This is Gerald Craig Plount. He was born on April 24th, 1946. He was born in Toledo, Ohio. He enlisted in to the army as just age 18 knowing that he would be drafted anyways. He is now 76 years old and his current residence is in Dunedin, Florida

​American soldiers fighting in Vietnam undergo numerous hardships and troubling issues. One major challenge that made this war even more difficult to fight  for survival was its environment. Most of the combat in Vietnam took place in hot and humid jungle like terrain causing many  health issues. Not only were they fighting a war but know they are fighting off medical issues including malaria, trench foot, heat stroke, and infections all due to the climate. ​

​Soldier reading letter

​C-Rations

Soldier sleeping

The soldiers of the Vietnam war had little to no contact to those they had waiting at home for them to return. Besides the occasional letter written to and forth they had no idea what was happening back in the U.S. The lack of communication was just one more hardship they had to endure.

The photo above is what is called
​C- Rations. These were first developed in 1938 in order to preserve resources and rations in the war. Normally they would contain foods in cans and or packages. That includes canned corn, canned beef, crackers, ground coffee, etc...

Sleeping in a bed or even with a roof over their heads was not a common thing for soldiers. Many would assume they had cots to sleep on. Those people would be wrong.  They would sleep on the ground in trenches or hidden in the mountains. but there were not many options so sleeping on the ground in the open was there only choice.