We had to be ready to go at any time, for about anything the Air Force was involved in. Even spent time on the ground with Army "snake eaters" in the jungles, the FAC was usually an Air Force guy. Not sure we were "more in the thick of it" than the WW-II guys but we were anywhere/everywhere the USAF went.

As designated photojournalists we had to be qualified as Aircrew, and all that entailed: Water/jungle/arctic survival schools, weapons, E&E training, the works. I went through Jungle Survival Training twice... once to get my Aircrew wings, a second time was to "bond" with Army Special Forces guys. For whatever reason, the powers-that-be didn't think we would get along together unless we were plugged into "snake school" for a week. That was actually fun. We got on just fine.

A contemporary video: Combat Camera