Anonymous

For the most part, the fighting in Vietnam was very different than in any other war the United States had fought. The war was mostly guerilla skirmishes with an unseen enemy. Unlike in other wars, the Americans did not start at one end of the country and clear out the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army as they worked their way to the other end. Instead, they established base camps throughout South Vietnam. Patrols were sent out from the base camp at regular intervals on search-and-destroy missions to engage the enemy, but these patrols always returned to the base camp and therefore did not hold enemy territory.

The following selection by an unknown Vietnam War veteran in the book Nam: The Vietnam War in the Words of the Men and Women Who Fought There, compiled by Mark Baker, describes a typical patrol...