John C. Taylor served two tours in Vietnam. His first tour was in 1966 with Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (MAC V SOG), Forward Operational Base #2 (FOB#2), Recon Company assigned to Recon Team Texas. John returned for a second tour in 1971 with the Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS) / Phoenix Program as a Field Force Police Advisor in the Long An Province.
Master Sergeant (E-8) Taylor retired from the Army in 1982 after twenty-six and a half years’ service with twenty-four months in Vietnam.
In 1967, Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (MAC V SOG), OPS-35 (Ground Reconnaissance) Program was expanded. With the additional personnel, MAC V SOG’s House 50 (Supply Office / S4) requested the Counter Insurgency Support Office (CISO) to procure additional SOG knives.
Conrad “Ben” Baker redesigned the knife with a larger cross guard and more refined blade. With the loss of the first batch of Fat Guard SOG knives during the logistic process he also requested the knives be individually numbered on the ricasso that start at 1 and continue through 3700. The initial batch of knives had variations in the tempering process from an almost parkerized black, to blued, and other versions of a plum color. The number system started out as hand stamped and the ladder were acid etched. I have encountered two different stylized versions of the acid edge design.