This is a punji trap. It was designed so an unwitting soldier would step onto the sharpened bamboo sticks and be impaled in the leg and foot leading to severe injury. Many of the punji sticks were coated with feces to ensure a severe infection would ensue afterward.

While the traps themselves didn’t kill many people they were great at slowing entire units down and destroying morale in the US army which influenced the US’ decision to pull out of Vietnam.

In other words, the Vietnamese defeated the world’s most powerful, technologically advanced military (in part) with shit and bamboo. You have to have a little respect for a feat like that.

What Cameron Williams, an expat living in Vietnam, have to say?

Now I am living in Vietnam. I was reluctant to come here at first. I didn’t think the Vietnamese would take too kindly of having Americans in their country yet again. What I’ve discovered is to the contrary. Vietnamese people are some of the friendliest and welcoming people I’ve ever met.

They’re not just friendly with their words they’re friendly with their ‘dongs’ as well. They pay a lot of money for me to teach them English which is shocking. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not an act of altruism since they know it will benefit their children to learn English.

I used to live in Latin America and while they were friendly there was always an undertone of anti-Americanism throughout the region. Get with any educated person there and sooner or later you’d hear about the CIA and how America is the source of all their problems.

Contrast that to Vietnam. We dropped more bombs on them than nearly any other nation on Earth yet the new generation welcomes us with open arms. They’ve accomplished economic security without the assistance of the United States. They did it on their own. Vietnamese are also some of the most hard-working, intelligent, crafty people I’ve ever met.