US Army Infantryman in Vietnam 1965–73

The “Boondocks,” the “boonies,” the “bush,” “Indian Territory”; this is where infantrymen spent most of their time. Combat operations could be of a few days’ duration, or up to five or six weeks without seeing a firebase. To the grunt it was a company-size operation. It made no difference to him if his company was operating as part of a battalion, brigade, or division-level operation. He saw little of other companies. He might hear their fire, overhear radio transmissions, see dozens of helicopters flashing over, and jets “bring smoke” (bomb runs or artillery strikes), but down in the bush he had a very limited view of the world. In the forested and brush-covered northern mountains, the southern double- and triple-canopy jungles, in densely vegetated swamps, even on the elephant grass-covered plains of the central highlands, he could see little, often just a few men around him.