By RJ Holland

Yes. But it was more the NVA and VC smelling us instead of us smelling them.

American soldiers smelled like their rations; meat and dairy products gave them a distinct and different body odor than local citizens.

Cigarettes also gave Americans a distinct scent. Winston and Pall Mall cigarettes, which were packed with the C rations, gave a particularly strong odor that clung to clothes.

Guns had the scent of oil, cleaner, and protectorant. Gear like packs had an army smell, as I called it: musty, dirty, sweaty canvas. I can still smell it now. Wet canvas smelled like misery, musty mildew and muck. Every combat US soldier would know that smell. So did the enemy.

Another giveaway that GI’s were in the area was the smell of pot and weed, or Bleu de Hue and Cambodian Red. I knew a tanker that called it JC, Jazz Cabbage. That stuff clung to the clothes like crazy. There were no skunks in Vietnam, if you know what I mean. Weed contains sulfur compounds as does skunk. The human nose is extremely sensitive to sulfur compounds, meaning even tiny amounts create a very strong, noticeable punch.

North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters often reported that they could detect U.S. troops from a distance due to these odors.

What did the NVA and VC smell like? If GI’s were close enough to smell them, which wasn’t that often, and if they were, they would be in trouble. The NVA and VC would carry the scent of steamed rice, fish sauce called Nuoc Mam, which was made from fermented fish among other things, and Chinese cigarettes. This was very rare, though. The NVA and VC were good at covering scents. When an American soldier said he could ‘smell the enemy,’ he really meant that he had a feeling, a sixth sense, the enemy was near, not that he actually smelled them. [he could have smelled their cooking fires]

Our TC would often say into our tank coms, “They’re here, they’re around, I can smell them.” I always felt those words chilling. Well, he couldn’t really smell them; he could feel it. They were close, and he was usually right. He was good at that. Usually the ones with that sixth sense were lucky; it kept them alive. They were the ones that usually, I say usually, made it home.

‘Fee Fie Foe Fum, I smell Wrigley’s chewing gum!’ (We got those with our C Rations)

This post was taken from Quora.

Admin addition: When returning to a firebase or the rear area after a lengthy stay in the jungle, we could smell the cleanliness and soapy smell of those soldiers within the camp. In turn, we smelled ripe and vinegarish to them. In the bush, one could also smell the bug juice, which left a hint of alcohol in the air.

Any more examples or disagreements?

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