During the Vietnam War (1961-1975) the United States and the South Vietnamese armies fought against the combined forces of the North Vietnamese regular army and the irregular Viet Cong (or 'VC') guerrillas. Much of the fighting took place in the jungle or on rice 'paddies' (fields) run by local farmers. The land was lovely to look at, with mountains, green rice paddies, and beautiful tropical scenes; but that same terrain was treacherous to those who did not know their way about. The Viet Cong often planted explosives around the perimeter of rice fields, and the U.S. Infantrymen learned that it was usually safer to walk through the paddies, which were always flooded with water. Even there, however, it could be dangerous, as we will see in this following post.
My brothers and I took these pictures in our back yard behind our garden, where the grass was tall and shaggy--making a perfect tropical climate backdrop for these pictures.
A patrol of two U.S. Infantrymen moving across a rice paddy
A Viet Cong irregular guerrilla; note he wears civilian clothing, and his weapon is imported from the Soviet Union. 
A guerrilla, after waiting in his concealed position for hours, takes aim at the patrol...
And fires. 
Returning fire; a direct hit! 
