By late 1967 Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) claimed that every statistical indicator of progress showed that its strategy was succeeding.

[4] With the buildup of U.S. ground forces in South Vietnam came massive infrastructure projects to support the logistical requirements of the war.

Each sector had two machine gun armed jeeps and there were 14 13-man quick reactions teams ready to reach any point on the perimeter within 12 minutes.

[1]: 17–8  In an emergency the 377th SPS would also take operational control of Task Force 35 (TF 35), an ad hoc three-platoon collection of men from U.S. Army support units on the base.

[8] While nominally a VC division, combat losses had been replaced by North Vietnamese soldiers, so more than half the 2,665-man attacking force were from the PAVN.

[1]: 21 [7] At approximately 03:20 on 31 January, the VC launched a series of diversionary attacks by fire on the north-eastern perimeter of the base with tracer rounds aimed at the petroleum, oil and lubricants storage tanks northeast of the north runway.

The "mortar rounds" were actually Bangalore torpedoes and satchel charges used to blow holes in the concertina wire and perimeter fence and the VC were soon entering the base.

[1]: 11–2  A gun jeep was sent to assess the situation in Echo Sector, but was stopped by heavy fire near the northeast corner of the base and reported large numbers of VC coming through the 051 Gate.

[1]: 13  At the Central Security Control (CSC) there was limited information as to the size of the VC attack, but the situation at the 051 Gate was seen as critical and 377th SPS Operations Officer Major Carl Bender ordered a platoon from TF 35 (composed mostly of men from the 1st Signal Brigade) to reinforce the quick reaction teams that had formed a skirmish line 250m east of the gate on the east side of the Whiskey 8 north-south taxiway.

II Field Force, Vietnam ordered the 25th Infantry Division at Củ Chi Base Camp, 24 km north of Tan Son Nhut, to send an armored cavalry troop to Hóc Môn District to cut off the anticipated VC route of withdrawal from Tan Son Nhut.

[1]: 40  Otis assigned the mission to his only available forces at Củ Chi, two platoons of Troop C commanded by Captain Leo Virant with a strength of three M48 tanks and ten M113 Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicles (ACAVs).

As Troop C left their base at 05:03, the mission was changed from securing Hóc Môn to counterattacking the VC at Tan Son Nhut.

[1]: 42  At dawn Otis's UH-1 returned to Củ Chi to refuel and after crossing the Hóc Môn Bridge the unit came under the control of the Capital Military District and Virant contacted Garred at the base who sent an ARVN officer to meet Troop C and guide them to the battle area.

The squadron operations officer had already ordered the remaining 1st Platoon of Troop C at Hóc Môn Bridge to proceed to Tan Son Nhut.

His helicopter landed at the western end of the base and Otis made contact with Staff Sergeant Gary Brewer, who had taken command of Troop C and asked for more machine gun ammunition.

When the 1st Platoon of Troop C approached the area at 07:30, Otis ordered them to deploy east along a side road and into a gate where they would support the Security Police and ARVN fighting inside the base.

[1]: 59–60 [7]: 337 Troop B arrived at the scene at 08:00, having driven the 39 km from Trảng Bàng in one hour, avoiding or driving through several VC roadblocks.

[1]: 79–80 Late that morning, RVNAF A-1 Skyraiders and USAF F-100 Super Sabres began airstrikes on the Vinatexco Mill dropping napalm and 500 lb bombs on the VC/PAVN headquarters.

[1]: 16  In July 2022 former Specialist Five Dwight W. Birdwell of Troop C, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the battle.

[10] The attacks on Tan Son Nhut and at Bien Hoa Air Base slowly led to an improvement in air base defense across South Vietnam, with improved bunkers and heavier defensive armament including 0.50 cal machine guns, M67 recoilless rifles and M29 mortars and, at Tan Son Nhut, two truck-mounted M45 Quadmounts.

[11] The Tet offensive attacks and previous losses due to mortar and rocket attacks on air bases across South Vietnam led the Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze on 6 March 1968 to approve the construction of 165 "Wonderarch" hardened aircraft shelters at the major air bases.

[12]: 36  In addition airborne "rocket watch" patrols were established in the Saigon-Bien Hoa area to reduce attacks by fire.