Interesting video that was mostly correct. Hard to be 100 percent accurate about intelligence operations that shift focus constantly.
One example is the name they gave to the program that had SF troops "Salting" the enemy ammo bunkers in Laos and Cambodia with ammo that would blow up in their weapons and usually kill the shooters. I was familiar with that program when it was called "Ivory Green".
It was NOT something that happened every day,though. First,you had to local an NVA ammo dump that was unguarded,since if you had to kill anyone guarding it,you weren't going to surprise anyone. And make no mistake about it,even though it SEEMS like the majority of those ammo dumps were unguarded,they were damn hard to find. It was NOT something you could count on,although most recon teams did carry along a handful of "Ivory Green" AK cartridges to "salt" any ammo dump they might find by accident. Sometimes you would just drop a few rounds by a trail,hoping some NVA would pick them up thinking some other NVA had accidentally dropped them,and load his weapon with them.
I do know of cases where it was obvious the NVA were using it,though. You would see a NVA raise his AK to shoot,and and when he pulled the trigger the ammo in the chamber would explode and drive the bolt back through his head. This tended to make the other NVA a little hesitant to shoot. Best of all were the "Ivory Green" mortar rounds. If you were close,you could hear the mortar round go "thunk" as it was dropped down the tube,and then hear the explosion as it went off and killed the mortar crew.
I understand the program included artillery rounds for NVA artillery pieces,but never saw one of those. I have no doubt it was true though,because the NVA were fond of shelling camps close to the border.
At one time the NVA were denying they were using what became called the Ho Chi Mihn Trail to move troops and ammunition south to attack inside South VN,but a SF MSG that I knew (can't remember his name at the moment,but IIRC,he was "Squirrel" Sprous's RT leader) took his recon team right up to the edge of the road and filmed them using a 8mm movie camera. This film was later shown at the Geneva Conference where the NVN were denying they were attacking SVN or even sending supplies to attack SVN. The film pretty much shut them up.
BTW,it was Squirrel and his team leader who went into NVN to try to rescue the first Naval Officer shot down in NVN. They were on a Aircraft Carrier offshore at the time,teaching the pilots and rescue crews things they needed to know when the fighter/bomber was shot down,so they suited up and went into NVN to try to rescue the pilot. They got close enough before running into a NVA patrol that the pilot later stated he could hear the gunfire and the screaming,but their cover was blown after that,and since they had no idea they were so close and there was only 6 of them,they had to turn around and run for a hill to get extracted before they were overran.
IIRC,This pilot ("Jeremiah Denton?) was the first US pilot captured by the NVA,and when the NVA released the prisoners,the recon team leader that led the rescue attempt met with him and gave him the NVA pistol belt and pistol that he took off the NVA platoon leader he killed during that skirmish. Wish I could be sure of his name and spelling,but too much time has passed. Can't even ask Squirrel because he retired from the army after 20+ years,and went home to northern Va to live and work,and fell off a roof while doing construction work,and died from the fall. HELL of a nice guy,and about as sharp as they came.
