9 Things Grunts Smuggled Past the Army on the Way Home From Vietnam

At the departure centers at Cam Ranh Bay, Long Binh and Da Nang, military police emptied every bag before the Freedom Bird. Men still got things home: the helmet cover with the short-timer calendar, the jungle fatigues, small trophies, rolls of film, a registered SKS, and the boxes they mailed home weeks before they left. And one thing no inspection table ever found. Sources: - U.S. Army Center of Military History, Vietnam Studies series (Logistic Support by Joseph M. Heiser Jr.) - Accounts from Army and Marine veterans of the Vietnam War, including comments left on this channel (used without names)