From the early 1960s through 1973, the U.S. was engaged in a secret way in Laos.  While President Kennedy and Khrushchev signed accords in Geneva to ensure the neutrality of Laos, the accords were immediately violated by the North Vietnamese.  The Ho Chi Minh Trail ran the length of Laos and was key to supplying their forces in South Vietnam and Cambodia.  The government of Laos requested help and the result was a group of air force flyers who volunteered for a secret and dangerous mission.  Their goal was to help the Hmong tribesmen (aka Meo which was a Chinese term meaning barbarian) in their fight against the NVA.  The Hmong army led by General Vang Pao was outnumbered, out gunned and poorly supplied.  It suffered huge casualties, and, in the end, the army consisted of boys as young as thirteen who carried M-16s almost as long as they were tall.