already knew.

Put it in a shadow box with your Vietnam photos and recon team patch, or on the vest you wear to a Special Operations reunion. It is also a good gift for a son or grandson who has read about SOG and wants a piece of it. Measures 3 x 4 inches with a merrowed edge and iron-on backing, and it can also be sewn on. Some units never needed to explain themselves, and this patch does not try.