Interesting topic subject.  I like to read stuff like this.  Thanks for sharing. 

As a kid my friends and I would build little booby traps and some of the simplest things like digging a hole putting cardbaord over it and putting the dig out back on top of it was very effective.  We felt bad about it though because one of the neighborhood kids rode his bike over it and you can imagine what happened next.

I know that they were known for their top notch guerilla tactics and were very effective soldiers even though they were outmanned and outgunned.  

Or maybe an academic interest in the study of guerrilla warfare in recnt history?

The article explains the reason why the VC used brutal methods which were able to be constructed without the use of the more “sophisticated” methods and costly equipment that America and the South had access to. And in the long run the methods of the impoverished warriors were very effective in defeating the invading Americans and Australians.

I remember a friend who spent his (conscripted) army time in prison rather than take part in this filthy war.

The "filthy" aspect of the war was the Jєω Commies in the Defense and State Departments and media who sabotaged efforts to assist the CATHOLIC regime of Ngô Đình Diệm.

If I recall correctly this was also the motivation behind Rwanda Genocide.  Can't have a Catholic African kingdom so they did what they did.  

More on topic...the other things the traps did was tie up the Americans either dying from or disarming their traps and this gave the VC more and more time to do other things.  When soldiers were either busy being incapacitated, split up, medics trying to patch them up, or looking for disarming the traps, it allowed a divide and conquer strategem for the VC.