V40
Well-Known Member
Lt. Gen. Stilwell talks to Meyer at CCN during inspection.
Since it was veterans day, I wanted to reach out to some of our vets to help us remember Americas previous conflicts. Its a great honor to be able to introduce to you my buddy, John Stryker Meyer. John served in MACV-SOG, attaining the position of One-Zero, Team Leader, of Recon Team Idaho. Having led cross border operations into Laos and Cambodia, John was sworn to secrecy for decades. It is only now that he, and other SOG veterans, are able to tell their story. Since Kit Up! focuses on weapons and equipment, I asked John to tell us a little about what he carried during his time in Studies and Observations Group:
Veterans Day 1968 we were too busy running a mission into Laos with Spike Team Idaho to stop and honor veterans. And, on Nov. 11, 2011 I shall be in Nashville where Special Forces veteran Douglas L. The Frenchman LeTourneau will receive his Purple Heart for wounds received Thanksgiving Day 1968. Doug and I served in MACV-SOG, the Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group, the top secret war conducted for eight years during the Vietnam War. Doug and I served on recon teams that ran missions into N. Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
From my book Across The Fence: The Secret War In Vietnam, heres an excerpt on what I carried for weapons/firepower:
The most important piece of equipment we carried was the CAR-15. The sling for it would vary: sometimes I used a cravat or a canvas strap taped tightly to both ends of the weapon for soundless movements. That was the preferred weapon of choice by everyone on ST Idaho. The only exception was an AK-47 for Son when he was our point man wearing an NVA uniform, and an M-79 carried by our grenadier. In November 1968, Henry King carried the experimental pump M-79 weapon on one mission. It held up to five rounds of 40 mm high explosive ammunition. His secondary weapon was the Model 1911 Colt .45. On occasions, Black would carry the M-60 machine gun.
Every American on ST Idaho carried a sawed-off M-79 for additional firepower. We thought of it as our hand-held artillery. During patrol, the Americans would load a special M-79 round with fleshettes or double-ought (00) buckshot for close contact. The sawed-off M-79 would be secured either with a canvas or rope lanyard or a D-ring that was covered with black electrical tape to prevent any metallic banging. During the fall of 1968, I had a one-of-a-kind sawed-off M-79 holster, which I lost in when I was unconscious after a rope extraction in Laos.
I would carry at least thirty-four 20-round magazines for the CAR-15 we only placed 18 rounds in each magazine, which gave me 612 rounds for that weapon, and at least 12 rounds for the M-79. The CAR-15 magazines were placed in ammo pouches or cloth canteen pouches, with the bottoms facing up to prevent debris from getting into the magazine and all of the rounds pointing away from the body. We taped black electrical tape to the bottom of each magazine to make it easier to grab them out of the pouch during firefights. I also carried 10 to 12 fragmentation grenades, a few of the older M-26, the newer M-33 baseball grenades and one or two V-22 minigrenades.
John Stryker Meyers memoir, Across the Fence and the follow up, On the Ground are both available for the Kindle E-reader.
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{ 13 comments read them below or add one }
Rilumva November 11, 2011 at 8:30 am 3420 round Mags.nice ! Things do change I guess
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Mikey November 11, 2011 at 10:45 am Why only keep 18 rounds in each magazine vs. the 20 rounds? Was the gun less likely to jam this way?
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Juan November 11, 2011 at 1:30 pm I suppose it's the same reason why lots of people load only 28 rounds on their stanag mags. As far as I know, having 20 or 30 rounds loaded in the mag is related to double feed and mag sitting problems.
Take my answer with a big deal of grains of salt since it comes only from what I've read through the years on different books and websites.
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Nmate November 13, 2011 at 5:23 am Feeding malfunctions I would guess. It also makes it a lot easier to seat the mag with a closed bolt.
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Brandon Webb November 11, 2011 at 5:17 pm Mikey-It's less stress on the springs and prevents a feeding malfunction. -Brandon
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J. Meyer December 11, 2011 at 7:54 pm MIkey,
The spring in the mag would become too compressed, less reliable for pushing up rounds quickly. I never had a jam during any firefight with my CAR-15. Such a jam in a firefight could be your death warrant.
J. Meyer
One-Zero
RT IDaho
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Jim Frazee February 4, 2012 at 9:40 pm John, just finished On The Ground. Previously read Across The Fence. Amazing reading. God bless you for your unselfish duty in Vietnam ! god be with you always.
JF
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Copper November 11, 2011 at 10:47 am Impressive I read the book SOG and it was amazing. Lots of amazing stories and incredible men.
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Mike November 11, 2011 at 2:37 pm It's a pity that the Lessons Learned in Vietnam turned out to be Lessons Re-Learned in "other parts of the planet".
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Lance November 11, 2011 at 3:22 pm Too all of our Vietnam hero's Happy Veterans Day!
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tim vaughan April 11, 2012 at 10:24 pm Hes a glory hound living off of veterans legecy !!! Ask any alamo scout !!!
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RTOhio September 20, 2012 at 8:39 am I know John and he is not a glory hound. He was a great one-zero on his team and they all respected him. He & the other Recon Teams (RT) did the most incredible job(s) while serving in MACVSOG. Ever single man on the teams 110% were rounded at least once.
How would you like to go into a jungle in which you really cannot see until the sun is straight above you and all the while the NVA outnumber you at least 11 to 1. You still had to perform your job which could be monitoring the Troung Si Route, tank parks, truck parks, enemy concentrations, caught in ambushes, running for your life when the NVA finds you, and the list goes on and on.
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RTOhio September 20, 2012 at 8:42 am My mistake. Substitute the following words forrounded for wounded.
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Read more: http://kitup.military.com/2011/11/k...-meyer-tells-it-like-it-is.html#ixzz270q4C3zL
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