When Bargewell retired in 2006, he was the most decorated soldier on active duty.
Eldon Bargewell knew he would serve in the military from a very young age.
With Vietnam War heating up, he enlisted in the Army in 1967 and went straight to Special Forces selection. Once he received his Green Beret, he deployed to Southeast Asia. There, he further volunteered for the elite Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG).
SOG was a covert unit that conducted cross-border operations in Cambodia, Laos, and North Vietnam. It was composed of Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Recon Marines, and Air Commandos. As conventional units struggled against the North Vietnamese and Vietcong, these operators fought America’s secret war.