A neat picture from one of Jason Hardy’s SOG books. The recon man is holding the M14E2 cut down to make it easier to handle in the jungle.

One of the SOG Hatchet Force men had this to say about them in the MACV-SOG vet facebook group.

“had 2 M-14’s in it with the auto selector on them. We used them on the Hatchet Force during ambushes. They had the bi-pods and worked well.”

The M14E2 was meant to be the automatic rifleman weapon, like the BAR. It didn’t go over very well. Below is MOH awarded SOG trooper Robert Howard shooting one at some SOG training range.

I Can’t imagine it being used much on recon missions, where the recon men carried upwards of 25 mags or more. The mags and ammo of an M14 get heavy fast, it’s slow to reload and does not use ammo common to the other members using CAR15s/M16s or AKs.