Purpose:  Problem solving is an excellent learning tool to help develop both critical and creative thinking.  The men and women who served in Vietnam were constantly presented with life and death situations requiring quick thinking and challenging problem solving abilities.  This activity will help students develop their abilities in critical thinking, creative thinking, and teamwork skills.  The students will also see that developing these skills has real-life application.
 

Activity:  Read the problem to the students.  Have the students break up into small groups and have them discuss their problem solving ideas.  Listen to their thought processes and discussions and help them through the problem solving process.  After a predetermined amount of time, have the various groups share their ideas.  Have an open discussion about each idea and encourage the students to consider the positive and negative attributes of each proposal.  At the end, read the actual event and compare it to the students’ ideas.

Option:  You may wish to give the students very little time to come up with their solution, which would more closely resemble actual events and would show the students that practice with problem solving will help them when quick decisions are necessary.

Note:  Show the students in advance the basics of how a land mine works.

Extension:  Research land mines.  Why are they used?  How do they work?  How many are believed to still be buried in Vietnam?  How many are believed to be buried in other countries?  How many people a year are hurt by land mines?  What recent Nobel Peace Prize winner dealt with land mines?  What was Princess Diana’s involvement with land mines?

While walking along a path near Pleiku, South Vietnam, a soldier suddenly realizes that he has stepped on a land mine.  The soldier knows that his foot is still on the plunger of the mine.  If he takes one more step, the plunger will raise, the mine will bounce about three feet in the air and explode, either killing or seriously wounding the soldier.  The soldier remains frozen and cries out for help.  You are nearby.  If the mine explodes, not only will the soldier likely be killed or wounded, but so too will you and other members of your squad.  You have to act quickly.  What would you do to solve this problem?

The following true story involving Harold “Light Bulb” Bryant is taken from:   Voices From Vietnam by Barry Denenberg.  (pp 76 - 77.)
 

     This infantry unit was on a little trail, west of Pleiku, makin’ a sweep towards the Ia Drang Valley.  This white dude had stepped on a mine.  And knew it.  He felt the plunger go down.  Everybody moved away from him, about twenty meters.  So they called for the engineers, and somebody asked for Light Bulb.

     I have a nickname from the streets of East St. Louis.  Light Bulb.  Came from a friend of mine when we were growing up, ‘cause he said I was always full of ideas.

     When I got there on the chopper, he’s been standin’ there for over an hour.  He really wasn’t in any panic.  He was very calm.  He knew if he alleviated any of the pressure, both of us would have got destroyed.

     I dug all around the mine with my bayonet and found out that it was a Bouncin’ Betty.  I told him I was gonna try to diffuse it.  But the three-prong primer on the Bouncin’ Betty had gotten in between the cleats on his jungle boots, so there wasn’t any way I could deal with it.  So I said let’s see if we could kind of change the pressure by takin’ his foot  out of his boot and me keepin’ the pressure by holding the boot down.  That way he could get out uninjured.  But when he started doin’ that, I thought I was seein’ the plunger rise, so I told him to stop.

     I guess maybe I’d been working with him for maybe an hour now.

     Then I got an idea.  I knew when the plunger would depress, the Bouncin’ Betty would bounce up about 3 feet and then explode.  So I got the other members of his team together, and I tied a rope around his waist.  And everybody, including me, moved off about twenty yards from the mine and him.  And when I counted to three, everyone would pull the rope and snatch him about 15 feet off the mine.  And it would bounce up its three feet and then explode.  And it did that.  And the only damage that he received was the heel of his jungle boot was blown off.  No damage to him.

     This was somethin’ they never taught us in school.
 
                                                                             -- Harold “Light Bulb” Bryant, U.S. Army