Although a common image of the conflict in Vietnam is of a helicopter war, it was in truth mostly an infantryman’s war, and in support of the government of South Vietnam the US sent around 2.7 million service personnel, the largest component of which were ordinary Army infantry as depicted for the first time in this set. Once offensive operations got underway, much of their activity was in Search and Destroy missions where they would patrol an area, attempting to clear it of enemy personnel. Even without enemy activity the environment was challenging, usually very hot, humid, with jungle and other difficult terrain, and the almost constant risk of ambush added greatly to the stresses those men had to endure. By the middle part of the war many of these men were conscripts, putting themselves in harm’s way where everywhere was the front line, and anyone could be the enemy.
Thanks to the large number of journalists covering the war, including the relatively new medium of television, there is a wealth of information and imagery on the ‘grunt’ in Vietnam. What is particularly striking about this material is how varied is the men’s appearance in clothing, weaponry and equipment, which gives anyone modelling them a lot of latitude, but we would expect to see that sort of variability reflected in such a set. In terms of uniform, American infantry did of course have one, but what was actually worn could vary greatly, including various hats, T-shirts, bare-chested and uniform items worn in various dishevelled ways, but in this set everyone is pretty much in regulation dress. By this period of the war this was Jungle Utility Uniform, often known as fatigues or tropical fatigues, which were only issued once the soldier arrived in country. The kit largely hides the ‘jacket’ on these figures, but the trousers have the large cargo pockets on each thigh, so from what can be seen the uniform is correct. Everyone wears the M1 steel helmet of course, with the usual cover and elastic band round the crown which was intended for camouflage but was actually used to stow cigarettes, matches, insect repellent or anything else the soldier wanted to keep dry and to hand. Everyone, that is, except for the last figure, who wears a rather obvious cavalry Stetson, and since he also wears sunglasses, has very little kit and holds a different rifle to his men, he just screams officer. When in action, which these men seem to be, such an appearance would be tantamount to suicide as he would be the obvious target for every enemy shooter, so no officer was ever stupid enough to be in the field looking like this, so he must be safely on base somewhere (he is, however, very reminiscent of the officer played by Robert Duvall in the iconic film 'Apocalypse Now' (1979)). Getting back to the men, lots of them have a towel round the neck as a sweat rag, which just leaves one more garment, the flak jacket. This too is largely submerged by all of the kit, but it looks like most or all of these men wear one, probably the earlier M1952 model without the neck guard. By no means all infantry wore body armour, not least because it was heavy and hot, and these men are already very heavily encumbered, so we would question whether they would also be wearing such an item, as clearly they have not been inserted by helicopter or vehicle, but are on a long-distance patrol.
Specifications
- Contents: 43 figures
- Poses: 13 poses
- Material: Plastic (Medium Consistency)
