These human traps are horrific. Hidden by twigs and leaves, anyone stepping on a trap would be bludgeoned to death. They made ankle traps, armpit traps, door traps, etc. Poisoned spikes coming at you from every direction. If, for some reason, you survived- you would eventually bleed to death at the bottom of the hole or get shot by a Vietcong. Honestly, the thought of making these things is bone chilling.
The Vietcong did not want the US in Vietnam. Men, women and children were fighting to keep their homes. The south Vietnamese had made the villages move so they could have more control over supplies getting to and from the Vietcong. They wanted to cut off the tunnel system, but it was too elaborate (over 200km in length.)
I assume a lot of the US soldiers didn’t know exactly what they were doing there and what they were fighting for. When you’re at these war sites, you just feel overwhelmingly sad. Maddux said, “this is depressing!”
During the ride to the next museum, we all talked about things in life that are unfair. That war was a prime example of unfair- in so many different ways.
marschmadness 