BLU.

This is coolbert:

From that account of Jack Smith "Death in the Ia Drang Valley, November 13-18, 1965" courtesy of "The Saturday Evening Post", 28 January 1967 and as seen by the man at Ia Drang LZ X-Ray, American Skyraider USAF aircraft providing close-air-support [CAS] to those American forces on the ground:

"a couple of our Skyraiders came in. One of them dropped a lot of stuff that shimmered in the sun like green confetti. It looked like a ticker-tape parade, but when the things hit the ground, the little pieces exploded. They were antipersonnel charges"

That lot of stuff as dropped [dispensed] by the Skyraiders having very lethal consequences for the North Vietnamese soldiers in contact with the American troops at X-Ray. Sub-munitions not properly identified but reasonably thought to have been of the BLU-3 or BLU-18 variety? Bomblets the "Sandy" dropping by the hundreds from a dispenser over the battlefield, each and every bomblet lethal for a considerable radius!

1. BLU-3. "BLU-3 Pineapple was a cluster bomblet, 360 were deployed from the CBU-2A cluster bomb. It was used extensively in the Vietnam War by American forces. It was named 'Pineapple' because of its appearance. On impact the bomblet explodes scattering 200 steel pellets at high speed."

"The BLU-3/B 'Pineapple' was a fragmentation bomblet for use against personnel and unarmoured targets. After release from the aerial dispenser, the bomblet was stabilized by six pop-out drag vanes. It detonated on impact, and dispersed 250 high-velocity steel pellets."

And NOT large in size, small, and green, resembling confetti, YES!

"Length: 95 mm (3.75 in); with vanes extended: 170 mm (6.7 in), Diameter: 70 mm (2.75 in)"

2. BLU-18. "The BLU-18/B was a dispenser-delivered anti-personnel fragmentation bomblet. It had two spring-loaded arming vanes, which extended after release from the dispenser. The bomblet rebounded after impact, and the impact-armed delay fuze therefore resulted in an air burst slightly above ground"

Similar to a "Bouncing Betty" type of land mine. Also not large, small, tiny even and green also!

"Dimensions (vanes in stored position): 46 mm x 61 mm x 61 mm (1.8 in x 2.4 in x 2.4 in)"

That American military able to bring to the Vietnam battlefield a level of firepower and destructiveness as NEVER POSSESSED BY THE FRENCH DURING THEIR WAR AGAINST THE VIET MINH! Even magnitudes in excess of what was available to the French during the First Indo-China War.

These BLU only two of several types of cluster bombs and bomblets as available to the USAF and of the type dropped [dispensed] at Ia Drang!!

coolbert.