Identified in period records as "Capt. McCarley," this operator sits on the open ramp of a transport aircraft, fully rigged with ammunition, grenades, and a rucksack in preparation for a covert insertion mission. Photographs like this one, associated with MACV-SOG's Operation Tailwind, document the quiet, tense moments before elite reconnaissance teams were flown into hostile territory along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Project: 219488