The stink of the jungle and of the men, the heavy, breath halting humidity, the heat, the wetness of the rain that not even a poncho could keep out, and the smell of the dead.
Those things cannot be sensed or felt in movies which takes a lot of the realism out of them. You can only get a small idea of what the Vietnam War was like watching those movies.
It’s impossible to know what war was actually like while watching an actor go through the moves and while you are putting popcorn into your mouth and sipping a Coke.
Caption for photo reads: ‘US soldiers 25th Infantry Division look at the bodies of more than 50 Viet Cong killed in the Battle of Good Friday 80 miles NW of Saigon. April 12, 1968.’
However, judging by the uniforms, these are not VC but NVA. We went up against the 33rd. Regiment a few times. They were not a hit and run group like the VC. These guys were an army and they were damn tough. Not a pleasant place to be standing close to. You cannot experience the smell at a movie or looking at this photo.