To help remedy this situation and to insure that their helicopters were not overloaded, the U.S. Marines began designating one of the squadron’s noncommissioned officers as “loadmaster.” Equipped with a radio, the loadmaster would arrive at the assembly area on board the first helicopter, whereupon he would disembark and supervise the entire loading process. This technique was particularly valuable during operations in which ARVN units were being helilifted from the field. In such cases the loadmaster performed the same function as did those who supervised the loading process at secure assembly areas. This, of course, required that the Leatherneck remain in the landing zone until the last Vietnamese troops had boarded the final helicopter. Although dangerous, this technique enabled the Marines to eliminate many problems which might otherwise have occurred. By early November the monsoon season had begun to settle over the northern portions of South Vietnam. Unlike the summer rains in the Mekong Delta in which Lieutenant Colonel Rathbun’s crews had managed to set new helicopter flight records, the winter monsoons that struck the northern provinces seriously restricted flight operations. Heavy fog and low clouds frequently made it impossible to conduct air operations in the mountainous areas; therefore, the squadron was forced to concentrate most of its operations in the coastal plains. In an effort to maintain his support at a maximum level, Lieutenant Colonel Rathbun began dispatching an OE-1 to the objective area prior to scheduled missions in order to obtain a current report on the local weather conditions. Despite these efforts, the monsoon rains, which often moved in quickly from the South China Sea, still disrupted flight operations. A typical weather-related incident occurred on 13 November when a scheduled troop lift was cancelled because of heavy fog after 200 Vietnamese Special Forces troops had loaded onto 20 Marine helicopters for an early morning operation.