I became an AF pilot in 70...but in my previous existence I was an enlisted puke at Mactan Island in '67-'68. There were two 130 squadrons there...when Khe Sanh developed, our Aerial Port Squadron, and the flying squadrons, became tasked to develop a way to deliver loads without stopping on the runway, because during offloads they were getting nailed...hence LAPES. Practice runs by the side of the runway at Mactan were made for weeks. When first tried at Khe Sanh, loads delivered at high speed would run down guys on the surface (a number killed or seriously injured), until protocols were developed for recovery personnel to stay low until the high-speed pallets stopped moving. There were Marine and AF people at Khe Sanh; at the time it was known that AF personnel were very deep (to avoid incoming, with fridges full of beer); the Marines, brave as they were, were up high...you judge their relative intelligence quotients.