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On the Ground

The Secret War in Vietnam

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On the Ground

Written by: John Stryker Meyer, John E. Peters
Narrated by: John Stryker Meyer
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About this listen

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
Wars & Conflicts Military Vietnam War War US Air Force US Army Air Force
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What listeners say about On the Ground

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Good story

I am listening to this book right now after having previously listened to “across the fence” from the same author which I enjoyed and is why I decided to give this one a go, the stories are interesting as the last book was also, it is read by the author him self who is not a professional reader and you can tell, but isn’t a deal breaker, my one big criticism is the 2 times in chapter 3 I’ve l heard him talking to the I’m guessing audio engineer or director? and asked to re read a line… and 1 thing I can only guess was a burp? I don’t know why these weren’t edited out… I’ve listened to 40+ audio books from audible and this is the first time I’ve heard these kind of errors. hoping these are the last flaws of the book as I do not appreciate paying for something that feels like an unfinished product. Someone else mentioned speeding up the playback to 1.5x which is way to fast. 1.1x IMO is as much as you can go with out noticing it being to fast.

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Definitely worth getting

I love listening to John in interviews because he has an excellent sence of humour and can really tell a story.

But if he writes another book I really hope he gets someone else to narrarate it.

Whoever is doing the recording really let him and the listeners down.

All in all, its fantastic. This and Across the Fence are excellent stories and I highly reccomend.

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    4 out of 5 stars

Fantastic! Took some getting used to, but worth it

The author narrates this one himself. This took some getting used to because he is NOT the professional voice actors you're used to. He's a retired SF guy, and he sounds like one, which is GREAT! Once I got uses to his voice, it added so much to the writing. He's got a lot if personality and it comes through. I think he did a fantastic job and made this audio book is really something special.

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    3 out of 5 stars

Unedited recording

Unfortunately I just could not get through this book. The narrator (who is the author) repeatedly stops and can be heard discussing with the producer "...how far back? do that sentence again?" There might have been a good story in there but it is presented poorly.

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Love these guys but . . .

Hate to say this because I’ve genuinely enjoyed the other books, interviews and podcasts of the author, but I regret deciding on the audiobook rather than paper for this title. The performance / production makes it impossible to focus on the stories. I actually quit listening within 30 minutes. I just could not stay engaged after hearing multiple conversations between the author / reader and a producer discussing the edits that were needed (but kept in the recording nonetheless), completely breaking any immersion. Feels like production and QA was very low effort, and it completely negated the work.

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