Think Like The VC

[Ghost]

So I was over at Currahee's website, http://www.everycitizenasoldier.org/index.html which if you don't visit, you need to. Anyway, I find the "Think Like the Viet Cong page. I'll quote it here because of how valuable this is.

Literally everything left on the battlefield was of use to the VC.  Expended smoke grenades, safety levers and pins were remanufactured in to casualty producing grenades.  Claymore firing devices and firing wires were reused for command detonated mines.  Ammunition cans have watertight gaskets and besides being reused for munitions were used to hold human wastes in tunnels and bunkers; the cans were later carried out, emptied and reused.  Projectile packing tubes made waterproof containers for supplies and incorporated in to booby traps, as were c-ration cans.  The cans were also re-worked in to cooking utensils, stoves and lamps.  Mortar increments and artillery booster charges packed in to containers made explosive booby traps.  ?Pop-up? flare tubes were made in to pipe bombs.  Old fuse igniters could be re-primed.  Damaged sandbags and telephone wires were repaired.  The author found when examining VC base camps that ?commo wire? was a principle construction material for binding and guy lines, as well as repairing rucksacks and carrying bags.  Wooden ammunition boxes and pallets provided timber for camp furniture as well as latches and hinges as well as solid storage boxes.  ?Dead? radio and flashlight batteries often retained enough juice to initiate an electrical blasting cap in command-detonated mines and electrical booby traps.  An ?expended? battery?s charge could be slightly increased by warming it next to a fire.  The VC would tear M16 rifle bandoleers into thin strips and tie them together to use as booby trap trip wires, which were difficult to detect when concealed among vegetation.  Loading clips and machine-gun links were re-used as were discarded ?worn out? uniform items.  The VC even recycled surgical tubing, syringes and IV needles found on the battlefield.  Bloody field dressings and gauze pads were washed and reused.  They picked up little discarded individual C-ration salt and sugar packets.  A packet each of salt and sugar in a canteen of water helped revive a heat exhaustion casualty.  Discarded leaking 2-quart canteens were repaired and used for whole blood transfusions or home brewed saline solutions.  At one point the US stopped issuing bladder type canteens as they were so widely used by the VC.  Heavy duty 81mm mortar round containers with gasketed screw-on caps were packed with shaved ice from a towns little confectionary shop, in which bottled whole blood was packed, having been donated by rear service troops immediately prior to operations.

This type of mindset, where everything has a purpose, if not multiple purposes, even after it's "used" is quite valuable for us preppy-survival types.

Let's start a discussion on this idea. What can your daily trash be used as? Empty bottles can be used to carry water, along with many many more things (just gotta think). Any food scraps can be used to attract wild game. The list can go on and on. Lets see if we can make a massive list for some of the mundane things we use daily that are deemed as trash once used, that can increase our survival and keep us in the fight.


Cheers lads. And remember, recycle!

[Currahee]

The VC were amazing- I bet they could have equipped a platoon with a hundred dollars at WalMart.

I've got several things I do regularly-
1) cardboard boxes become targets (cut out some human silhouettes) - I like to change the shape somewhat so I don't have a particular target shape in my head
2) I recycle Ziplocs for field use and to collecting storing brass - I also repackage my ammo in them in to "battle packs"
3) I reuse the heck out of water bottles
4) More than one pair of boots has been saved when the sole starts to separate with liberal addition of  super glue
5) I have a bag full of desiccant packs I have salvaged

[sledge]

That's a great article Currahee.  Necessity is the mother of invention.

[Currahee]

That's a great article Currahee.  Necessity is the mother of invention.

Well, I copied it so  but it is a rare day I cut and paste (actually typed it word for word out of the book) something to my website, so I certainly thought it was special.

[APX808]

Reading how insurgent forces operated through the history has invaluable lessons.
I think this will be an awesome thread man

You can use food cans for a lot of things, for instance:

• Planting seeds until they grow to be transplanted.
• Punching many holes in the bottom to create an irrigation to water small plants without breaking them, maybe a solar shower...
• Putting a grenade inside and a string to do a booby trap (I never tried this one)
• Putting small rocks inside and connect it to a string to do an early warning device

[CrystalHunter1989]

The VC were some of the most innovative enemies we've ever fought, able to make sandals out of old tires and turn our own unexploded ordinance against us.

[thatGuy]

pop can stoves..

[Jeremy Knauff]

Not sure what the ROEs are here so if it's against protocol, feel free to delete this post, but here are 21 items for your list: http://howtosurviveit.com/things-a-prepper-should-never-throw-away/

[JohnyMac]

Great list Jeremy! 

Lets take some time to add to Jeremy's list. Here are a few things we save around the cabin:

> Plastic cat litter jugs
> Non screw top beer & soda bottles (We purposely only buy non screw top beer in bottles)
> Spent brass - I make a trip up to the local gun club on Mondays and pilfer spent brass. It doesn't matter what caliber
> Wood that can be used as kindling
> Fat/grease from cooking. I use it for cooking potatoes
> Dryer sheets - Put in pocket and they do a good job of keeping flying insects away

What are some of yours?

[Jeremy Knauff]

Great list Jeremy! 

Thank you!

> Dryer sheets - Put in pocket and they do a good job of keeping flying insects away

Awesome?I had no idea about that one. I'll have to give that a try...I have a swamp on the back of my property. 

[crudos]

JM, the dryer sheet one I never heard of. What kind of dryer sheet, the scented kind or unscented? How do they work on mosquitos?

[JohnyMac]

I have used both - Scented and unscented. We save the ones that have been used once. And yes it does work on all fly-'em's. I wear one in my booney hat and put one in my pant pocket.

Remember, how a insect repellant works is not by repelling flying insects it is by making you invisible to flying critters. The dryer sheets must have something in them that does that.

Crawling biting insects most repellants will not work unless they contain Deet. (Ticks, spiders, chiggers). These critters are attracted by carbon dioxide. The dryer sheets do not work for those.
 

[thatGirl]

It's cool that the dryer sheets work, we'll have to try that.  Actually, JM, Mosquitoes are also attracted to CO2 as well.  The dryer sheets probably mask scent, even the uncented ones, which are not really uncented, and probably gather more scent rolling around with clean laundry.  I suspect the scented ones would work best, but that's purely speculation.

Thanks for the tip, JM!

[JohnyMac]

You are correct thatGirl, sceaters are attracted to CO2 too.  Try the dryer sheets...you will like them

[crudos]

So when you put them in your pocket, do you need part of the sheet hanging out?

[thatGirl]

As the resident treehugger, my list is a mile long, so I'll just give you a taste:

- save extra salt, pepper, ketchup, hot sauce, etc... packs, napkins, wet-naps, plastic utensils left over from fast food runs in preps

- Reusable shopping bags to bring in dinner from the store and garden.  There a $1 if you get the cheap cloth ones, so I've taken using them as gift bags as well (at least for my dirty-hippy, liberal friends who appreciate the less fine things in life), instead of a $5 paper bag that gets thrown away.  I've even used a paper grocery bag to make a card: neatly tear a rectangular piece of paper bag, fold in half, puncture a small hole in the corner next to the fold with your pocket knife and use the grocery bag handle to tie th  card onto your gift bag through the hole in the card and put the rest of the bag in your compost or keep it to place your cooked bacon on-- soaks up the grease (God, I'm such a fucking hippy!)   

- clear, plastic containers from salad, fruit, etc... for starting seedlings (closing the lid makes it a little greenhouse)

- ripped jeans or canvas pants for patching other clothing, reinforcing knees of pants by adding a layer, making roll-up cases for tools like punches, wrenches, screwdrivers, spare mags and cleaning kit, etc... by sewing small rectangular pieces to large rectangular piece for pockets and two long, skinny pieces sewed to the backside at one end to tie the role closed.  Note: if you're really crafty, you can make paper from shredded jeans

- coffee containers (metal or plastic) to store brass for reloading, hardware fasteners, misc...

- pop cans for TG's stoves and to make solar water heaters (have the cans, but haven't tried the heater yet)

- end pieces of wire fence to make garden staples, crimp the end of soaker hoses and poly tube in your garden, etc...

- Old doors as fold up work benches.  You screw the hinges to the wall and hang the leading edge of the door with chains (this is my favorite of TG's brilliant innovations, I'll see if he will post a picture)

So cool, guys!  Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, Reload (we like to roll our Rs in Nuevo Mexico) 

[JohnyMac]

Crudos, I just shove it my pocket - None of it is exposed. I do also wear one in the band of my booney hat which I tend to wear in the summer to keep the sun off the back of my neck.

Also, I have to say that my brother told this to me and it works!
Here is some research to support my bro's finding's.
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2010/12/dryer-sheets-as-bug-repellant/

Some great ones thatGirl! I especially like the one "clear, plastic containers from salad, fruit, etc... for starting seedlings (closing the lid makes it a little greenhouse)." My wife washes them and uses them like Tupperware until they fall apart!