This is Prairie Fire Art Co’s latest piece, “The Professional”. This pencil on paper was created to honor the legendary SGM Billy Waugh (USA, Ret) during his time in MACVSOG, while operating in Laos.

The artist offered this background on SGM Waugh.

Billy Waugh had a 50 year career in Army Special Forces and as a paramilitary officer. He patrolled the jungles of Laos and Vietnam. He hunted down Carlos the Jackal. He was the first to put sights on UBL and he invaded Afghanistan when most said he was too old for the mission. “Beware of an old man in a profession where men usually die young”.

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The best part of this project was sitting down with SGM Waugh and discussing his missions – or at least what little he is at liberty to share. While this drawing is a tribute to his entire career, I wanted to show SGM Waugh on a MACVSOG recon mission. Deep in the jungle, moving slowly, cautiously, listening to every sound and constantly scanning the bush for NVA. At the time he was older than most on the recon teams and he told me he felt a tremendous duty to his men – to see them through each mission alive. To this day, Billy still invests in younger generations of quiet professionals.

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He is the consummate professional soldier. He is a great American. Please share this post and read Billy’s book, “Hunting the Jackal”, and “Surprise, Kill, Vanish” by Annie Jacobsen to learn more about his incredible life and career of service. Thank you SGM Waugh!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 14th, 2020 at 13:00 and is filed under History, Morale, SOF. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.