Hatchet Force

Hatchet Force
The patch of Company C, Command & Control Central, MACV-SOG
Active	1966 – October 1972, January 1973
Country	United States
Allegiance	United States  South Vietnam
Branch	MACV-SOG
Type	Special forces
Role	Ho Chi Minh trail operations
Size	16 man teams, or larger
Part of	United States Army Special Forces
Nickname(s)	"Hatchet Force"
Engagements	Vietnam War

A Hatchet Force or Hatchet Team was a special operations team of American and South Vietnamese members of MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War, who operated in small covert operations along the Ho Chi Minh trail from 1966. The units specialized in search and destroy missions and in locating missing American servicemen in Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam.

Hatchet Force teams were organized under three field commands: Command and Control North (CCN), Command and Control Center (CCC) and Command and Control South (CCS). Operating in small groups, usually three American Special Forces soldiers – a team leader, a radioman and a medic – and 20–40 indigenous soldiers, the teams' purpose was to "probe the border areas looking for a fight". Hatchet Force teams remained in operation until each field command was deactivated; for CCN this was on 16 October 1972, CCC on 18 October 1972, and CCS in January 1973.

During the siege of Khe Sanh, the United States Marine Corps airfield, Hatchet Forces operated out of Firebase-3. While the Hatchet team consisted of six American special forces and 32 indigenous soldiers, the firebase held 131 Americans and 457 Special Commando Units of indigenous soldiers. The Hatchet teams were used as strike forces, operating in the jungle against targets located by recon teams operating from Khe Sanh.

On 30 December 1968 a Hatchet Force of 40 men under the command of 1st Lt. James R. Jerson was inserted one mile east of the Laos/Cambodian border to search for the missing Sergeant Robert Francis Scherdin. The Hatchet force triggered a claymore and were then attacked by two company-sized NVA forces. Three and a half hours later the Hatchet Force managed to blast a landing zone from which they were extracted with 50% casualties, including Jerson. Jerson's second in command, Robert L. Howard, later received the Medal of Honor. A second team of Montagnards were sent in in January 1969 and spent four days searching for Scherdin, before being killed in a helicopter crash after extraction. Scherdin remains listed as missing in action.