John Stryker Meyer Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of SOG Chronicles Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

John Stryker Meyer
John Stryker “Tilt” Meyer was born in 1946 and is an American author and US Army Special Forces combat veteran of service in covert recon with SOG.

He attended Trenton State College, however he didn’t take his higher education seriously and dropped out after two years. Then he got a job at Yosemite National Park until enlisting in May of 1966, in the Army.

He was accepted into the US Army Airborne School and became airborne qualified. Meyer completed his basic training at Ft. Dix, N. J., jump school at Ft. Benning, Ga., advanced infantry training at Ft. Gordon, Ga., and in 1967 he graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course, earning his Green Beret. bk

Meyer served two tours of duty in 1968 and 1969 running missions in Vietnam and in Cambodia and Laos. He joined Spike Team Idaho upon arriving at FOB 1 Phu Bai in May of 1968, which transferred to Command & Control North in Da Nang in January of 1969.

Meyer, after completing his first tour, came back to America and got assigned to E Company in the 10th Special Forces Group at Ft. Devens, Mass. until October of 1969, when he rejoined RT Idaho at CCN for his second tour, which wrapped up in April of 1970.

Upon completion of his second tour, he completed his college education at Trenton State College, where he was the editor of The Signal newspaper for two years. He worked at the Trenton Times for a decade, The North County Times for fifteen years, and the San Diego Union Tribune for eight years before he focused his efforts entirely on the veterans community at two different non profits.

From 2011 to 2014, he served as the President for the Special Operations Association. John also served as President of the Special Forces Association Chapter 78 from 2018-2019, as well as an associate director in the veterans department at Interfaith Community Services.

Meyer was a board member of Veterans Association of North San Diego County and he was the Co-Chairman of One VA-CAB (the Veterans Association Community Advocacy Board) in San Diego from 2016 until 2020. john also has memberships in American Legion, the San Diego Veterans Coalition, United Veterans Council, and VFW.

Along with his continued work as a veterans advocate, author, and speaker, he also hosts a podcast, called SOGCast, which features untold stories about MACVSOG and those of fellow Special Forces and Green Berets operators.

“Across the Fence: The Secret War in Vietnam” is a non-fiction book that was released in 2003. For eight years, beyond all of the battlefields of Vietnam and the glare of media distortions, American Green Berets were fighting a deadly secret war in Cambodia and Laos under the aegis of the top secret Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group(SOG).

Go deep into the jungle with five SOG warriors that were surrounded by 10,000 enemy troops while they stack up the dead in order to build themselves a human buttress for protection. Witness one Green Beret, having been shot in the back four times and left for dead, and survives to fight savagely against incredible stacked odds in order to complete his missions.

Shudder while an enemy soldier touches one Green Beret’s boot during the dead of night. Cringe while one Sergeant on SOG Spike Team Louisiana calls an air strike in on his team in order to break one enemy’s wave attack. It leaves one team member instantly dead, and a Green Beret has this out-of-body experience while he watches his own leg get blown off.

Black Ops told with the horrifying clarity that only somebody that was actually there can tell it.

“On The Ground” is a non-fiction book that was released in 2007. This “secret war” was being fought, during the Vietnam War, across the fence in Cambodia, North Vietnam, and Laos, unknown to the media or to the public, under the aegis of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam’s top secret Studies and Observation Group. SOG’s own chain of command for after action reports and missions extended to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the White House.

Small Green Beret-lead teams ran their missions into North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia without any assistance from conventional artillery, infantry, or tank units. Once on the ground their only support was provided to them by Air Force Tactical Air and helicopter units, US Marine and Army chopper aviation personnel and aircrews, as well as from the South Vietnam Air Force’s 219th Special Operations Squadron, which was codenamed Kingbees.

In Laos, the communists dedicated 50,000 troops to the Ho Chi Minh Trail, including highly trained sappers out of the 305th Sapper Battalion, and its sole mission was to attack the SOG teams.

“SOG Chronicles, Volume 1” is a non-fiction book that was released in 2017. The first book is going to focus on the many untold stories from this eight year secret war being fought where Green Berets went deep behind enemy lines without any sort of conventional support from tanks, artillery, or ground support troops where communist forces massed 50,000 to 100,000 troops in order to combat them as they kept the Ho Chi Minh Trail supply lines open.

The centerpiece of this installment is the 1970 story about Operation Tailwind, which features an SOG element of 120 indigenous soldiers and 16 Green Berets that went far deeper into Laos than any other operation during the entire secret war. Each and every Green Beret received at least a Purple Heart, including the sole medic, Gary Mike Rose. He’s slated to get the Medal of Honor in 2017 for his medical skills and valor tending to over 60 wounded troops during the whole four day mission.

John’s story about Tailwind does justice to the heroism and valor of the guys involved in the battle. He writes about this historic SOG mission with attention to detail and clarity which is long overdue when it comes to such a historic mission. It’s mandatory reading for anybody that’s even remotely interested in SOG history or just how the Green Berets operate deep behind enemy lines.