[2] The units specialized in search and destroy missions and in locating missing American servicemen in Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam.

[6] 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.

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.

The mission, commanded by Captain Eugene McCarley, consisted of 16 Americans and 110 Montagnard tribesmen and landed 60 miles to the west of their launch site at Dak To.