While journeying through Cu Chi tunnel systems and artifacts, I feel like the biggest takeaway I found was that the Vietnamese people are very resilient and innovate group of people.
For example, they found clever and creative ways to indicate where land mines were without the Americans knowing, by sticking a needle into the land mine’s nearby plants. Additionally, the Vietnamese also used rubber from old used tires in order to make soldiers’ shoes that could adapt easily to the dry and humid terrain, which shows how both resourceful they are, and how they can adapt to their situations.
The Vietnamese are also very proud of their country, as they used Guerilla warfare in order to have the best chance at beating the American army. They had average people willing to take on the responsibility of being a farmer during the day, and a soldier at night, which shows that the Vietnamese are very proud of their country, and that they are capable of doing whatever it takes to defend its honor and pride. This, however, does raise some ethical concerns about how wartime is operated, and how there are not a lot of moral limitations that dictate how to go about killing people.
I would also say that I found that the tunnels themselves were a very good example of the Vietnamese’s cleverness, because just the idea of building tunnels underground to shield them from war is so innovative and different.
Lastly, I feel like the biggest takeaway that I had from going to the tunnels was that the Vietnamese really took advantage of their terrain, and they were very successful in doing so, as the Americans did not yield the results that they wanted from this battle.
