This is probably a reference to Gene Hackman's character in the Vietnam War film Bat 21 where he played a aviator evading from Vietcong forces.

January The Army of the Republic of South Vietnam suffers a major defeat against a smaller Vietcong force at the Battle of Ap Bac.

The Tet objectives were beyond our strength, concluded General Tran Van Tra, the commander of Vietcong forces in the South:

He produced two guard passes and a special letter countersigned by the Commander-in-Chief of the Vietcong forces in Laos.

In Vietnam in the mid-1960s, some 200 civilians were at one point trapped between battling South Vietnamese and Vietcong forces and seemed to be doomed to die in the crossfire.

During 15-19 February, the Mobile Riverine Force conducted river and air operations west of Can Tho without encountering significant Vietcong forces.

Northwest of Can Tho on 26 February, the Mobile Riverine Force met a large Vietcong force.

The war itself is depicted as a bungling United States Army fighting against a determined, clever and noble Vietcong force.

On another patrol, the platoon are engaged by heavy Vietcong forces and Parker is hit by mortar fire.

A three-man hunter-killer squad from Navy SEAL Team One had been sent to interdict Vietcong forces harassing riverine traffic in the delta.