July 68 to July 69. Thank God I made it. The average life expectancy of a front-line soldier in eastern Ukraine is four hours, a Marine said. my left and saw this rice paddie farmer and his ox and I was trying to motion him to get down he just looks at me and starts Back home he returned to hairdressing and got a job at Kenneth Salon in New York City working with top models and fashion magazine editors. Its not all written down. Great information. As I made my way to the river, I saw a VC guerrilla jump into the water on the other side. Different jobs have different life expectancy. If you look at all of the things the radio operators were tasked with, it becomes abundantly clear why commo guys weren't expected to last long. See my calculation below in the comments bogus indeed. He then said that they were generally on patrol moving through their area, both attacking and being attacked depending if the VC knew their location. The group found the first man killed and carried him up the hill, placing his body right next to me. Often as not he was right beside you with a stolen chicken and a bag of rice. I think what is missing is the fact that the life expectancy of those firing at us was much shorter than those that they were firing at. I was drafted on Nov. 10, 1965, and assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. Point, slack and compass. The Vietnam War gave us trouble because we didnt know how to counteract against guerrilla warfare in a jungle (dont forget that the US Army was switching to M16s, which often jammed). https://www.historynet.com/no-1-gun-an-m60-machine-gunner-in-vietnam-tells-his-story/, Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot, When 21 Sikh Soldiers Fought the Odds Against 10,000 Pashtun Warriors, Few Red Tails Remain: Tuskegee Airman Dies at 96. Had multiple Ks and Ws. Welcome Home Brothers ! Thats my experience. I was an Infantry Scout Dog handler. We fought to an agreed stalemate. I remember hearing somewhere about an RTO who wasnt getting the info out correctly and the Lieutenant (Kennedy) grabbed the mic and said My RTO Is Foxtrot Uniform. 97% of Vietnam Veterans were honorably discharged. As a Huey door gunner, when we left the ground on a mission, I always thought that this mission would be my last! Then the tempo changed suddenly and violently. 1 Gun was firing. According to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) there are now officially 58, 318 names on the wall. by Zita Ballinger Fletcher 1/18/2022. At this time- senior Army leadership ordered us all to read the Geneva Convention to our troops because of the My Lai debachle. 240 men were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. Lt lost a finger, same time. A former expert with the M60 machine gun shares his experiences wielding the fearsome weapon in Vietnam. Explore the Life of a U.S. Infantryman in Vietnam. No. I applaud your courage as I know an RTOs job is essential, difficult (carrying the weight of his radio transmitter, his rifle, his ammo, and his rucksack), and dangerous as the enemy surely wanted to knock out any communications for support. The Army suffered the most total casualties, 38,179 or 2.7 percent of its force. How Many Vietnam War Veterans Are Still Alive? In total, the 7th Infantry spent four years in Vietnam. If you would like to get a copy, and cant find it, let me know, and I will make sure you get one. My 31-months in-country was in three Direct Support US Army aviation units, 15TC BN, First Cav, 335TH, Americal and 17TH Cav 101ST ABD65-71In the last battle I was directly involved, LAM SON 719, into Laos, cost army aviation units over 600-helicopters shot down or battle damagedthe NVA were waiting for our SECRET mission in early 71I was glad to go home at battles end, in March 71 , almost unscathed, I was TDY for my absurd third tourTo the point, many ARVN Rangers, airborne and their other best died in Lam Son 719US Army Infantry were forbidden entry to Laos in 71.. the ARVN were massacredand many US Army pilots and crew mambers were KIA & WIAeven MIA. Spanish Help I had to rely on my gun more than before. I always felt that Infantry units were in more danger because of ambush issues and no permanent defensive structures. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. 10 1/2 months in the bush. AS LEADERS IN AMERICAS SERVICES WE MUST BE PROFICIENT AND READY TO ACCOMPLISH OUR MISSIONS- Id had a premonition, and asked the LT to let me trade off to become the AG. In Vietnam, 1 in 400 of the wounded died of their . I will always think/say, we had absolutely no reason for being in that place. The Vietnam War was the first American war in which Black and White troops were not formally segregated, and even saw significant growth in the number of African Americans engaged in battlefield combat, [1] though some de facto segregation still occurred. Vietnam Veterans were the best educated forces our nation had ever sent into combat. "And in seizing the firm land at the . ), special forces, combat support, engineering, medics, and vehicle assault weapons. 5 Answers There is no word like addressal. endstream endobj startxref Jimmy aaja, jimmy aaja. I quit trying to make sense of all the numbers that have been generated about Vietnam. How old are Vietnam vets now? Welcome home brothers and sisters. If it had been up to me, I would have awarded my gun the CIB too. Was No. 4 Paul Domke, who carried extra belts of ammo and fed them into the gun. 4 Answers aaja Come. The Organization of the Viet Cong Units in the South never recovered. My shit got weak and a sniper popped three rounds in my young ass. As the entire platoon hit the ground, I saw guys crawling back toward me. A typical Patrol Boat River (PBR) was about 31 feet long and had twin 50s forward an M 60 midships and a 50 aft. to the empployees was very informative. Average age of men killed: 23.1 years Total Deaths: 23.11 years Enlisted: 50,274; 22.37 years Officers: 6,598; 28.43 years Warrants: 1,276; 24.73 years E1: 525; 20.34 years Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old. A dense mass of elephant grass hung over the riverbank, and he ducked under it. EACH OF US CARRIES OUR OWN MEMORIES AND THEY RUN THE GAMUT. The machine gun was also mounted in the UH-1 Huey helicopter and other Army aircraft. Photo above is of Stanley Kober with RTO, John Scheur. His best friend is 86 and still alive. In Vietnam 70% 0f the casualties were Infantry BUT it might be 70% of ALL the Infantry that served in Vietnam. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star in 1974. In a strange country scared shitless .I was a minesweeper.My first time out on a mission they put me on the drag line fifty yards from the road which was route 1, Then all hell broke lose I was to have that experience two more times before it was over. Diaphragm _____ 3. Its just (bad) luck, fate, randomness theres no right or wrong, no justice or fairness, no reasoning. HOOAH!!! estimated education differentials in life expectancy for Veterans in 2011-14 are close to those of U. S. population in 1979-89. As an infantry platoon Sgt of a platoon made up of all draftees my age 21 plus or minus a year We fought the largest single one day battle of the war March 21, 1967 known as the Battle of Soui Tre, fire support base Gold operation Junction City, that base was commanded by LtCol John Vessey of the 2/77 FA Vessey was a 25 year veteran of WWII fame with a DSC at Anzio, and on this day he was looking at the end of his career after that tour in Vietnam. Men and women die everyday. Out of the 3,000,000 men and women in our armed forces and reserves, we have lost 4,500 in this 9 year war. I was a grunt with c co. 4/31 196th it inf bade. Totally bogus. 74% say they would serve again, even knowing the outcome. This article appeared in the October 2021 issue of Vietnam magazine. An infantry platoon commander in combat had an average of 6 weeks life expectancy. Interesting reading. Some 23% of Vietnam vets had fathers with professional, managerial The two platoons were to advance no more than 200 yards from the main body of the company. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. As I made it back to the road I remember seeing the So I guess I defied the odds. Soldiers also act in the mobilization of vehicles, weaponry, troops, and more. Welcome Home Roger. General Vo Nguyen Giap, the designer of the Tet Offensive, is considered by some as ranking with Wellington, Grant, Lee and MacArthur as a great commander. You were a Great RTO. I kept the radio because I understood the power of having the first communication with the support mechanisms of the military. Despite initial victories by the Communists forces, the Tet Offensive resulted in a major defeat of those forces. Thank You General Vessey for the almost 53 years I have lived since that day. The 140,000 evacuees in April 1975 during the fall of Saigon consisted almost entirely of civilians and Vietnamese military, NOT American military running for their lives. Appx: 6 months in, all of the 543d TC joined forces with the 572d TC. When Roeski got hit, I took over the M-60. Grab some friends and go outside. Tumbling end over end, the canisters exploded in a white-hot fireball. When I popped back up to put out some automatic fire, a bullet whizzed by my earno more than an inch from my headand slammed into the tree next to me, shattering the bark. Five RTOs. It may not have worked for some other wars, but they were pretty helpful. But I made it back in one piece. Out of thousands of men that invaded that town in southern Afghanistan, we have lost 19. The average man who fought in World War II was 26 years of age. The Bn & Company I was assigned to, was on the last row of Bldgs. 2,709,918 Americans served in uniform in Vietnam. The enemy fire ceased, and we made arrangements to collect our dead before continuing on to Company A. Without that commitment, Communism would have swept all the way to the Malacca Straits that is south of Singapore and of great strategic importance to the free world. 15 May he was killed by friendly fire, and a host of us were WIA, myself included. I think convoy truck drivers had one of the most dangerous job. Sure but so was everyone else who went 12 months without getting killed or wounded. Here are statistics from the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF) as of November 1993. https://open.spotify.com/show/5Th7BCpIKDE1hVTqNL3u0Q. 1 Gun. we were getting it with machine gun and mortars. The answer that we have always been given is that 1 year in the Infantry is equivalent to 3 years of hard labor. We were all in our Bunkers, and at the ready with our weapons. For example, life expectancy of male and female Veterans with household incomes less than $20,000, at respectively. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. I was already lugging around a 24-pound weapon, 300 rounds of ammo and a pack that weighed a good 45 pounds. The Vietnamese pilot who dropped the napalm in error is currently living in the United States. 1ST MAW 66-68. What percentage of Vietnam veterans actually saw combat? Fighters and planes dont make up the Army, thats the Air Force. This is not Vietnam where a machine gunner's life expectancy was short because you had an entire army shooting at them. The man listed as missing was machine gunner Joe DeLong, captured along with No. An NVA soldier had evidently spotted the gun and waited patiently for me to stick my head up. I didnt make a move without that gun beside me. 1 Gun over my shoulder, grabbed a corner of a poncho and stumbled off with three other soldiers. Around 3 p.m., when Grandstaff realized we were about to be overrun, he called in artillery right on top of our location. I had been shot in the back early in the battle and was lying behind a log with two other soldiers. Without the helicopter it would have taken three times as many troops to secure the 800 mile border with Cambodia and Laos (the politicians thought the Geneva Conventions of 1954 and the Geneva Accords or 1962 would secure the border).
