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The Killing Zone: The Vietnam Conflict

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The nature of the Vietnam Conflict was unique in comparison to other wars in the United States history. The environment in Vietnam played a major role in the way the Conflict was fought. The environment also influenced combat, both positively and negatively, on both the Vietnamese and the American sides. The environmental limitations in Vietnam affected the way the American soldiers were able to interact with the civilians, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the Vietcong (VC), as well as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). The Vietnam Conflict took a toll, both mentally and physically, on the author of, “The Killing Zone”, Lieutenant Fredrick Downs. The people of Vietnam also suffered a great deal from the Vietnam Conflict, from both sides of the fighting. The Vietnam Conflict caused a division within the United States. The soldiers in the United States military, that were at one time seen as heroes, were looked down upon and rejected …show more content…

In the month of September when Lieutenant Downs began his tour in Vietnam, it was the dry season and extremely hot. The air was oppressive and heavy with humidity. The heat and the sun roasted the soldiers daily, but then it seemed to rain nightly, which caused a great deal of mud within the troops surroundings. During the day, the soldiers would pour sweat, carrying their 70-pound packs. Due to the climate, there were bugs everywhere the “bugs so thick around our faces that we sometimes inhaled them.”1 Roughly twenty days into Lieutenant Down’s tour in Vietnam, there was an evening thunderstorm. The electricity from the storm caused static in the air, which caused the blasting cap of a claymore to be set off, injuring three American soldiers. Those extreme variations in weather were dangerous, as well as exhausting for the new soldiers just arriving in

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