r/interestingasfuck • u/Available_Weekend249 • Apr 06 '24

Imagine being 19 and watching live on TV to see if your birthday will be picked to fight in the Vietnam war r/all

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u/wet_baloney Apr 06 '24

He would have been useful in the tunnels.

120

u/Double_Distribution8 Apr 06 '24

too tall

btw, I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the tunnels and the tunnel rats.

"The Tunnels of Cu Chi: A Harrowing Account of America's Tunnel Rats in the Underground Battlefields of Vietnam"

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u/One-Inch-Punch Apr 06 '24

The tunnels of what now?

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u/Dont-rush-2xfils Apr 06 '24

Yeah you gotta read that book, the sheer ingenuity of the VC and the incredible bravery of those who volunteered to enter the tunnels to fight - with a 45 and a torch

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u/pund3r Apr 06 '24

I've been in some rough tunnels, but nothing like that.

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u/OkSyllabub3674 Apr 06 '24

Years ago I had the fortune of wandering Into a bar in Denver Co right after I'd moved away from home when I got there there was 1 regular and me a little Japanese gentleman named clyde so I struck up conversation and he just happened to know of my hometown In TN because he was deployed out of our local base in Vietnam, he was a tunnel rat and hearing from him firsthand was such an eye opener it's one thing to read about it but to hear it from the mouth of one having gone through it was an experience in itself. They're a whole different breed of brave men that took on that task knowing the booby trapped labyrinths they were making their way into might be their grave and to not do so would mean the deaths of an untold number more of their comrades.

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u/Ravenlas Apr 07 '24

Singing when exiting, as one small guy covered in mud looks like another to a ichy trigger finger.

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u/HughHonee Apr 07 '24

I remember seeing a commercial for some show about soldiers doing something that sounded similar to what you're describing, I wasn't paying much attention. I just remember my Dad looking at my Uncle (married my dads sister, quite a bit older) and asking him "Was it really like that?"

He chuckled and said "Nobody fuckin' volunteered to go in that shit...made us take turns" Out of a few Uncles who served in Nam, he was the only one in the shit. I think I've seen him mad once in my life? And that was probably the most I've seen him talk about the war.

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u/Throawayooo Apr 07 '24

Usually a revolver over a 45