That's today's dose of aviation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKq0ma3z1s0

airplane video

And gnash your teeth, and wail, and caterwaul about it, you poor delicate special snowflake? Or, just don't watch it if it offends your delicate complexion so much.

Good video. Wrong date. No cobras in 1964.  Battle of Bien Hoa was Tet 1968. 

Got there two years later.

 I enlisted for flight school ASAP, agreeing to take the first open seat.

1968 was the year that we, that is South Vietnam, USA and allies lost that war. Militarily, the communists attacks were suicide, stripping themselves of their core of well trained and motivated troops and hard to replace material.

Psychologically, America was crippled. We had been told for months that the communists were losing large. 
Then Mini Tet happened, a another well planned and disciplined operation, further discouraging Americans. Obvious propaganda at those points. The communists, VC and NVA had the initiative and would use it to telling effect. 

1968 was the peak of US troops in Vietnam, declining annually until we formally just went home. In the end, America stopped supporting South Vietnam, allowing the North to exploit weaknesses in the South Vietnam military.

Contrary to general perception, the South Vietnamese military was generally effective, but lacked the strategic initiative that would gave allowed them to pick where and when to fight. The Cambodian excursion was a success as far as it went.

There is no winning a civil war for another country. The end of that war was inevitable when we resumed the French strategy.

I remember being called out to support a Vietnamese fortification that was being over run. The friendlies were moving from that outpost to another across the river, very close work, at night, with limited ground coordination.

Fortunately the Sea Wolves had contact with one of their own crews that had been based at the outpost being attacked.

The communists controlled all the fights, they fought where and when they wanted. They might not win, but the intent was always political and largely irrelevant to the population. The propaganda that they were fighting imperialists worked for tham.

yes their overall strategy was always about the political so battlefield results were irrelevant to them, simply to keep fighting was their aim, it strengthened them and weakened america resolve--thankfully--to continue a stupid, senseless, wasteful and destructive war which was brought on by our own lack of keeping faith with the geneva treaty of 1956--for those who don't know. 

and yes, they *were* fighting imperialists--us--as every vietnamese could see, even those who were raking in money off the deal. that's why when american support was withdrawn they folded like a house of cards--no moral framework. just like, btw, the afghans who were on the side of all the corrupt wasteful deals that had been going down over there just did. destruction, killing, waste--it went on and on, and it goes on and on.

the great majority of american do not know the truth about the vn war because they have never been taught or have never had the courage and the energy to look into it for themselves, and of those few who have done so, even most of them cannot bring themselves to face the truth about the vn war. that is why we keep cheerleading for and lining up to serve in repeated acts of folly like it, which are brought on and carried out by our so-called leaders, and all for the profit of the military-industrial complex, and to the harm of our country and our people. and anyone who continues to believe in it and support it is far more an enemy of my country, the usa, than any radical muslim terrorist, chinese, north korean, or russian. 

confusing a lot of details as a cohesive strategic blunder.  There are a lot of ways to look at the VN endeavor but three things are sure:

There are no winners in war, ever.  Therefore winners and losers are figments of imagination.

An agreement obligation started US involvment.

The war was prosecuted with no decisive end game in mind.  It just politically wallowed on, and on, fed by the military industrial complex and gullible, very naive, politicians.

Hiltler definitely lost that war 

remember rubber plantations surrounding Bien Hoa!