A female Syrian soldier from the Republican Guard commando battalion drives a tank during clashes with rebels in the restive Jobar area, in eastern Damascus, on March 25, 2015. The female battalion, which was created nearly a year ago, consists of 800 female soldiers who are positioned in the suburbs of the Syrian capital where they monitor and secure the frontlines with snipers, rockets and machine guns. (Photo by Joseph Eid/AFP Photo)

An undercover police officer, who had been marching with anti-police demonstrators, aims his gun at protesters after some in the crowd attacked him and his partner in Oakland, California December 10, 2014. Police said more than 100 demonstrators marched in Berkeley, California, which has a history of social activism. Under cloudy skies, turnout was smaller than earlier in the week, when demonstrators in the area threw rocks at police and shut down a major freeway. (Photo by Noah Berger/Reuters)

Shaolin boys practice kung fu in the sweltering heat during the zen shaolin music ceremony at shaolin temple, Dengfeng, Henan province, China on August 4, 2019. Shaolin unique skills include: shaolin arhat formation, three gun sashimi, shaolin stick, shaolin stone lock skill, iron hand splitting bricks, water training, fist and foot sparring. (Photo by Sipa Asia/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Kate, Princess of Wales and her children Prince George and Princess Charlotte ride in a car behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it is pulled on a gun carriage through the streets of London following her funeral service at Westminster Abbey, Monday September 19, 2022.The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo/Pool)

A child plays with a mock submachine gun at a model Mass Transit Railway (MTR) station to mark the National Security Education Day at Hong Kong Police College in Hong Kong, China on April 15, 2021. The “education day” was organized to promote the sweeping legislation China imposed last year, marked with school activities, games and shows, and a parade by police and other services. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Without the use of any type of scuba equipment, divers descend to great depths armed with underwater guns, harpoons and strong line to stalk and hunt prey. Some of the best free-divers in the world can hold their breath for up to 5 minutes under water and go to depths greater than 100 feet.

(All photography © Eyeconic Images.)

Northeastern girls getting commando training at the Delhi Police Training Centre, Jharoda Kalan on September 4, 2017 in New Delhi, India. For the first time ever, Delhi Police are providing commando training to 40 young women from the Northeast. Once the commando training is over, these girls will be a part of the «Parakram Vans», an initiative taken by Delhi Police against terrorism. (Photo by Manoj Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

In the spring of 1965, within weeks of 3,500 American Marines arriving in Vietnam, a 39-year-old Briton named Larry Burrows began work on a feature for LIFE magazine, chronicling the day-to-day experience of U.S. troops on the ground – and in the air – in the midst of the rapidly widening war. The photographs in this gallery focus on a calamitous March 31, 1965, helicopter mission; Burrows’ “report from Da Nang”, featuring his pictures and his personal account of the harrowing operation, was published two weeks later as a now-famous cover story in the April 16, 1965, issue of LIFE.

Photo: Man your battle stations: The crew chief of helicopter Yankee Papa 13, lance corporal James C. Farley, mans an M-60 machine gun during a mission near Da Nang, Vietnam on March 31, 1965. (Photo by Larry Burrows/Time & Life Pictures)