(From Western Kansas Militia) Gear ...Literally everything left on the battlefield was of use to the VC. Expended smoke grenades, safety levers and pins were remanufactured in to casualty producing grenades. Claymore firing devices and firing wires were reused for command detonated mines. Ammunition cans have watertight gaskets and besides being reused for munitions were used to hold human wastes in tunnels and bunkers; the cans were later carried out, emptied and reused. Projectile packing tubes made waterproof containers for supplies and incorporated in to booby traps, as were c-ration cans. The cans were also re-worked in to cooking utensils, stoves and lamps. Mortar increments and artillery booster charges packed in to containers made explosive booby traps. “Pop-up” flare tubes were made in to pipe bombs. Old fuse igniters could be re-primed. Damaged sandbags and telephone wires were repaired. The author found when examining VC base camps that “commo wire” was a principle construction material for binding and guy lines, as well as repairing rucksacks and carrying bags. Wooden ammunition boxes and pallets provided timber for camp furniture as well as latches and hinges as well as solid storage boxes. “Dead” radio and flashlight batteries often retained enough juice to initiate an electrical blasting cap in command-detonated mines and electrical booby traps. An “expended” battery’s charge could be slightly increased by warming it next to a fire. The VC would tear M16 rifle bandoleers into thin strips and tie them together to use as booby trap trip wires, which were difficult to detect when concealed among vegetation. Loading clips and machine-gun links were re-used as were discarded “worn out” uniform items. The VC even recycled surgical tubing, syringes and IV needles found on the battlefield. Bloody field dressings and gauze pads were washed and reused. They picked up little discarded individual C-ration salt and sugar packets. A packet each of salt and sugar in a canteen of water helped revive a heat exhaustion casualty. Discarded leaking 2-quart canteens were repaired and used for whole blood transfusions or home brewed saline solutions. At one point the US stopped issuing bladder type canteens as they were so widely used by the VC. Heavy duty 81mm mortar round containers with gasketed screw-on caps were packed with shaved ice from a towns little confectionary shop, in which bottled whole blood was packed, having been donated by rear service troops immediately prior to operations...
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 18:39:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015