This printed page reproduces Major John L. Plaster's detailed 2004 online account of Operation Tailwind, the September 1970 MACV-SOG raid into Laos led by Captain Eugene McCarley. Preserved as part of the McCarley Collection, the document provides a firsthand-informed narrative of the mission's planning, the perilous CH-53 helicopter insertion under NVA fire, and the days of close air support that followed. Project: 219465