ABSTRACT
The difficulty of the goodbyes when the recruits left for boot camp paled in comparison to those shipping out for Vietnam. Soldiers traveled by either ship or plane to Vietnam. The perception of the flights depended on the experience. Most veterans, whether front-line troops or rear echelon, shared first impressions of the heat, humidity, and rancid smells of South Vietnam. One of the most challenging duties in Vietnam involved going underground to search out the enemy who had established hundreds of miles of interconnecting tunnels during the war, especially in the Iron Triangle area northwest of Saigon. Because the Vietnam War remained primarily a guerrilla conflict between 1965 and 1968, the Vietnamese people often found themselves trapped between the Americans and the enemy. The enemy and the people were not the only challenges that the grunts faced in Vietnam, as US leaders could not have chosen a much more inhospitable environment in which to fight.
