Pacific Stars and Stripes information
for 9 INF
people sniffer

For date 680629


9 INF was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
South Vietnam
Description: 29Jun68- GIs Use 'Sniffer' to Kill 124 Reds SAIGON (UPI) - American troops using an electronic "people sniffer" reported killing 124 Communists in a "bloodhound" offensive ended Thursday against forces threatening Saigon. The report on the use of the "people sniffer" said the 24-pound device was mounted aboard a helicopter and used to track Communists in Mekong Delta fighting 19 miles southwest of Saigon which cost 11 Americans killed and 35 wounded. The electronic device, used by men of the U.S. 9th Div., locates enemy forces by picking up the carbon dioxide-ammonia gas produced by perspiration. The equipment translates this odor into sound waves and enables ground forces to close in as the electronic "nose" aboard the helicopter skims overhead at treetop level. "It's a great piece of equipment," one American officer said of the device. "We can really hound the VC to death with it." The U.S. command said 9th Inf. Div. forces equipped with the "sniffer" killed 92 Communists Monday and Tuesday and 42 more Wednesday in action through the Mekong Delta.

The source for this information was 6806PSS.AVN supplied by Les Hines 3/97


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Date posted on this site: 05/13/2023