“Yes, there were elephants in Vietnam and they occasionally interfered with combat operations. “
Man, I’d hate to go up against a pissed off elephant with only a 5.56mm. It might be hard to explain using a LAW to the C.O., but I’d take the chance.
Actually, elephants are rather easily killed with the 5.56, and Asian elephants aren’t known to attack humans without cause (threatening their young). Where they posed a danger was when they were frightened they would panic and run, and if you were in the way, you got stepped on. I know of one man who was killed while lying beside a trail in an ambush position, and when the ambush was triggered a nearby elephant panicked, ran through the ambush, stepped on him, and killed him.
You can read more about Vietnam’s elephants in the story “My Valley” on this website: http://projectdelta.net/dry_hole.htm