Smokejumpers.

This is coolbert:

From the Internet web site Press Reader and the article as seen in the Chicago Tribune the American Central Intelligence Agency honors some deceased operatives.

"Fog Lifted for CIA smokejumpers"

"Spy agency honors early casualties of 'secret war' in Laos."

"They were young firefighters-turned-CIA operatives working thousand of miles from home in a remote area of Southeast Asia . . .. David Bevan, Darrell Eubanks and John Lewis, all their their mid-20's, were on a mission to drop supplies to anti-Communist forces in what was then known as the Kingdom of Laos."

Persons as recruited an selected for air-crop missions over Laos those most suitable personnel found among those forest firefighters known as smokejmpers.

"A smokejumper is a wildland firefighter who parachutes into a remote area to combat wildfires. Smokejumpers are most often deployed to fires that are extremely remote."

"(The) CIA specifically invited/recruited smokejumpers into the covert operations business for several reasons: 1) We were damned good looking. 2) we didn't get airsick. 6) We were not active duty military 9) We were deniable. 10 ) Did I mention that we were good looking?"

Smokejumpers men of proven and demonstrable courage and ability of which there was no doubt. Ideal recruits for air-drop missions over unfriendly territory! At least the CIA thought so.

Fighting a forest fire about as close as you can get to combat without having the presence of an enemy shooting at you? Add parachutist to that list of analogous aspects.

coolbert.