From the Editor:

Hopefully this action-packed issue of the Sentinel will give you a moment of sanity from this election craziness, but please remember to vote.

Aaron Brandenberg starts us off with an uplifting message in his “From the President” column.

The Vietnam War “Dustoff” crews in Vietnam are to receive a more than well-deserved Congressional Gold Medal. They risked all to bring us to higher medical help, far too often under fire.

“Black Ops Vietnam,” an enlightening and accurate explanation of the birth and life of SOG by Robert Gillespie, is reviewed by Chapter 78 Gold Star Member Steve Bric. Robert gives us the big picture along with the finer details.

In “Requiem for a Lion,” about his recently passed friend, Tony Oliver, Greg Walker cites Tony’s highly successful “lead from the front” attitude. Tony immersed himself in the culture of both Kosovo and Afghanistan, and he consistently chose the hard right over the easy wrong.

Sentinel reader Bob Adolph wrote an eye-opening book, Surviving the UN, about his long and storied career with SF, the UN, and more. He shares with us the detailed and very personal story of how he and his wife survived the 2003 attack on the Baghdad UN Headquarters and the aftermath.

“Operation Ugly Baby,” by Spec Steven Alger of 10th SFG(A) is about the backup plan to open a second front in the north of Iraq for the 2003 Operation Iraqi Freedom in the wake of Turkey’s last-minute denial of use of their airspace for initiating the northern assault. It included the longest low-level infiltration via aircraft since the Second World War.

“NVA Gunship Trap” by Randy Bender and Sentinel reader, and former contributor, Gordon Denniston, both of MACV-SOG, clearly explained with their tense account of a sophisticated trap that was set up to shoot down a pair of MACV-SOG aircraft, anticipating the typical search patterns our gunships used.

Many thanks to John Meyer for passing along the photos and information regarding the $30k donation from SOA and fellow MACV-SOG Green Berets towards the Green Beret Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which was presented to SFA Chapter 38, who are spearheading the effort.

Finally, please visit our September Chapter 78 meeting and hear about recruiting efforts for our sister SFNG company C/1/19th, including Chapter 78 video interviews.

As always, we hope you enjoy the Sentinel and keep sending us your stories, which is how we got most of the content of this month’s issue.

How Miller
Sentinel Editor