Head bandaged and equipment still hanging from him, a young Montagnard striker of a MACV-SOG Hatchet Force company walks off the strip grinning, an M16A1 across his chest and a drink in his hand. The photograph comes from the papers of Lt. Col. Eugene 'Gene' McCarley, who as a captain commanded the ground element of Operation Tailwind - a four-day raid deep into southern Laos in September 1970, extracted under fire by Marine CH-53s with Cobra gunship and A-1 Sandy support. Nearly every man on that operation was wounded; every one of them came home. Medic Gary M. Rose received the Medal of Honor for his conduct there in 2017. Project: 219476