Why did they allow the Platoon to pretty much just chill, play cards, get drunk and smoke opium at the base? Wouldn't they want them out in the field? Forgive me, but my knowledge of how the military works isn't as proficient as others may be, any help here would be appreciated, thanks
shareIt depends on the mission. Battalion might want the Company to send a platoon out on night patrols, then back at base camp in the morning. Or, they might load up a few Huey's with 1 or 2 platoon's and drop them off at an LZ on top of a hill in order to sniff out some VC, they'd come back to pick them up within a day. They rarely would send out platoons to live and fight in the jungle for extended periods of time, there's so many injuries in the jungle in a single day even without all the fighting. There were special missions but they still would have a small base camp with supplies, comm gear, and security around the perimeter. This was the way the grunts fought the war in Vietnam, it was often said there were long, long periods of extreme boredom that would be interrupted by a very quick, intense battle that might last less than 10-15 minutes. It was a crazy war that the U.S. was really not well equipped to fight.
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