Rare Patch - RECON TEAM ADDER - Khe Sanh - MACV-SOG - CCN - Vietnam War - M.122 for Sale

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Rare Patch - RECON TEAM ADDER - Khe Sanh - MACV-SOG - CCN - Vietnam War - M.122 For Sale

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Rare Patch - RECON TEAM ADDER - Khe Sanh - MACV-SOG - CCN - Vietnam War - M.122:
$82.49

Recon Team Adder - CCN Recon - Green BeretsDeath\'s Head - FOB 3 - Forward Operating Base 3 - Khe Sanh
Elite Airborne Recon - US Special Forces - MACV-SOG
Measures - 5 x 4 inches (12.5 x 10 cms) - Large Shoulder Beret Patch

Spike Recon Team – Hatchet Force– US Special Forces – MACV-SOG

A HatchetForce or Hatchet Spike Recon Team was a special operations team of American andSouth Vietnamese members of MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War.

They operatedin small covert operations along the Ho Chi Minh trail from 1966. The unitsspecialized in search and destroy missions and in locating missing Americanservicemen in Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam.

Hatchet Forceteams were organized under three field commands: Command and Control North(CCN), Command and Control Center (CCC) and Command and Control South (CCS).

Operating insmall groups, usually three American Special Forces soldiers – a Team Leader, aradioman and a medic – and 20–40 indigenous soldiers, the teams\' purpose was to\"probe the border areas looking for a fight\".

Hatchet Forceteams remained in operation until each field command was deactivated; for CCNthis was on 16 October 1972, CCC on 18 October 1972, and CCS in January 1973.

During thesiege of Khe Sanh, the United States Marine Corps airfield, Hatchet Forcesoperated out of Firebase-3.

While theHatchet team consisted of six American special forces and 32 indigenoussoldiers, the firebase held 131 Americans and 457 Special Commando Units ofindigenous soldiers.

The Hatchetteams were used as strike forces, operating in the jungle against targetslocated by recon teams operating from Khe Sanh.

On 30 December1968 a Hatchet Force of 40 men under the command of 1st Lt. James R. Jerson wasinserted one mile east of the Laos/Cambodian border to search for the missingSergeant Robert Francis Scherdin.

The Hatchet forcetriggered a claymore and were then attacked by two company-sized NVA forces.

Three and ahalf hours later the Hatchet Force managed to blast a landing zone from whichthey were extracted with 50% casualties, including Jerson. Jerson\'s second incommand, Robert L. Howard, later received the Medal of Honor. A second team ofMontagnards were sent in in January 1969 and spent four days searching forScherdin, before being killed in a helicopter crash after extraction. Scherdinremains listed as missing in action.

On 23 June1971 a Hatchet force were inserted 60 miles west-southwest of Da Nang, fivemiles from the Laos/Cambodia border.

They weretasked with locating Madison Alexander Strohlein, a sergeant inserted as partof a four-man HALO (High Altiude Low Opening) team the day before.

The Hatchetteam located a CAR-15 rifle and a parachute at the base of a tree, howeverStrohlein was missing and there was no evidence of blood or bandages. Strohleinremains listed as missing in action.

Between 11September and 13 September 1970, a covert incursion took place intosoutheastern Laos, which was led by a Hatchet Force, in order to create adiversion for an offensive by the Royal Lao Army against the People\'s Army ofVietnam.

The mission,commanded by Captain Eugene McCarley, consisted of 16 Americans and 110Montagnard tribesmen and landed 60 miles to the west of their launch site atDak To.

Equipmentcaches and enemy troop dispositions were located and bombarded from the air,despite constant enemy contact.

The HatchetForce then divided into three teams and were evacuated, leaving at least 54PAVN soldiers killed. The raid would attract controversy in 1998 over thefabricated CNN report of the use of Sarin, and other alleged war crimes byPeter Arnett, Producer April Oliver, Producer Jack Smith, Sr. Producer PamHill, and others.