Vietnam/Laos border region, circa 1970. Two soldiers secure a fluorescent orange VS-17 signal panel to a tree stump on a newly cut landing zone while a third works among the felled timber. In the mountainous tri-border country where MACV-SOG teams operated, a helicopter crew's only reliable way to distinguish friend from enemy in seconds of approach was a marked position. Panels like this one identified the friendly ground element to inbound aircraft and to the A-1 Skyraiders orbiting overhead. From the collection of Capt. Eugene 'Gene' McCarley, who commanded the Hatchet Force ground element during Operation Tailwind in September 1970. Project: 219454