Special Operations Reunion, 21 October 2014. Decades after their service, veterans gather in a hotel ballroom for the informal heart of any reunion — the hallway conversation. The banner behind them reads 'SPADS,' the aircrew nickname for the Douglas A-1 Skyraider, the piston-engine attack aircraft whose crews flew close air support and rescue escort over Southeast Asia and covered covert cross-border reconnaissance teams. Reunions such as this one bring together the men who worked opposite ends of the same radio call, and the badges and ball caps worn here mark affiliations formed under conditions few outside the room ever shared. Project: 219867