Hatchet Force A Hatchet Force or Hatchet Team was a special operation s team of American and South Vietnam ese members of MACV - SOG during the Vietnam War , who operated in small covert operation s 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 . Organization . 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 . Operations . Khe Sanh 1967 – 1968 . 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 . Searching for MIAs . 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 / Cambodia n 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 . On 23 June 1971 a Hatchet force were inserted 60 miles west - southwest of Da Nang , five miles from the Laos / Cambodia border . They were tasked with locating Madison Alexander Strohlein , a sergeant inserted as part of a four man HALO team the day before . The Hatchet team located a CAR - 15 rifle and a parachute at the base of a tree , however Strohlein was missing and there was no evidence of blood or bandages . Strohlein remains listed as missing in action . Operation Tailwind . Between 11 September and 13 September 1970 , a covert incursion took place into southeastern Laos , which was led by a Hatchet Force , in order to create a diversion for an offensive by the Royal Lao Army against the People ' s Army of Vietnam . 16 Americans and 110 Montagnard tribesmen . The mission , commanded by Captain Eugene McCarley , landed 60 miles to the west of their launch site at Dak To . Equipment caches and enemy troop dispositions were located and bombarded from the air , despite constant enemy contact , and two footlockers of intelligence were retrieved . The Hatchet Force then divided into three teams and were evacuated , leaving at least 54 PAVN soldiers killed . The raid would attract controversy in 1998 over the allegedly fabricated CNN report of the use of Sarin , and other alleged war crimes by Peter Arnett , Producer April Oliver , Producer Jack Smith , Sr . Producer Pam Hill , and others . References . Printed sources : Websites :