One of America's Most Unexpected Enemies.

Added: 2026-06-07

[00:00:00]One of America's worst defeats in Vietnam wasn't on the battlefield, but inside their own camp.

[00:00:08]It was 1970, deep into the Vietnam War.

[00:00:12]It was hot and humid.

[00:00:13]Mosquitoes buzzed non-stop. [music] Soldiers sat in their camps waiting for days, sweating, rotting. They were fighting a war they didn't believe in.

[00:00:23]They didn't trust their commanders. They felt forgotten.

[00:00:27]So, when a local villager offered them a little medicine, something to calm their nerves, to sleep, to forget, they took it.

[00:00:35]At first, no one cared. They still showed up. They followed orders.

[00:00:40]And then, the inevitable happened.

[00:00:43]They couldn't fight anymore.

[00:00:45]By 1971, over one in five American troops [music] tested positive. Squads disappeared mid-mission.

[00:00:53]Fights broke out in the barracks. Some couldn't walk straight. Entire patrols had to be sent home.

[00:01:00]The White House was briefed, but the generals denied everything. Years later, President Nixon would call this one of the main reasons the US lost in Vietnam.