This is the LAPES (Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System) that was used to deliver supplies and ammunition to Khe Sanh during the Siege. This tactic was practiced before the Siege when the runway was being repaired in the Summer of 1967. C-130 cargo planes would skim the runway and small parachutes were deployed to jerk the cargo out of the rear of the plane. This system was used until a skid of artillery rounds plowed through a bunker, killing 2 Marines at the end of the runway. It was safer and faster to deliver supplies by conventional air drops at the west end of the base. Photo by Sam Messer