This reminds me of the 2nd Rambo movie, when Rambo has radioed that he has found the American POWs. A helicopter is hovering over them in order to bring them on-board.
The helicopter pilot radios back to the CIA guy and tells him he’s ready to rescue Rambo and the POWs. At the last second, the CIA guy tells the pilot to abort the mission, and the helo flies off, leaving Rambo and the POWs stranded on the ground, with the Vietnamese army closing in on them.
I have an uncle who was a helicopter pilot in Viet Nam. He says radio problems became chronic when the brass went soft. They could hear the guys on the ground calling for help just fine but they just couldn’t make out the orders coming from 5o miles away.
“Murdoch!”