Hard to believe; About this time 40 years ago; 35 days before my 20th Birthday, fired up with the idealism of youth, fueled by raging hormones, went boots on the ground - Viet Nam. Viet Nam. Out in the bush; Nam's dirt smelled different. It smelled old, as if it'd been around like forever. Cu Chi, "The Iron Triangle," was a Viet Cong stronghold. A deep, massive, multi-level underground tunnel complex that housed arms cache storage, barracks, hospitals, spider holes, boo-coo bobby traps & virtually impervious to attempts to cause cave ins, be it by tanks criss crossing the area, or B-52 carpet bombing with 500lb bomb payloads, which leaving enormous craters, lots of ash, serious real estate rearrangement, pretty much turned the area into a moonscape. Patrols were extremely difficult. Thickets of sharp bladed elephant grass, taller than the average GI, could & did shred clothing & flesh with equal ease. Bamboo stands didn't help visibility either Bomb craters, filled with befouled rainwater might be booby trapped. Clumps of vegetation might not be so innocent; concealing spider holes that an individual VC cadre might use to launch a RPG attack. Night time was just as bad, fires from bomb runs, arty strikes, parachute flares, turned nights into a dusky hellish twilight. Silhouettes made for excellent sniper's targets on both sides. Book of Memories Bryce design & settings: www.sazzart.com Thanks for reading & viewing. Semper Fi ~SAZ~