Why Navy SEALs Wore BOOTY SHORTS Into Combat in Vietnam

The Viet Cong called them the men with green faces — the deadliest commandos of the Vietnam War, rising silently out of the black water of the Mekong Delta. But the strangest thing about them wasn't the war paint. It was the tiny khaki shorts. Shorts so short they would embarrass a lifeguard. Bare legs, jungle boots, an M16 — and almost nothing in between. This is not a joke, and it wasn't a fashion choice. Those shorts were calculated survival equipment, and the reason the SEALs wore them was written on the rotting skin of nearly every man who fought in that delta. In this video: — The real enemy of the Mekong Delta (it wasn't always the Viet Cong) — What 72 hours in soaked jungle fatigues actually did to a man's body: immersion foot, jungle rot, and the one the veterans still grimace about — Where the shorts came from: the WWII frogmen of the Underwater Demolition Teams who cleared the beaches of Normandy — The cold military logic, reason by reason, the way a platoon chief would line it up — And how a piece of survival gear from the worst terrain on earth became the most beloved tradition in the modern military: silkies, also known as ranger panties Accounts vary by team, by year, by operation — and this story comes from the men who were there, in their own words. The absurd image and the brutal logic are both true at once. That, more than anything, is what war actually looks like up close. If you had a father, an uncle, a grandfather who served in Vietnam — or if you've worn a pair of silkies yourself — tell your story in the comments. I read every one, and your stories shape what this channel covers next. Subscribe for more of the reality of war they don't put in the movies. Next week: the soldiers of WWI who were ordered to press urine-soaked cloth against their own faces during the first poison gas attacks in history — and lived because of it. #VietnamWar #NavySEALs #MilitaryHistory #WarHistory #UDT #Silkies #SpecialForces #MekongDelta #WarStories #TheHorrorsOfWar