Pretty much everyone I knew in the Marine Corps. dreaded the idea of a conflict in the jungle. Out of every place we prepared for, the one that was most miserable, bar none, was jungle warfare training. Just like Simon said (ha), the jungle seems to be actively working against you every step of the way. Every SOP you have as squads and platoons becomes almost useless, maneuvering is a challenge, the humidity is hell on your hydration, the rain turns everything to a slog, the insects crawl all over your body, moving wounded is a grueling physical feat, and concealment is *everywhere* - every single place you see is a potential ambush site. Would not want to be involved in a jungle war - its miserable just to be out there, much less be involved in a gunfight.
Thats what made the Vietnamese maybe the single most formidable fighting force in the middle of the 20th century. They fought off the Japanese, French and Americans then turned and took on Cambodia and China. They still know those jungles.
As someone that used to live in the Amazon Rainforest Region and did some boy scout lessons in the Jungle, I can say that the worst nightmare of someone not adapted is the climate itself: Heat that makes you sweat constantly and the high humidity doesn't let it evaporate until you dehydrate even tough you drank a river of water, while making you letargic... it's a Green hell
Aussies here and i live in Tropical north Queensland and we have the same. go hundred metres in to the jungle and can get lost. humidity is huge problem.
As a member of the Philippine Army and Wilderness Search and Rescue specialist, I miss the jungle. Dealing with the cold is a bit more difficult for me.
My grandfather was a Chindit in the British Army in Burma during WW2. He very rarely spoke about his experiences. My dad said he only did once or twice when he was drunk. He said the Jungle is hell on earth when fighting and the Japanese were ruthless. It made him a very cold, and angry man for decades after he returned, PTSD before it was called PTSD im sure. I only know it was terrible. He refused his service medals due to whatever he and his friends when through over there due to, what i interpreted, as shame in being a part in and witnessing so much death and brutality. He didnt see it as something he wanted to celebrate.
I don't believe he got any medals. Or really done what he done in my opinion. He was just pissed. Because the Japs were ruthless and anything he may have done if he did. Imagine 50 times worse they done.
I had an uncle who served during WWII with the United States Army in the Pacific Theater of Operations as a medic. Both he and the numerous friends of mine who served with various branches of the United States military in Southeast Asia virtually never said anything about their experiences so I really appreciate this video.
My dad went to Vietnam during the war. He didn't actually see any combat, but he was still traumatized by just being in the jungle and trying to survive. A bunch of guys who weren't circumcised were getting terrible yeast infections under their foreskin. Many opted for the snip, as an adult, to stop the infections. That alone messed up a lot of them. Poor guys.
@@luongo7886 medical circumcision is a semi-common procedure in tropical environments due to the far increased risk of infection Circumcision is not always a religious procedure
@@jewel1007 Ahh! OK, thanks for the info. As a Vietnamese, I don’t think any of us even heard of circumcision. So how is it possible that we don’t suffer from infections?
I've done missions in the desert and I've done missions in the jungle. I'll take the desert every time. Frederick Spencer Chapman related his experiences as a British soldier fighting the Japanese in WW2 Malaysia in The Jungle is Neutral. He explained that "neutral" doesn't mean it takes no part; it means that it tries to kill all participants without regard to which side they're on. Fortunately, my experiences were limited to no more than a few weeks at a time but it was enough to show me that prolonged jungle warfare would be about as close as you can get to hell without dying.
Hello Simon. I read an account of Marines who set a night ambush on jungle trail used often by Viet Cong. After many hours with no contact, a tiger came into the ambush site and began shopping for breakfast. Finally choosing a rifleman on the firing line, the tiger bit off his biceps on the left arm. The squad quickly dispatched the tiger, loaded their wounded comrade, and withdrew to base camp.
Poor soldier.. usually tiger will avoid contact with human unless someone going too far into their teritory, this is rarely happened in the jungle most likely people are dying from less sophiscated accident like slippery ground, bite by mosquito, snakes, or monkeys, etc.
In the Philippines there was an American named Arthur Weremuth He was called the ghost of Bataan by the Japanese. When he was captured they knew him as Weremuth the lion. He’d be a great post for a special operator or bio graphics. A legitimate war hero
Literally the moment I saw this thumbnail I thought "Yeah, a Jungle would be the single most terrifying place to be fight a war in on the planet short of Antarctica, the bottom of the ocean, or near an active volcano.", so I couldn't help but start laughing when I saw that the intro to this video was just Simon saying how terrifying it would be to fight a war in a jungle.
I can't imagine trying to prepare mentally for combat in the jungle...the Viet Cong and NVA might have had the upper hand during the Vietnam conflict but only the snakes and tigers are on home turf 😬
@@patrickhasachannelYeah, but at least the critters didn't show any joy in what they did. And be it man or beast, the first and last person in a line had a neon target on his ass. The jungle was always the biggest foe. The VC might not see you, but the jungle was like Santa Clause, and watched you every second. 11b (and TDY) 70-71.
Nah, under the sea that's just a submarine, near an active volcano you can still see your enemy and they're affected by the heat equally. But a jungle, a jungle is a maze...there's no knowing what's around the corner.
@@patrickhasachannel Yea sorry Aussies were used to it also as we live in the tropics and have jungles in the north. Aussies AO area of operations was a different story. The SASR Australias SAS were most feared of all and nicknamed the Phantoms of the jungles. Aussies would lay down beside paths and snatch VC as walked past and take them back for interrogation. VC had the saying if your friends were dissapearing or dying silently around you , it was the Aussies. SASR once snuck in to a VC camp just to leave a note that said. you have been visited by the SAS. was done as a mind game trick to let them know they were not safe anywhere. One mission they were caught in the middle of a river crossing. vc made a camp close by. 4 hours they had to stand hidden in the reeds until could sneak away Some missions they got caught and got in a fire fight. then would retreat 100 metres and hide in the jungle and VC couldn't find them. then they would return to LZ and call for extraction. Another mission they snuck in to a VC camp just to count troops for intel. one SASR was so close to VC when was time to leave he had to lean back just so he could fire his gun and get out. Roger Hayden a US Seal in Vietnam spoke of spending 10 days on a mission with SASR and said he was amazed for those 10 days not one word was spoken and all was hand signals. He said his whole career as a seal until 1980's he never came across another special forces unit as good at jungle guerilla warfare as them Australian SASR taught seals in Vietnam. they would exchange and go over to US camp and train them and seals would go out on missions with them.
@@patrickhasachannel mate Papua New Guinea and Australia have jungles also. Australian soldiers trained in these areas before Vietnam and fought in them in WW2. You get used to it. Australian and the very few US soldiers on Papua WW2 fought in thick jungles 88-99% were sick from malaria and still fought a brutal war. Kokoda track Aussies fought in knee high mud the jungle so thick the battles were at point blank throwing grenades and many times had to just use bayonets. supplies were near non existant even for Allies and they were starving also.
This is why I have high respect for the Scout Rangers, the vast majority of their training is Jungle survival, if they can't out 'firepower' their enemy they will outlast them in nature and even join the jungle's side. The first thing they learn is navigating with nothing but a map in the middle of green hell.
I am surprised that you left out the SAS and the Malaya crisis of the '50's. Also, I think you should mention the utility of the shotgun as one of the firearms of choice in the jungle.
@@nielsstilson9834 Counter-insurgency usually does not come under the category of war. Also, Germany did complain of US troops using shotguns during WWI but was deemed in compliance with all war conventions and has been used since then in WWII and Vietnam. I do not see why it would be "illegal" since it shoots solid projectiles that do not expand.
My Grandfather was a provost officer (MP) for Austraila's First Militia Jungle HQ unit. His unit was originally part of the Milne Bay Force and later became designated as a jungle brigade later in the war. From the moment I was able to walk he began teaching me how to navigate through forests. By the time he died, when i was 3, I was more competent than most adults with bush navigation skills.
@@zhenoob I do actually mean 3. The human brain at that age is incredibly plastic, meaning it can absorb information rather quickly. My grandfather used to take me out bushwalking at least once a week and I literally grew up walking in the bush. My earliest memory is of my grandfather congratulating me for recognising the correct trail to miniature trains that we went to once a month but telling me that that wasn't where we were going that day. By the time I was 30 I had picked up a whole host of skills that my GF didn't get the chance to teach because I was still too young at the time to grasp, like map and compass reading, I even had 15 years of free hold climbing experience at 30.
The jungle is a weird place man. If you spend a good amount of time in the jungle (I live in Florida so we have a jungle like environment in a lot of places) you start to get to know the noises, smells, and almost start to become almost one with it. It’s such a strange feeling when you start to realize that your thought pattern completely shifts to a completely different version of how we perceive the world normally. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to fight in such an environment. I sometimes wonder what it was like for the Conquistadors that settled Florida before it was changed for human habitation, much less with 1400s technology. I heard a saying that back then, a squirrel could travel from the Keys to the Mississippi River without ever touching the ground due to how dense the forests were.
2:50 - 4:05 I've seen a number of attempts to sum up this conflict. Many try to start around WWI, but Simon's brief intro here is the best attempt I've seen to summarize everything that came before that while then moving on to a focus on the modern conflict
"It's been said that the 501st got the best of the war. We also got the worst. On Felucia, the Seps dug their metal heels into the muck of that alien hellhole and dared the Republic to come in after them. So we did. Only to be met with the month after month of flesh-eating diseases, shrieking nocturnal predators, and other sights that haunt me to this day. Cut off and for all we knew abandoned by our superiors, our only hope was Aayla Secura, our Jedi commander. Without her iron will, none of us would have come out of that mess with our sanity, or our lives. When her death came, I hope it was quick. She earned that much."
My country’s army (australia) was engages with the longest most intense jungle combat with japan during ww2 then followed that up with malaya, borneo and ‘konfrontasi’ with britain and then vietnam with the americans. When i joined the army in the 80s we were probably the pre-eminent jungle fighters in the world and our training was focussed on that - in addition to our specialist jungle training. Jungle fighting isnt fun but its not as bad as made out here. Id rate it as as bad as every other experience in the field except for a couple of added irritants like you lose more weight and every cut and scratch goes septic.
The worst were the leeches and the snakes. But Simon is pretty right on target based on my experience. Not good days, but I survived them. Leeches everywhere, snakes, including Cobras common, saw a tiger once. A lifetime ago.
Thank you for the recognition. Brazil has the best jungle warfare training in the world, having trained thousands of soldiers around the world, mainly Americans and Chinese.
As a Colombian I cannot express enough gratitude for accurate coverage and recognition. We are probably the best jungle fighters in the Americas now , for better or for worse.
Yea FARC has been fighting in the jungles for a long time now. They’ll live in the jungle for years sometimes. Making cocaine in the jungle must’ve been rough lol.
Yeah, No. You must have forgotten that America is in the America's. The entire Columbian army wouldn't last two days against a couple of Delta or SEALS teams.
As melhores tropas de guerra na selva do mundo são do Brasil. Nosso treinamento é o mais completo, mais difícil e mais temido no mundo inteiro. Nada pode vencer o Brasil na selva, NADA!
@@GothlayJeffronimo-zt4sp You're watching too many lying Hollywood movies. Your entire country wouldn't last a month in the Amazon, imagine the weak Seals or Deltas.
Amazing vid, as always. Just a small correction, though: Brazil is not made up *almost entirely* of the Amazon rainforest (20:33), it's around 60% of the landmass at most, primarily the north.
As a millenial American woman who is profoundly interested in history and warfare, the Vietnamese truly impress TF outta me. The extensive tunnel systems they built, that fit people of their size and were difficult for American soldiers to enter when they were lucky enough to find an entrance, were INSANE. The camouflage they were capable of creating to hide themselves and to hide their various boobytraps were incredible too. And not only were they fighting us, they were fighting each other in a civil war at the same damn time, right after they'd dealt with the French occupation. Like JFC. Just MASSIVE respect to them.
@@heyitsquang285 I have to imagine American conscripted GIs were possibly the most predictable troops. Most of them were not volunteers so they didn't want to be there to begin with. That level of motivation would have likely looked like sheer laziness to everyone else. I've personally worked for companies who decided to hire temporary hires, or temps. These were people who knew they were paid less than the company full time hires and without the same benefits. I consider temps and interns the conscripts of corporate America. I wouldn't be much motivated either if I was in their shoes.
Vietnamese beat the Japanese empire, the 4th French republic, Cold war era USA and peak CCP China/khmer rogue in a span of 40 years. Truly incredible. Its sad tho, ive met 2 older Vietnamese ppl in my life and they both basically said most of the ppl theyve known in life are dead. I remember asking this older, male Viet nurse why he came to America and he said the war. I asked which one and he said "does it matter? One empire leaves another would come". the Vietnamese are probably some of my favorite people on earth. Beautiful culture, beautiful people, beautiful land, everything. And the strangest thing is how kind they are despite all the suffering, even towards Americans. I love going to New orleans, how many Viet ppl are there and idk mane theyre just dope fuggin ppl. I mean I know it was a huge security concern for them but the Vietnamese government did stop the genocide in Cambodia in the late 70s. I know he was dead at that point but Ho Chi Minh was one of greatest statesmen/military commanders of the 20th century.
My friend's dad was in Vietnam and told me a story of going outbon patrol. It was usual be quiet and keep an eye out. He crossed paths with a King Cobra that stood up taller than him and he just opened on it. He is only about 5-1, but that's still a hell of a snake.
Back in the days when the US had two huge military bases in the Philippines, Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base, the military designated a portion of Subic that still had a tropical rain forest as a jungle training area for American troops stationed in the Pacific. They employed local indegenous local tribesmen as instructors teaching troops how to navigate, find food and survive in the jungle. Ever since the closure of the bases, jungle instruction has now shifted to either Okinawa or Hawaii for forces in the Pacific area. Every year, a portion of the Balikatan Exercises (Philippines and US forces) is dedicated to instructing US troops how to fight in the jungle. Always fun to see US troops drinking cobra blood. 😊
simon + team, thanks for this. i am not a war freak, but videos like this from your channel have taught me a lot and kept me interested. on some videos I DO have to skip part-way through when it comes to gory details of human-on-human atrocities (eg. forced famine, sexual violence or violence on kids) but i readily admit this video's focus on nature's wrath was really compelling and beautiful. it makes humanity seem less powerful, which is a lovely juxtaposition to the usual human supremacy-vibes in war videos. anyway, i'm rambling and maybe it is bc i am tired and my son and I are sick. this was one of my faves. it had some vintage simon intonation throughout ('...is anyone still watching this, i wanted war not jungles!') and combined with the interesting content made a lovely morning video for this tired mom. thanks + peace, y'all ✌🏽
Everyone should read Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. It is about a young Marine Corps officer in Vietnam. It talks about how hellish the jungle was. Dudes had sores all over their bodies, diarrhea, and a character is killed by a tiger. It’s an absolutely brutal book.
The rain is biblical too. I live in Vietnam at the moment and by god, it can chuck it down. Truly unbelievable. I am in a city where I can seek shelter and I always spare a thought for those who had to fight out in the Ulu with no sanctuary.
I’ve been to the Peruvian Amazon and loved it! Going out into the jungle wasn’t much different than going out into the woods in Appalachia, just different/bigger trees and different animals…Leaf-cutter and Army ants were pretty cool to see…The “scary” part would have to be the actual river itself and the animals contained within😳Other than the insane humidity, wouldn’t think twice about going again😌(well, it’s also expensive😳😂)
If anyone wants to see a playlist on the Australian army against japan in jungle warfare ua-cam.com/play/PLBV-kb1YR88cqlokuYOfaArzhezLvFpyb.html&si=S8uiGo0CJrwnnBJl Just to give an idea of the level of success. In the New Guinea campaign alone 7000 American casualties, 9000 Australian casualties and 200,000 Japanese casualties. Yet the whole campaign is basically ignored by the wider world.
You forget about the 1995 Ecuador-Peru war that took part in the jungle (cenepa valley war) for the control of the upper valley of the Cenepa river, a true jungle war where SAM missiles denied the use of air cavalry, where special units were formed by indigenous tribes and where air power was inefective since nobody had full air supperiority
Hiking through the Amazon for a few days 7 years ago I couldn’t help but think how incredibly difficult it would be to have to deal the challenges inherent in getting through thick jungle while also being shot at and worrying about booby traps. The fucking trees and shrubs are out to get you. Couldn’t imagine what Vietnam was like.
There’s a book called “The Mosquito A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator” that talks about how mosquitoes shaped human history, including wars. Could be a good video topic
My Father served in the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) during the second world war. He served in theiddle East, Greece and Crete and then in New Guinea. Compared to all other theatres, New Guinea was the worst. The Owen Stanley Ranges was hell. Uniforms rotted on the soldiers, the dead often had to be shoveled into a grave as it had become semi-liquified by the climate. When my Dad's unit, the 2nd 2nd Battalion went into battle in New Guinea they had come from desert warfare and put into the jungle without any jungle warfare training.
My grandfather also fought with the American Red Arrow Division in New Guinea alongside the Aussies. He told me that as everyone had malaria, they had to stay fighting on the front lines until their malarial fevers went OVER 103° F (39.5 C°)! That is insane to me. He also crossed the Owen Stanley Mountains there in 1942/43. A feat still considered suicidal by the natives and unrepeated since WW2
I am still in awe that anyone, Japanese included, managed to survive. Dad's Battalion went in to New Guinea at full strength, roughly 900 men, including HQ staff. After their first campaign they were down to 98 men riddled with Berri Berri and malaria. Rested and reinforced they went back!
Imagine entrenchment level defenses and cover whilst being able to move freely above ground. Imagine a battleground where the front lines are blurred, and no mans land is the length of 1 bush to another. A modern battle where infantry , and infantry alone is the deciding factor. Attritional warfare at its most optimal.
I attended training at the US army Jungle Operations Training Center in Panama back in the 80s while assigned to a light infantry unit out of Fort Ord California. Within a couple of weeks I remember my crotch being infested with dozens of tiny beetles, my legs had a half dozen oozing ulcers caused by who knows what, I took a hornet's nest to my chest while on patrol and was stung around 40 times, the mosquitoes were so bad that I would have to brush them off my headnet in order to see the way in front of me, and I watched one of my fellow squad members pass out from heat exhaustion slide down a muddy Hill and somehow manage to get the spines of a black palm lodged into his testicles. I remember thinking to myself "How in the hell could anybody last over a couple of months in this environment?" Perversely perhaps, I loved the experience so much that after I retired I moved to Panama, and now live in a small beach village in the jungle, albeit on the less humid Pacific side of the country.
I served with 6th Gurkha rifles and part of my service was at the jungle warfare school in Tutong, Brunei. Compulsory reading was 'The Jungle is neutral' ( Spencer Chapman) and the JW bible, 'Jungle Warfare' by JP Cross.
My grandad did both Chindit campaigns in Burma. In each campaign they spent three to four months fighting behind enemy lines without hardly any rest. It’s said that in the first campaign the Chindits walked over a thousand mountain miles in some of the harshest jungles in the world.
When I was a medic in the 82D Airborne, we went to Indonesia to train with the Indonesian Airborne. We were there for 2 weeks. We jumped into a former rice paddy and then did a few days of joint operations... and holy s*** was it miserable. The heat, the humidity, you're always wet. Trying to keep myself and my guys dry was a constant struggle. Dudes had skin irritation and breakdown after the first 24 hours due to friction and humidity. And these were guys I had gone to Afghanistan with, so they were no amateurs or strangers to long movements in difficult conditions. It was just rough. Gave me a new respect for Vietnam vets and people who lived through the Pacific campaigns of WW2. If I had to choose between running up and down the hills of AFG for a week or living in the jungle for a week... I'd probably choose Afghanistan.
I did jungle warfare training when i served. Just the training sucked beyond comprehension. I cant imagine actually fighting in it. My combat deployments were to more urban environments
@Derandcam at one point in the training I was the point man. The jungle was THICK. I took a step and vanished from my mates. What happened was there was a 30 foot drop at a steep angle (about 70 degrees). I fell. I through my hand out and caught a tree after falling about 5 feet. Adrenaline pumping moment.
Salute from the Colombian Army Lanceros. We train our own units and foreign militaries in jungle warfare 🇨🇴 🌎 we are considered the best in jungle warfare.
"Nowhere, nowhere sucks more than the jungle." Truer words were never spoken. Almost everything in it wants to feed on you in one way or another. And then there's the enemy. Just to take your mind off of your misery.
Werner Herzog said it best about the jungle. "Everything is trying to kill each other, even the birds, I don't hear birdsong... I hear cries of insanity and pain"... 😂😂😂😂😂
I live in central New Hampshire in what is considered a temperate rain forest. With greater than 53 inches of annual precipitation the mountains here are so over grown and thick that in the 1960's the U.S Army Green Beret's trained here before deploying to the jungle of Vietnam. Jungles can be found in all climates
Went to visit mom's side of the family in the Philippines. I had had to get a shot for yellow fever and I had to take cloriquine. Can only have bottled water or bottled drinks. The only thing I could drink that didn't come from a bottle was water from fresh coconuts. Learned how to hang a mosquito net ASAP.
I have never heard of the Phillipines/Islamic State conflict mentioned around 20:00. I know this channel is busy, but could you guys do a video on that sometime?
If anyone's wondering how the US lost the Vietnam war, this is part of why. Well, that and the fact that the US's goal was essentially both impossible and pointless (anyone who knows anything about China's historical relationships with most of its neighbours can tell you how little the US actually had to worry about a united, Communist Asia. Two of the first things a united, Communist Vietnam did were to invade Cambodia and then fight China.)
@@Icarus7c04😂😂😂 that last sentence is so incorrect its hilarious. After the failure of US troops to stop the NVA at the Tet Offensive, was the final nail in the coffin for a total occupation in a long list of US failures to exert control over the guerillas. Afghanistan we spent 10 trillion dollars building up a country only to have it taken over a week later by the people we were building it up to defend from. You're right about alot of stuff here but military defeat is the only reason we lost these wars. You wouldn't say Britain won the American revolution because the consequences weren't that bad for them. The US didn't really care about pushback. You gotta remember the deep state at this time was taking out liberals like groundhogs. A great but dated doccumentary on the situation in Afghanistan is, "This is what winning looks like", basically describing the exact situation in Vietnam that led to us pulling out. We had no way to maintain occupation and people in the villages would switch sides and take all their equipment with them. Where you couldn't trust anyone, even your own comrades, and every official is as corrupt and inept as can be. If that's what winning looks like to you, I'd hate to see what losing looks like in your head.
@@Icarus7c04 Ahh, the good old "The piece of paper we signed by which we abandoned our allies to be destroyed after losing 50 thousand men, all of our international credibility, and achieving exactly none of our war aims did not explicitly state that we lost, so we didn't lose" -excuse. How hard is it for Americans to just admit that sometimes wars don't go your way? Besides, the USA has only declared war for like 5 times, so if you refuse to acknowledge the non-wars you lost as defeats, you also don't get any glory for the non-wars you won. There wasn't a declaration of war against Britain in the war of independence, either, so, technically you didn't win that.
@terryharris1291 my apologies you're correct on the first point. I was misremembering the fall of Saigon with the Tet Offensive. During the Fall of Saigon, The US ground force was forced to retreat, we literally had 1,000's evacuating via helicopter. I know because my grandfather was a door gunner in the 119th Assault Helicopter company, their units call sign was crocs, they flew black ops missions in Laos and Cambodia. Don't think he was their at that event though. So I've always been interested in the history. But yeah, we were caught off guard. All the stuff I said about and Afghanistan and Vietnam was accurate, we had no control over the ground, you kill one wrong person and you make 10 enemies in his family that work to oppose you. The same was true in Afghanistan. Literal tribal leaders we supported knowing full well they only had allegiance to whoever held guns near them. Us or the Taliban. Two countries we never should of been in. Domino theory is a joke when you consider the first thing a free communist vietnam did was invade their neighbors. Not to spread communism but to take their land and evict them over ethnic hatred.
Back in the 80s I was part of the best jungle warfare unit in the US armed forces. Stationed in Fort Kobbe, Panama. Only Airborne unit in SOUTHCOM. We were jungle experts and always played the op-force for those units going through the jungle school at Fort Sherman, such as Rangers, Marine Recon, etc... We never lost in those war games, but then again, that was our back yard and our style of fighting. Shout out to all the other Red Devils and Rakkasans.
The best air support an “indiscriminate bombing run”? I would recommend researching a little known conflict called the Vietnam War. The U.S. mastered close air support as a concept in those jungles.
Where i serve, we dont have hippos but we do have crocs, whenever we move our afvs across a floating bridge, we have to do an anti croc drill, which hilariously is just throwing flashbangs into the water to scare them away
I really want to see a video about fighting in Washington state where all of the different terrain types come into play. It's a couple hours drive from the rainforest to the mountains and desert to open plains and big cities.
Pretty much everyone I knew in the Marine Corps. dreaded the idea of a conflict in the jungle. Out of every place we prepared for, the one that was most miserable, bar none, was jungle warfare training. Just like Simon said (ha), the jungle seems to be actively working against you every step of the way. Every SOP you have as squads and platoons becomes almost useless, maneuvering is a challenge, the humidity is hell on your hydration, the rain turns everything to a slog, the insects crawl all over your body, moving wounded is a grueling physical feat, and concealment is *everywhere* - every single place you see is a potential ambush site. Would not want to be involved in a jungle war - its miserable just to be out there, much less be involved in a gunfight.
i hear claustrophobia is real in that environment too
Thats what made the Vietnamese maybe the single most formidable fighting force in the middle of the 20th century. They fought off the Japanese, French and Americans then turned and took on Cambodia and China. They still know those jungles.
@@landotter yeah - its dense in there, and you seldom see past 20 yards. Most engagements we had (with blanks and BFA's) occurred at close quarters.
And even worse to be in the jungle and be wounded. It sucks...
no worries. After several decades of climate change there might not have any jungle left.
As someone that used to live in the Amazon Rainforest Region and did some boy scout lessons in the Jungle, I can say that the worst nightmare of someone not adapted is the climate itself: Heat that makes you sweat constantly and the high humidity doesn't let it evaporate until you dehydrate even tough you drank a river of water, while making you letargic... it's a Green hell
Aussies here and i live in Tropical north Queensland and we have the same. go hundred metres in to the jungle and can get lost. humidity is huge problem.
Predator was just chilling there with his nice climate controlled suit.
Lol I can't imagine. I grew up in the Adirondacks and on a hot day it feels like your walking through soup. The Amazon must be that x100.
As a member of the Philippine Army and Wilderness Search and Rescue specialist, I miss the jungle.
Dealing with the cold is a bit more difficult for me.
respect from america 🙏🫶 good luck and stay safe my friend
My grandfather was a Chindit in the British Army in Burma during WW2. He very rarely spoke about his experiences. My dad said he only did once or twice when he was drunk. He said the Jungle is hell on earth when fighting and the Japanese were ruthless. It made him a very cold, and angry man for decades after he returned, PTSD before it was called PTSD im sure.
I only know it was terrible. He refused his service medals due to whatever he and his friends when through over there due to, what i interpreted, as shame in being a part in and witnessing so much death and brutality. He didnt see it as something he wanted to celebrate.
I feel for your grandfather and just wanted to thank him for his service. I feel for all soldiers that lay there life down for they country
I don't believe he got any medals. Or really done what he done in my opinion. He was just pissed. Because the Japs were ruthless and anything he may have done if he did. Imagine 50 times worse they done.
fuck man...that's brutal shit
A man of integrity and honor, I'm sure - with just a little sweetening of shame. War can kill a man, long before he's dead.
Up most respect for your grandfather, Chindits are legends of the Jungle Warfare.
Sergeant: "Marines don't die, they just go to Hell and regroup"
Private: "If it gets me out of this damn jungle..."
Jungles are known as the green Hell.....sooo would that mean they go to a Jungle to regroup? 😂😂
I had an uncle who served during WWII with the United States Army in the Pacific Theater of Operations as a medic.
Both he and the numerous friends of mine who served with various branches of the United States military in Southeast Asia virtually never said anything about their experiences so I really appreciate this video.
My dad went to Vietnam during the war. He didn't actually see any combat, but he was still traumatized by just being in the jungle and trying to survive. A bunch of guys who weren't circumcised were getting terrible yeast infections under their foreskin. Many opted for the snip, as an adult, to stop the infections. That alone messed up a lot of them. Poor guys.
Really? It was a serious?
Your father was Jewish?
@luongo7886 you don't have to be Jewish to not have a foreskin.
Your dad is a sally
@@luongo7886 medical circumcision is a semi-common procedure in tropical environments due to the far increased risk of infection
Circumcision is not always a religious procedure
@@jewel1007 Ahh! OK, thanks for the info.
As a Vietnamese, I don’t think any of us even heard of circumcision. So how is it possible that we don’t suffer from infections?
They're in the trees!
không chúng ta không phải
Most descriptive location identifier ever.
The feds there in the walls to lmao
They're coming !
They are the trees 😧
Simon with his.
Soothing tone, telling us the horrors of war in the jungle.
Such a beautiful big brain. We appreciate you
Gross
It's like listening to David Attenborough read 40K lore
@@AldrickExGladius yes and he talked loads of bullshit as well.
I've done missions in the desert and I've done missions in the jungle. I'll take the desert every time. Frederick Spencer Chapman related his experiences as a British soldier fighting the Japanese in WW2 Malaysia in The Jungle is Neutral. He explained that "neutral" doesn't mean it takes no part; it means that it tries to kill all participants without regard to which side they're on. Fortunately, my experiences were limited to no more than a few weeks at a time but it was enough to show me that prolonged jungle warfare would be about as close as you can get to hell without dying.
You have NOT been in the jungle.
Well done Simon!
I fought in various jungles around the world as an Army Ranger, and the common theme was "embrace the suck"!
Really. No you haven't. If so tell me .
Hello Simon. I read an account of Marines who set a night ambush on jungle trail used often by Viet Cong. After many hours with no contact, a tiger came into the ambush site and began shopping for breakfast. Finally choosing a rifleman on the firing line, the tiger bit off his biceps on the left arm. The squad quickly dispatched the tiger, loaded their wounded comrade, and withdrew to base camp.
Good lord, talk about a counter ambush.
Poor soldier.. usually tiger will avoid contact with human unless someone going too far into their teritory, this is rarely happened in the jungle most likely people are dying from less sophiscated accident like slippery ground, bite by mosquito, snakes, or monkeys, etc.
Australian SASR were attacked by elephants in Borneo during Malaysia, Indonesia conflict.
It ain't over till the bees achieve air superiority: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tanga
Guys there's no way someone could influence a tiger, indirectly possibly, to go in a certain direction right?
In the Philippines there was an American named Arthur Weremuth He was called the ghost of Bataan by the Japanese. When he was captured they knew him as Weremuth the lion. He’d be a great post for a special operator or bio graphics. A legitimate war hero
Literally the moment I saw this thumbnail I thought "Yeah, a Jungle would be the single most terrifying place to be fight a war in on the planet short of Antarctica, the bottom of the ocean, or near an active volcano.", so I couldn't help but start laughing when I saw that the intro to this video was just Simon saying how terrifying it would be to fight a war in a jungle.
I can't imagine trying to prepare mentally for combat in the jungle...the Viet Cong and NVA might have had the upper hand during the Vietnam conflict but only the snakes and tigers are on home turf 😬
@@patrickhasachannelYeah, but at least the critters didn't show any joy in what they did. And be it man or beast, the first and last person in a line had a neon target on his ass. The jungle was always the biggest foe. The VC might not see you, but the jungle was like Santa Clause, and watched you every second.
11b (and TDY) 70-71.
Nah, under the sea that's just a submarine, near an active volcano you can still see your enemy and they're affected by the heat equally.
But a jungle, a jungle is a maze...there's no knowing what's around the corner.
@@patrickhasachannel Yea sorry Aussies were used to it also as we live in the tropics and have jungles in the north.
Aussies AO area of operations was a different story. The SASR Australias SAS were most feared of all and nicknamed the Phantoms of the jungles.
Aussies would lay down beside paths and snatch VC as walked past and take them back for interrogation. VC had the saying if your friends were dissapearing or dying silently around you , it was the Aussies.
SASR once snuck in to a VC camp just to leave a note that said. you have been visited by the SAS. was done as a mind game trick to let them know they were not safe anywhere.
One mission they were caught in the middle of a river crossing. vc made a camp close by. 4 hours they had to stand hidden in the reeds until could sneak away
Some missions they got caught and got in a fire fight. then would retreat 100 metres and hide in the jungle and VC couldn't find them. then they would return to LZ and call for extraction.
Another mission they snuck in to a VC camp just to count troops for intel. one SASR was so close to VC when was time to leave he had to lean back just so he could fire his gun and get out.
Roger Hayden a US Seal in Vietnam spoke of spending 10 days on a mission with SASR and said he was amazed for those 10 days not one word was spoken and all was hand signals.
He said his whole career as a seal until 1980's he never came across another special forces unit as good at jungle guerilla warfare as them
Australian SASR taught seals in Vietnam. they would exchange and go over to US camp and train them and seals would go out on missions with them.
@@patrickhasachannel mate Papua New Guinea and Australia have jungles also.
Australian soldiers trained in these areas before Vietnam and fought in them in WW2.
You get used to it.
Australian and the very few US soldiers on Papua WW2 fought in thick jungles 88-99% were sick from malaria and still fought a brutal war.
Kokoda track Aussies fought in knee high mud the jungle so thick the battles were at point blank throwing grenades and many times had to just use bayonets. supplies were near non existant even for Allies and they were starving also.
This is why I have high respect for the Scout Rangers, the vast majority of their training is Jungle survival, if they can't out 'firepower' their enemy they will outlast them in nature and even join the jungle's side. The first thing they learn is navigating with nothing but a map in the middle of green hell.
I am surprised that you left out the SAS and the Malaya crisis of the '50's. Also, I think you should mention the utility of the shotgun as one of the firearms of choice in the jungle.
It's "illegal" to use shotguns in war...
@@nielsstilson9834it's weird that so many have adopted the m1014. Marines love combat shotguns.
@@nielsstilson9834 Counter-insurgency usually does not come under the category of war. Also, Germany did complain of US troops using shotguns during WWI but was deemed in compliance with all war conventions and has been used since then in WWII and Vietnam. I do not see why it would be "illegal" since it shoots solid projectiles that do not expand.
@@nielsstilson9834 Except it's not.
@@usonumabeach300 I own Benelli M4s & love them
Watching this from French Guyana. Greetings from 3REI, French Foreign Legion Jungle Ranger Regiment.
You’re a tough man
My Grandfather was a provost officer (MP) for Austraila's First Militia Jungle HQ unit. His unit was originally part of the Milne Bay Force and later became designated as a jungle brigade later in the war. From the moment I was able to walk he began teaching me how to navigate through forests. By the time he died, when i was 3, I was more competent than most adults with bush navigation skills.
Liar
@@KennyNGA please elaborate on what you think is a lie here.
3? dunno if i believe that
Do you mean by the age of 30? Not 3? It's very hard to believe you were competent at bush navigation at the age of 3, lol.
@@zhenoob I do actually mean 3. The human brain at that age is incredibly plastic, meaning it can absorb information rather quickly. My grandfather used to take me out bushwalking at least once a week and I literally grew up walking in the bush. My earliest memory is of my grandfather congratulating me for recognising the correct trail to miniature trains that we went to once a month but telling me that that wasn't where we were going that day. By the time I was 30 I had picked up a whole host of skills that my GF didn't get the chance to teach because I was still too young at the time to grasp, like map and compass reading, I even had 15 years of free hold climbing experience at 30.
The jungle is a weird place man. If you spend a good amount of time in the jungle (I live in Florida so we have a jungle like environment in a lot of places) you start to get to know the noises, smells, and almost start to become almost one with it. It’s such a strange feeling when you start to realize that your thought pattern completely shifts to a completely different version of how we perceive the world normally. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to fight in such an environment. I sometimes wonder what it was like for the Conquistadors that settled Florida before it was changed for human habitation, much less with 1400s technology. I heard a saying that back then, a squirrel could travel from the Keys to the Mississippi River without ever touching the ground due to how dense the forests were.
2:50 - 4:05 I've seen a number of attempts to sum up this conflict. Many try to start around WWI, but Simon's brief intro here is the best attempt I've seen to summarize everything that came before that while then moving on to a focus on the modern conflict
"It's been said that the 501st got the best of the war. We also got the worst. On Felucia, the Seps dug their metal heels into the muck of that alien hellhole and dared the Republic to come in after them. So we did. Only to be met with the month after month of flesh-eating diseases, shrieking nocturnal predators, and other sights that haunt me to this day. Cut off and for all we knew abandoned by our superiors, our only hope was Aayla Secura, our Jedi commander. Without her iron will, none of us would have come out of that mess with our sanity, or our lives. When her death came, I hope it was quick. She earned that much."
Heck, yeah bro!!
Good soldiers follow orders
My country’s army (australia) was engages with the longest most intense jungle combat with japan during ww2 then followed that up with malaya, borneo and ‘konfrontasi’ with britain and then vietnam with the americans. When i joined the army in the 80s we were probably the pre-eminent jungle fighters in the world and our training was focussed on that - in addition to our specialist jungle training. Jungle fighting isnt fun but its not as bad as made out here. Id rate it as as bad as every other experience in the field except for a couple of added irritants like you lose more weight and every cut and scratch goes septic.
I preferred being in the jungle to any where else.Served with 1 RNZIR.
The worst were the leeches and the snakes. But Simon is pretty right on target based on my experience. Not good days, but I survived them. Leeches everywhere, snakes, including Cobras common, saw a tiger once. A lifetime ago.
You have not been in the jungle.😂
America's first experience in jungle warfare was the three wars we fought against the Seminoles in Florida in the early part of the 19th Century.
Thank you for the recognition. Brazil has the best jungle warfare training in the world, having trained thousands of soldiers around the world, mainly Americans and Chinese.
Sure, an army never tested in a ground they affirm they bested. Lol. I beg to differ that the vietnamese army excells much better in jungle warfare
@@luidhifreitas2218 They were. And they did: ua-cam.com/video/SK2clxBaaPs/v-deo.html
As a Colombian I cannot express enough gratitude for accurate coverage and recognition. We are probably the best jungle fighters in the Americas now , for better or for worse.
Yea FARC has been fighting in the jungles for a long time now. They’ll live in the jungle for years sometimes. Making cocaine in the jungle must’ve been rough lol.
Yeah, No. You must have forgotten that America is in the America's. The entire Columbian army wouldn't last two days against a couple of Delta or SEALS teams.
As melhores tropas de guerra na selva do mundo são do Brasil. Nosso treinamento é o mais completo, mais difícil e mais temido no mundo inteiro. Nada pode vencer o Brasil na selva, NADA!
@@GothlayJeffronimo-zt4sp You're watching too many lying Hollywood movies. Your entire country wouldn't last a month in the Amazon, imagine the weak Seals or Deltas.
BRASIL eu simplesmente não existo ?
Amazing vid, as always.
Just a small correction, though: Brazil is not made up *almost entirely* of the Amazon rainforest (20:33), it's around 60% of the landmass at most, primarily the north.
To be fair, that's also because the percentage used to be much higher before mining, urbanization, and slash burn agriculture.
Yes
As a millenial American woman who is profoundly interested in history and warfare, the Vietnamese truly impress TF outta me. The extensive tunnel systems they built, that fit people of their size and were difficult for American soldiers to enter when they were lucky enough to find an entrance, were INSANE. The camouflage they were capable of creating to hide themselves and to hide their various boobytraps were incredible too. And not only were they fighting us, they were fighting each other in a civil war at the same damn time, right after they'd dealt with the French occupation. Like JFC. Just MASSIVE respect to them.
@@highcountrydelatiteeveryone was scared of each other, doesn’t take away from their courage.
@@heyitsquang285 I have to imagine American conscripted GIs were possibly the most predictable troops. Most of them were not volunteers so they didn't want to be there to begin with. That level of motivation would have likely looked like sheer laziness to everyone else.
I've personally worked for companies who decided to hire temporary hires, or temps. These were people who knew they were paid less than the company full time hires and without the same benefits. I consider temps and interns the conscripts of corporate America. I wouldn't be much motivated either if I was in their shoes.
Vietnamese beat the Japanese empire, the 4th French republic, Cold war era USA and peak CCP China/khmer rogue in a span of 40 years. Truly incredible. Its sad tho, ive met 2 older Vietnamese ppl in my life and they both basically said most of the ppl theyve known in life are dead. I remember asking this older, male Viet nurse why he came to America and he said the war. I asked which one and he said "does it matter? One empire leaves another would come". the Vietnamese are probably some of my favorite people on earth. Beautiful culture, beautiful people, beautiful land, everything. And the strangest thing is how kind they are despite all the suffering, even towards Americans. I love going to New orleans, how many Viet ppl are there and idk mane theyre just dope fuggin ppl. I mean I know it was a huge security concern for them but the Vietnamese government did stop the genocide in Cambodia in the late 70s. I know he was dead at that point but Ho Chi Minh was one of greatest statesmen/military commanders of the 20th century.
@@jazzercise300Vietnam beat japanese? Lol by this logic china would beat japanese in ww2
My friend's dad was in Vietnam and told me a story of going outbon patrol. It was usual be quiet and keep an eye out. He crossed paths with a King Cobra that stood up taller than him and he just opened on it. He is only about 5-1, but that's still a hell of a snake.
Once again, this mini series is awesome.
Simon thank you for these.
Back in the days when the US had two huge military bases in the Philippines, Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base, the military designated a portion of Subic that still had a tropical rain forest as a jungle training area for American troops stationed in the Pacific. They employed local indegenous local tribesmen as instructors teaching troops how to navigate, find food and survive in the jungle.
Ever since the closure of the bases, jungle instruction has now shifted to either Okinawa or Hawaii for forces in the Pacific area.
Every year, a portion of the Balikatan Exercises (Philippines and US forces) is dedicated to instructing US troops how to fight in the jungle. Always fun to see US troops drinking cobra blood. 😊
simon + team, thanks for this. i am not a war freak, but videos like this from your channel have taught me a lot and kept me interested. on some videos I DO have to skip part-way through when it comes to gory details of human-on-human atrocities (eg. forced famine, sexual violence or violence on kids) but i readily admit this video's focus on nature's wrath was really compelling and beautiful. it makes humanity seem less powerful, which is a lovely juxtaposition to the usual human supremacy-vibes in war videos. anyway, i'm rambling and maybe it is bc i am tired and my son and I are sick. this was one of my faves. it had some vintage simon intonation throughout ('...is anyone still watching this, i wanted war not jungles!') and combined with the interesting content made a lovely morning video for this tired mom. thanks + peace, y'all ✌🏽
Everyone should read Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. It is about a young Marine Corps officer in Vietnam. It talks about how hellish the jungle was. Dudes had sores all over their bodies, diarrhea, and a character is killed by a tiger. It’s an absolutely brutal book.
That book is incredible!
The rain is biblical too. I live in Vietnam at the moment and by god, it can chuck it down. Truly unbelievable.
I am in a city where I can seek shelter and I always spare a thought for those who had to fight out in the Ulu with no sanctuary.
I’ve been to the Peruvian Amazon and loved it! Going out into the jungle wasn’t much different than going out into the woods in Appalachia, just different/bigger trees and different animals…Leaf-cutter and Army ants were pretty cool to see…The “scary” part would have to be the actual river itself and the animals contained within😳Other than the insane humidity, wouldn’t think twice about going again😌(well, it’s also expensive😳😂)
If anyone wants to see a playlist on the Australian army against japan in jungle warfare
ua-cam.com/play/PLBV-kb1YR88cqlokuYOfaArzhezLvFpyb.html&si=S8uiGo0CJrwnnBJl
Just to give an idea of the level of success. In the New Guinea campaign alone 7000 American casualties, 9000 Australian casualties and 200,000 Japanese casualties. Yet the whole campaign is basically ignored by the wider world.
How about a video covering the Siege of Malawi?
Thanks for all you do Simon!
My dad was on guadlcanal and gave me a first hand account of everything you described but also added starvation diet and parasites
being able to be seen and tracked without being able to see your enemy is the thing that scares me the most
You forget about the 1995 Ecuador-Peru war that took part in the jungle (cenepa valley war) for the control of the upper valley of the Cenepa river, a true jungle war where SAM missiles denied the use of air cavalry, where special units were formed by indigenous tribes and where air power was inefective since nobody had full air supperiority
So in other words, Catachan's entire lifestyle in a nutshell.
Why no mention of the “first” jungle warfare: The Philippine war againts US Imperalism. Where the term “Guerilla Warfare” was first coined.
Hiking through the Amazon for a few days 7 years ago I couldn’t help but think how incredibly difficult it would be to have to deal the challenges inherent in getting through thick jungle while also being shot at and worrying about booby traps. The fucking trees and shrubs are out to get you. Couldn’t imagine what Vietnam was like.
I was hoping this episode would be made 👏🏻🙌
17:22 now that's a topic for a video!
This is the best channel out there. Tremendous.
There’s a book called “The Mosquito A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator” that talks about how mosquitoes shaped human history, including wars. Could be a good video topic
My Father served in the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) during the second world war. He served in theiddle East, Greece and Crete and then in New Guinea. Compared to all other theatres, New Guinea was the worst. The Owen Stanley Ranges was hell. Uniforms rotted on the soldiers, the dead often had to be shoveled into a grave as it had become semi-liquified by the climate. When my Dad's unit, the 2nd 2nd Battalion went into battle in New Guinea they had come from desert warfare and put into the jungle without any jungle warfare training.
My grandfather also fought with the American Red Arrow Division in New Guinea alongside the Aussies. He told me that as everyone had malaria, they had to stay fighting on the front lines until their malarial fevers went OVER 103° F (39.5 C°)!
That is insane to me. He also crossed the Owen Stanley Mountains there in 1942/43. A feat still considered suicidal by the natives and unrepeated since WW2
I am still in awe that anyone, Japanese included, managed to survive. Dad's Battalion went in to New Guinea at full strength, roughly 900 men, including HQ staff. After their first campaign they were down to 98 men riddled with Berri Berri and malaria. Rested and reinforced they went back!
Imagine entrenchment level defenses and cover whilst being able to move freely above ground. Imagine a battleground where the front lines are blurred, and no mans land is the length of 1 bush to another. A modern battle where infantry , and infantry alone is the deciding factor. Attritional warfare at its most optimal.
I attended training at the US army Jungle Operations Training Center in Panama back in the 80s while assigned to a light infantry unit out of Fort Ord California. Within a couple of weeks I remember my crotch being infested with dozens of tiny beetles, my legs had a half dozen oozing ulcers caused by who knows what, I took a hornet's nest to my chest while on patrol and was stung around 40 times, the mosquitoes were so bad that I would have to brush them off my headnet in order to see the way in front of me, and I watched one of my fellow squad members pass out from heat exhaustion slide down a muddy Hill and somehow manage to get the spines of a black palm lodged into his testicles. I remember thinking to myself "How in the hell could anybody last over a couple of months in this environment?"
Perversely perhaps, I loved the experience so much that after I retired I moved to Panama, and now live in a small beach village in the jungle, albeit on the less humid Pacific side of the country.
I know a lot of Americans don’t like the involvement with the Vietnam War but my parents and their families were rescued in that war… by Americans. 🇺🇸
Fighting in the Darien Gap sounds lovely.
I definitely enjoyed this particular episode, everything was exactly familiar, dengue Fever was one of my worst times, 😊😊😊😊oh what lovely memories 😅😅.
I served with 6th Gurkha rifles and part of my service was at the jungle warfare school in Tutong, Brunei. Compulsory reading was 'The Jungle is neutral' ( Spencer Chapman) and the JW bible, 'Jungle Warfare' by JP Cross.
Can you make a video about the Rhodesian light infantry?
My grandad did both Chindit campaigns in Burma. In each campaign they spent three to four months fighting behind enemy lines without hardly any rest. It’s said that in the first campaign the Chindits walked over a thousand mountain miles in some of the harshest jungles in the world.
When I was a medic in the 82D Airborne, we went to Indonesia to train with the Indonesian Airborne. We were there for 2 weeks. We jumped into a former rice paddy and then did a few days of joint operations... and holy s*** was it miserable. The heat, the humidity, you're always wet. Trying to keep myself and my guys dry was a constant struggle. Dudes had skin irritation and breakdown after the first 24 hours due to friction and humidity. And these were guys I had gone to Afghanistan with, so they were no amateurs or strangers to long movements in difficult conditions. It was just rough. Gave me a new respect for Vietnam vets and people who lived through the Pacific campaigns of WW2. If I had to choose between running up and down the hills of AFG for a week or living in the jungle for a week... I'd probably choose Afghanistan.
Next Time Buy One Box Of Period Pad And Put In Shoes, During Wet Training, And Applied Brylcreem Hair Gel On Feet
I did jungle warfare training when i served. Just the training sucked beyond comprehension. I cant imagine actually fighting in it. My combat deployments were to more urban environments
I actually went through Jungle training in Panama three times! Thanks for serving.
@@Derandcam how bad did it suck for you? I did my jungle training in Okinawa Japan
@@Styxswimmer about as much as you can imagine 🤪
@Derandcam at one point in the training I was the point man. The jungle was THICK. I took a step and vanished from my mates. What happened was there was a 30 foot drop at a steep angle (about 70 degrees). I fell. I through my hand out and caught a tree after falling about 5 feet. Adrenaline pumping moment.
53 thousand Australians served in Vietnam and everyone had to complete the jungle training warfare centre course at Canungra Queensland.
Field Marshal William Slim wrote on this extensively in his book, “Defeat into Victory” about the Burma theater in World War II.
One thing I learned serving the Brazilian army in the Amazon is that no one is bigger than the jungle
Salute from the Colombian Army Lanceros. We train our own units and foreign militaries in jungle warfare 🇨🇴 🌎 we are considered the best in jungle warfare.
Simon, do spec ops who specializes in jungle warfare next. As a nice segway for this video
It’s all fun and games until your in the jungle and your mates are disappearing
Or the trees start speaking
"Nowhere, nowhere sucks more than the jungle."
Truer words were never spoken. Almost everything in it wants to feed on you in one way or another. And then there's the enemy. Just to take your mind off of your misery.
I love the fact that US asked Brazil for help in Vietnam due the fact that we have jungle warfare knowledge and we just said "No, not our fight"
You were lied to. # of countries that have asked Brazil to help them win a war, still stands at 0
Werner Herzog said it best about the jungle.
"Everything is trying to kill each other, even the birds, I don't hear birdsong... I hear cries of insanity and pain"...
😂😂😂😂😂
I live in central New Hampshire in what is considered a temperate rain forest. With greater than 53 inches of annual precipitation the mountains here are so over grown and thick that in the 1960's the U.S Army Green Beret's trained here before deploying to the jungle of Vietnam. Jungles can be found in all climates
Went to visit mom's side of the family in the Philippines. I had had to get a shot for yellow fever and I had to take cloriquine. Can only have bottled water or bottled drinks. The only thing I could drink that didn't come from a bottle was water from fresh coconuts. Learned how to hang a mosquito net ASAP.
I have never heard of the Phillipines/Islamic State conflict mentioned around 20:00. I know this channel is busy, but could you guys do a video on that sometime?
It happen way back 2017 lasted for 5months.
Filipinos always been fighting in jungle warfare since 1500 lol even until now there are still communist peeps hiding in jungle
You just explained a relaxing weekend in northern Queensland Australia. I'd rather all those monsters than seeing another human!
If anyone's wondering how the US lost the Vietnam war, this is part of why.
Well, that and the fact that the US's goal was essentially both impossible and pointless (anyone who knows anything about China's historical relationships with most of its neighbours can tell you how little the US actually had to worry about a united, Communist Asia. Two of the first things a united, Communist Vietnam did were to invade Cambodia and then fight China.)
@@Icarus7c04😂😂😂 that last sentence is so incorrect its hilarious. After the failure of US troops to stop the NVA at the Tet Offensive, was the final nail in the coffin for a total occupation in a long list of US failures to exert control over the guerillas. Afghanistan we spent 10 trillion dollars building up a country only to have it taken over a week later by the people we were building it up to defend from. You're right about alot of stuff here but military defeat is the only reason we lost these wars. You wouldn't say Britain won the American revolution because the consequences weren't that bad for them. The US didn't really care about pushback. You gotta remember the deep state at this time was taking out liberals like groundhogs. A great but dated doccumentary on the situation in Afghanistan is, "This is what winning looks like", basically describing the exact situation in Vietnam that led to us pulling out. We had no way to maintain occupation and people in the villages would switch sides and take all their equipment with them. Where you couldn't trust anyone, even your own comrades, and every official is as corrupt and inept as can be. If that's what winning looks like to you, I'd hate to see what losing looks like in your head.
@@Icarus7c04 Ahh, the good old "The piece of paper we signed by which we abandoned our allies to be destroyed after losing 50 thousand men, all of our international credibility, and achieving exactly none of our war aims did not explicitly state that we lost, so we didn't lose" -excuse. How hard is it for Americans to just admit that sometimes wars don't go your way? Besides, the USA has only declared war for like 5 times, so if you refuse to acknowledge the non-wars you lost as defeats, you also don't get any glory for the non-wars you won. There wasn't a declaration of war against Britain in the war of independence, either, so, technically you didn't win that.
They went for fighting communists, but instead they fought nationalists
@@dylanfoster7037 Tet was mostly fought against the Viet Cong and they were almost wiped out.Some of your other comment is just BS.
@terryharris1291 my apologies you're correct on the first point. I was misremembering the fall of Saigon with the Tet Offensive. During the Fall of Saigon, The US ground force was forced to retreat, we literally had 1,000's evacuating via helicopter. I know because my grandfather was a door gunner in the 119th Assault Helicopter company, their units call sign was crocs, they flew black ops missions in Laos and Cambodia. Don't think he was their at that event though. So I've always been interested in the history. But yeah, we were caught off guard. All the stuff I said about and Afghanistan and Vietnam was accurate, we had no control over the ground, you kill one wrong person and you make 10 enemies in his family that work to oppose you. The same was true in Afghanistan. Literal tribal leaders we supported knowing full well they only had allegiance to whoever held guns near them. Us or the Taliban. Two countries we never should of been in. Domino theory is a joke when you consider the first thing a free communist vietnam did was invade their neighbors. Not to spread communism but to take their land and evict them over ethnic hatred.
I definitely would love to see a video on the Louisiana Maneuvers that happened around Fort Polk.
You should have mentioned Robert Rogers' 28 "Rules of Ranging" when talking about the Seven Years War
i remember getting off a plane and the humidity was crazy i fell to my knees gasping for air
Back in the 80s I was part of the best jungle warfare unit in the US armed forces. Stationed in Fort Kobbe, Panama. Only Airborne unit in SOUTHCOM. We were jungle experts and always played the op-force for those units going through the jungle school at Fort Sherman, such as Rangers, Marine Recon, etc... We never lost in those war games, but then again, that was our back yard and our style of fighting. Shout out to all the other Red Devils and Rakkasans.
Bullocks! My brother in law is a retired space force LtCol and he says the Jungle is a breeze. He was station in Hawaii so he definitely knows.
The Yautjas are knocking
The best air support an “indiscriminate bombing run”?
I would recommend researching a little known conflict called the Vietnam War. The U.S. mastered close air support as a concept in those jungles.
Desert warfare next?
Respect the WW2 Pacific campaign vets for surviving and fighting in those hell holes.
Imagine walking by the jungle and the trees start whispering to each other
or you hear bamboo knocking on bamboo
How did you not mention the Chindits in WW2 hey Simon?
This Army Vet prefers the terrain of the forest. The jungle with its elements, terrain, and wildlife can be its own battle.
The jungle isn't THAT bad.
At least it's warm and you have constant access to water and forage.
Arctic conditions on the other hand? BRRRRRRRRR...
Been there…done that
JOTC vet, FT Sherman Panama 🇵🇦
1998
Dry season.
That's why the Catachan Jungle Fighters are such badasses
Where i serve, we dont have hippos but we do have crocs, whenever we move our afvs across a floating bridge, we have to do an anti croc drill, which hilariously is just throwing flashbangs into the water to scare them away
like JRTC rotation
Central and South America was by far my favorite place to "deploy" to
The Ho Chi Minh trail should be added to the list of worldwide wonders.
I really want to see a video about fighting in Washington state where all of the different terrain types come into play. It's a couple hours drive from the rainforest to the mountains and desert to open plains and big cities.
Just another reason why no nation will ever invade America militarily.
It was an informative and wonderful introduction
I just did some shrooms. I wanted to see something happy from Simon. Instead WAR LOL
The most miserable 7 weeks of my life was when I was undertaking JWIC in Brunei. Afghanistan was a walk in the park compared to that.
"Let's go to the jungle", they say. "It'll be an adventure", they say...
Australians: Hold my beer, mate.
Jungle is massive
Really should do a deep dive into the Z Special Unit some amazing stories there
To quote a Bruva Alfabusa series
"Why do people liiiive heeereee?!"