#88 - John Stryker Meyer Breaks 20-Year Silence on Vietnam's Secret War

Nov 5, 2025

01:24:26

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Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoaS6eftXdY

John Stryker "Tilt" Meyer was a Green Beret team leader with MAC-V SOG, running top-secret recon missions across the fence into Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam. His six-man teams faced hundreds of enemy soldiers in triple-canopy jungle, extracted under heavy fire every single time, and carried the weight of stories they couldn't tell for two decades. In this raw conversation, John shares what it means to earn a Green Beret, how faith carried him through moments when the math said he shouldn't survive, and why he's spent years making sure the courage of his brothers, especially the 98 Green Berets still missing in action, is never forgotten.

We talk about the NVA soldier who touched his boot and walked away, the Christmas Day extraction where helicopter blades held back flames, divine intervention in the jungle, losing his son in 2020, and the sacred duty to get the story right. This is about vulnerability under fire, brotherhood that transcends decades, and what happens when you finally break a silence that lasted 20 years.

ABOUT THE GUEST John Stryker "Tilt" Meyer is a Green Beret veteran who served with MAC-V SOG during the Vietnam War, running classified cross-border recon missions from 1968-1969. He is the author of "Across the Fence," "On the Ground," and "SOG Chronicles," and hosts the SOGcast podcast preserving the stories of America's most classified Vietnam-era unit.

John's Books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/John-Stryker-Meyer/author/B002A510S4

John's SOGcast: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIEQamvEuqUfaXqwhSzl3ogh1CWYwbzY2

John's Website: https://www.jstrykermeyer.com/

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Books by John Stryker Meyer:

"Across the Fence: The Secret War in Vietnam" "On the Ground: The Secret War in Vietnam" "SOG Chronicles: Volume One"