The Last Combat Mission of Cobra 327

VIDEO HERE  (30:53 minutes)

By the beginning of 1971, the United States was in the throes of Vietnamization, the Nixon Administration’s push to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Its objective was to equip and train South Vietnamese forces for an ever-increasing combat role while simultaneously reducing the number of U.S. combat troops.

At that time, 24-year-old Oklahoma native David Stinson was a U.S. Army first lieutenant who had been “in country” for seven months. He was assigned to C Troop in the 7th Squadron of 17th Air Cavalry as a combat pilot flying the venerable AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter. His unit had recently moved from An Khe in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam to Lane Army Airfield, just outside the city of Qui Nhon.

Within just a few weeks, he would find himself at the heart of a massive, highly secret, and exceptionally dangerous operation that would take the fight across the South Vietnam border into neighboring Laos. The journey would take David — and the rugged Cobra gunship he was flying — through a series of extraordinary events, testing the mettle of both man and machine, pushing both to their limits.

0:00 Prologue

3:17 Something Big

6:48 Operation Lam Son

10:02 "See what's out there"

14:50 White 3

17:52 Sitting Ducks

21:37 Unexpected Reunion