Will Andies
World History
Block 2
Vietnam
On November 1st, 1955 the United States of America declared war on Vietnam in order to eradicate the communism that was inhabiting Vietnam at the time, and If you were eighteen years or older you were most likely drafted into the war, and that meant being a “grunt”. The average age of a vietnam veteran was nineteen and that meant that most of them were in great shape but most weren’t mentally prepared for what they faced in the jungles of Vietnam. The US military underestimated Vietnam and their guerilla warfare tactics very much as they will realize later on during the war that the war they are fighting isn’t a “cakewalk” after all.

If you were a ground soldier during Vietnam you were used to many terms used by troops to identify popular things in the war, such as VC or Vietcong, Elephant Grass known as the tall thick grass that made visibility in the grass nearly impossible after five feet. Those are just two of the many many terms they had for Vietnam. If you were a ground troop you also had to get used to the 110-120 degree days and humidity that Vietnam was. It was surely not a good place to fight against guerilla warfare at all. Troops also had to adapt to the various booby traps Vietcong would set out for American soldiers such as pitfalls that had razor sharp bamboo sticks sticking straight up ten feet below a fake ground of grass that unwary soldiers would step upon to usually their untimely death. Booby traps also varied from poisonous spikes to bear traps. In other words the Vietcong were definitely very vicious enemies and very unforgiving. The average Vietcong guerilla fighter was very young in fact usually younger than