https://www.amazon.com/Reflections-Warrior-Sergeant-Major-Miller/dp/B005KDHD16/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=reflections+of+a+warrior&qid=1621584963&sr=8-3Reflections of a Warrior,by SGM/RETIRED Franklin D.Miller
Miller spent over 5 years running recon missions into Laos and Cambodia with MACV-SOG during the VN war,and finally ended up being awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during his last mission.
This is not your typical "blood and guts" combat book. Yes,it does have some of that,especially towards the end and his final mission,but it's most about the typical life of the typical guys that ran the SOG missions,who they were,and how they lived,partied,and otherwise conducted themselves both in the bush and when not in the bush.
Lots of funny stuff for people who have some experience with combat units,and it might even be funny to those of you who have never heard or fired a shot in combat. SOG was an all-volunteer unit and you could quit any time you want with no negative consequences to your career. The reason for this is some years,some SOG units had a 100 percent casualty rate. Which meant that everyone that served on a recon team or a Hatchet Force platoon was wounded at least once,which was probably 95 percent of the people assigned to a SOG camp. We had very few support people because those jobs were usually taken by wounded SOG members who had nothing else to do while they healed up. The only exception I can think of off-hand were the mess sgt and the motor sgt.
We also had 2 NCO's and one officer at Kontum whose jobs were to provide food. They would travel around VN trading captured enemy weapons,uniforms,flags,etc,etc,etc for cases of steaks,air-conditioners for our team rooms,the NCO club,the mess hall,and the other buildings. They also traded for the lumber,cement,etc,etc,etc to build and maintain those buildings.
I honestly don't know how we ended up with an actual motor sgt at Kontum because we weren't even authorized any vehicles,and every single truck and jeep we had we got by stealing them from the 4th Infantry Division. The motor sgt took care of repainting them with new unit designations and new numbers as well as any repairs they might need.
The mess sgt obviously supervised the menus,the cooking,and the waitresses in the chow hall and the NCO club.
The supply sgt was a rotating job for the wounded recon and HF guys,and their job was to pretty much give you anything you asked for when you went in there,which they happily did if it was available,and if it wasn't,it was put on the shopping list.
Everybody else was on a team,a member of a platoon,or S-1 ,S-2,or S-3.
As for the teams and platoons,there was always a lot of crossovers as wounded members were replaced by healthy members,and people on one team would volunteer to go out on missions with other teams that had friends as "strap hangers" when their own teams hadn't been assigned a new mission and they had the time. This served a couple of positive purposes. One was you got to see how other teams operated and maybe pick up on some patrol/mission tips that hadn't been obvious to you to use on your own team. Another was it helped to be familiar with how a specific team operated in case they went MIA on a mission,and your team was tasked with going to to find them or what happened to them.
Anyhow,I can honestly say I was never assigned to any other unit where so many people were constantly laughing and joking and having fun. Part of this is because if you were a team leader like Miller,YOU made every decision about your team,including who was on it. If you didn't want someone,they didn't get on your team. If you wanted someone to get the boot,they got the boot. Each team was it's own little kingdom,and troublemakers didn't last long before being sent back to Nha Trang for reassignment.
Before you begin to think being in SOG was like being in a dictatorship,keep in mind that anyone could quit at any time they wanted with no questions and no negative reports in their personnel files. The only exception to this is if your team had already been notified and briefed on an upcoming mission. If that happened,you could still quit,but ONLY after completing THAT mission.
VERY casual duty. Pretty much everybody there called everybody else by their first names. The only obvious exception I can think of is the camp Commander,who was a Lt Colonel. You addressed him by his rank. Then again,our camp commander when I was there was fond of wearing stuff like madras bermuda shorts with Beethoven t-shirts and a old fishing hat around the camp,so you had to know who he was to address him by his rank. We had a standing rule in camp that nobody saluted anybody below the rank of full General,so there wasn't a lot of time wasted saluting people.
If you had just came in from a 5 day (for example) mission,you got 5 days off,and were free to go anywhere in VN you wanted to go. You just told the team leader where you were going so he would know where to call if something came up,and went into the orderly room and typed up your own bogus travel orders. I once left VN for a week and went to Okinawa to ride the motorcycle I had left there and to visit with friends by having orders typed up identifying me as a Top Secret Courier. This even allowed me to fly there and back for free. I just stopped by Group Headquarters in Nha Trang and told the Group SGM what I was doing,and asked him if he had any "Safe Hands" going to Okinawa that he wanted me to deliver to the 1st Group on Okie. He and I had known each other while stationed on Okinawa,when I was a nothing and nobody E-4 and he was the SGM of B Company.
Try that in a regular unit,and heads would explode. Chances are they would lock you up as an attempted deserter.
Anyhow,all this serves as background for the type of soldiers that populated the various SOG camps,so do NOT expect the typical "blood and guts" war book. DO expect to read a lot of funny stuff,though.
And all of it true. I knew Miller very well and heard about or knew about all the stuff as it happened. He and I were planning a trip to Russia together right after the collapse,when he came down with an infection from a blood transfusion in 1969,and died.
BTW,even after being shot up and losing a lung on his last mission,Miller had to be tricked to get him to leave VN. He thought he was flying to a briefing in Saigon,and someone drugged his drink. When he got his wits about him again,he was already on a jet flying to the US
At one time his children were receiving all the royalties from his book sales,and I suspect this is still true.
The book is also available on Kindle,but I'm not sure if any of the photos are available with the Kindle edition.
