Shermans had fairly thin armor (76mm at the thickest compared to a Tiger with 180mm at the thickest with most around 100mm). Ive always considered myself damn lucky to make it out alive. What is the life expectancy of Vietnam veterans? As a result, less than one percent of all Americans wounded, who survived the first 24 hours, died. Like you, I carried a PRC-25 for about 5 months and never got hit. It was an HONOR and a privilege to serve with these brave men for my 11 month tour. Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21 years old. I loved it. The planes doing the bombing near the village were VNAF (Vietnam Air Force) and were being flown by Vietnamese pilots in support of South Vietnamese troops on the ground. His comparison to a FB was that if we were fired on we returned fire and requested assistance when needed. Anyway I was wondering about the RTOs in a grunt platoon, was that their MOS or were they 11B that carried a PRC ? What the hell did you hit him with? one of our men shouted. The man listed as missing was machine gunner Joe DeLong, captured along with No. year old Marine thinking this is my last day on earth. Great information. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. (LogOut/ I remember we were always short of replacements throughout 1968 because of the high Kia & wounded rate we suffered at that time ! Phi Pow B.Sc (econ) in Economic History & Economics (college minor), London School of Economics and Political Science Author has 212 answers and 234.6K answer views 2 y Originally Answered: What soldier had the shortest life expectancy? As a Huey door gunner, when we left the ground on a mission, I always thought that this mission would be my last! General Westmoreland quoting Douglas Pike (a professor at the University of California, Berkeley), a major military defeat for the VC and NVA. As the entire platoon hit the ground, I saw guys crawling back toward me. A Co, 1/5 Cav, 1 Cav Division. Be glad you served with a soldiers soldier like LTC Herbert. In Company A, 22 men had been killedadded to the seven killed in Company B. As of the current Census taken during August, 2000, the surviving U.S. Vietnam Veteran population estimate is: 1,002,511. Amazingly, the NVA men then walked a short distance away, sat down and ate lunch. I did worry about the strength of my flax vest. I was constantly untangling the barrel and bipod of the gun from grasping vines and branches. Your email address will not be published. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. I do remember when I got short I thought about it a lot more. US Wings recently added to OTEXA's Made in U.S.A. My heart was pounding out of my chest. Both served in A 2/18 1st Infantry Division. Every mission, I had the same thought. I was a cmbt engr demolition specialist carried a 45 auto and an M70 grenade launcher in addition to the C-4 and Det Cord. In the few firefights and skirmishes we had with local VC, the gun always performed well. I had been shot in the back early in the battle and was lying behind a log with two other soldiers. As it was, less than 40 did not need evacuation. They also had a 12 gauge, and a M 79 grenade launcher and M 16. THE MAN I INHERITED THE GUN FROM WASNT SO LUCKY. sweep team,then I heard the choppers and they were blowing the hell out in the tree line then it just got so quiet like nothing In the 1st Cav medics were right behind the rto making them a very easy find also. No combat assignments for another year of service in Vietnam or get out in about a month. If you ask people who live in these countries that won the war in Vietnam, they have a different opinion from the American news media. His best friend is 86 and still alive. What unit lost the most soldiers in Vietnam? 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. My bud, Price took over as RTO. (LogOut/ Enter the the Ksp expression forC2D3 in terms of the molar solubility x.? %PDF-1.5 % 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). Photo above is of Stanley Kober with RTO, John Scheur. I had scary thoughts about myself humping the bush as a RTO, I was a real puny guy back then. a RTO got killed, it happened within 5 seconds but not that always ALL RTOs got killed. No. 10-4. Seattle, Washington(WA), 98106. Videos, Film, Music, and Movies about VN War, Author interview War & Life: Discussions with a Veteran, A Chat Between Three Veterans [live video with author], Lest We Forget Meet the Authors & Book Signing April 4th: Cherries and Donut Dolly, Interview with author John Podlaski in Examiner Magazine, American Heroes Radio interviews author of Cherries A Vietnam War Novel, Cherries Author Interviewed on British Website, U.K. Blogspot posts interviews author, John Podlaski, More Book Reviews and author interviews about Cherries, Les Scates, U.S. Army (Ret.) We were probably not too far away on that day. I personally carried 300 rounds of ammo at all times, one belt in the gun and two across my chest. 4. As far as I knew that was done in the whole battalion in 1968 . 1 Gun before my luck ran out. The fact is that most machine gunners, RTOs, junior officers and other extremely dangerous jobs survived the war. Veteran Owned Since 1986. Required fields are marked *. Soldiers also act in the mobilization of vehicles, weaponry, troops, and more. Well he didnt make it. The Statistics in the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF 11/93) show an average age of death much higher than that of news reports. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. Four platoons in a rifle company. Most of us have memories of these kind of experiences. Really no mention of the regular rifleman. _____ 1. 1 Gun and I survived our first firefight. Two of my closest friends in the company, Spc. So I guess I defied the odds. 2. I was a 2LT on Hamburger Hill and had 4 RTOs over a 7 day period (excluding the times I ended up carrying my own radio). As I made it back to the road I remember seeing the Both halves quickly swept toward the river to clear the village. 5 seconds. We all have opinions, this is mine. Ernest, Im glad that your first tour with the VN airborne was rewarding. The Tet Offensive succeeded on only one front and that was the News front and the political arena. My friend May, I later learned, was doing the same thing in 2nd Platoon. The enemy fire ceased, and we made arrangements to collect our dead before continuing on to Company A. "The Cotton Balers, damn fine Soldiers." The Battalion returned to Fort Benning on October 11, 1970 and was inactivated. Lived too tell about it. 1 Gun became my very best friend. It was a daily challenge to know who your real enemy was. According to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) there are now officially 58, 318 names on the wall. The helicopter provided unprecedented mobility. They were also in a circular formation. Thats my experience. Screaming Eagles! They were located, next to us, in/on Long Bhin Post. I was an Artillery Forward Observer 13F20 E-5 at that time. Army Infantrymen (11B) are the main land combat force, and known as "Eleven Bravo.". 1 Gun kept a lot of enemy heads down. Explore the Life of a U.S. Infantryman in Vietnam. "The Rangers pulled themselves over the top," President Ronald Reagan said of the men, in 1984. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. The oldest man killed was 62 years old. I was in the AF a Reo in a F4-C. Who had time to worry about the life When I was assigned to the M60 in advanced individual training, I decided that if I had to be a gunner I would learn everything there was to know about the weapon. Lt lost a finger, same time. He was killed in an ambush along with three others. Found NVA bunker complex. Enemy fire greeted as us as soon as we landed near the village. (tirotactico.net). We killed a lot of the enemy but we took few serious casualties. Sure but so was everyone else who went 12 months without getting killed or wounded. Mi hermana se sorprende N-F C-F Cl-F F-F 2 Answers C-F is the most polar. In the last 5 years the symptoms of PTSD and AO are starting getting worse in me. Both served in A 2/18 1st Infantry Division. Soldiers from 2nd Platoon, Company C, 87th Infantry Regiment, walk on patrol north of the Long . Our Aussie Dust off choppers had door gunners, we worked on the theory if the Noggies would shot at Red Cross choppers, we would return fire, Aussie grunt, 60000 00 Aussies fought in Vietnam, Up the Old Red Rooster and more beer. The NVA had wedged a blocking force between our company and Company A, preventing us from advancing any farther. The Indonesians threw the Soviets out in 1966 because of Americas commitment in Vietnam. 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975. Mech. We could not see any enemy soldiers, but we could see smoke coming from their weapons through the trees. The next three weeks passed uneventfully. Staying alive was kinda of important. From Cam Rahn, we kept flying north to, a Landing Zone near QUANG TRI. Amen I was a machine gunner for 7 months 503rd infantry 173rd airborne and you hit the nail right on the head. Two of my classmates were killed within 2 weeks incountry and three wounded I know of. Welcome home!! Thanks for the reply. Originally I went to the 543d TC. Fact: No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. Thanks. Correct. 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. The Regiment traces its lineage back to World War II. Were talking averages, obviously so, an RTO, with an expectancy of 5 seconds (!) Appx: 6 months in, all of the 543d TC joined forces with the 572d TC. An interesting essay, even more interesting are the comments. I saw killed and wounded everywhere in our combat operations. But, once the enemy lays down his weapon, I want YOU TO REMEMBER THREE THINGS: 1, HE IS A SOLDIER, JUST LIKE YOU.2, HE IS AWAY FROM HOME And family, just like you. B)Enter the the Ksp expression forC2D3 in terms of the molar solubility x. Jimmy aaja -M.I.A. The last American troops departed in their entirety 29 March 1973. Can I use this word like this: The addressal by the C.E.O. Everyone in the company hit the dirt. No. (LogOut/ means: 1 gets killed the 1st second, another one after 9 seconds avg. Just published my book The Last Goodbye by John Fratangelo, available on line on Barnes and Noble and Amazon Prime Books, Getting great reviews. To my surprise, I qualified as an expert with the M60 machine gun, nicknamed the pig because of the size, weight and sound of the weapon. Nevertheless, I swung No. where can i find red bird vienna sausage? HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. The two platoons were to advance no more than 200 yards from the main body of the company. We did interdictions, blocks and other fun things on the river. When Apache Snow began, I was an RTO, after Airborne, and before the CA on Dong Ap Bia, I became the AG for Roeski. I couldnt disagree. Startled, I quickly pointed my M60 at them. BS but ia a way you are correct. An interesting comment I had. For example, life expectancy of Veterans at age 25 population, thus 3.6 and 0.5 life-years smaller income differentials for male and female Veterans, respectively, shown in Tables 17 and 18. Artillery, and ground forces. . In fact, after the 5-year post-service period, the rate of suicides is less in the Vietnam veterans group. 2 Gun team, Ranallo and May, without any support. Here is an 18 As I carried a PRC25 radio for over seven-months in the > Nam, I was curious to find out what I did RIGHT to surv >, One MOS I figured was a sure short timer was POL{Fuel} Truck Driver. I was told to show the new guy how to use it properly. They were all up there scanning the terrain and looking for signs. I for one commend you for your courage and thank you for your service to your country. Ambulances are not supposed to be armed (either) though in training, medics are told they and their vehicles will be a prime target. None of the enlisted grades have an average age of less than 20. He decided to stay even though he had a deep feeling he wasnt going to make it. I pumped 200 rounds into that riverbank. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Roger Loves you too, Im sure. As some said, averages are meaningless. hb```8fB cBLd2>Tb jz1@E; aK6Tmc.Nn"&gn7hj'wm,h d6p4u0`&88:,TMV& y@ b=e>a&^ >{2b`ZHE3psn QZ Our 5th night there, the AMMO area started burning / blowing up. As a point of reference, Patterson explained that combat troops in World War II, on average, spent 36 days in a combat environment; the average infantryman in Vietnam spent 245 days in constant. 1 Gun over my shoulder, grabbed a corner of a poncho and stumbled off with three other soldiers. Comments were more interesting than the article it self. If it was your day to get hit or die, it happened. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Units would send a thorough report of their KIA and WIA, battle action coordinates, estimated enemy troop strength, enemy unit KIA/captured and any known direction heading. February 5 th, 1967, Galiano was headed to Saigon, Vietnam with 90 fellow Americans on an Air Force c-131, but orders were quickly altered . This has been going on for about a week Every time I try to watch a video on Youtube from my laptop I get instantly redirected to "gslbeacon.ligit.com." Very Good , I was a radio operator up in I corps in 68 & to me the worst thing was the walking . I DISAGREETHE ENEMY WOULD SHOOT THE GUY NEXT TO THE RTO-KNOWING HE WAS THE COMMANDER. I applaud the courage and difficult and all so dangerous job of Roger Herforth when he served as an RTO for the Hawk Recon Platoon of the 101st airborne division in Vietnam.. Id had a premonition, and asked the LT to let me trade off to become the AG. 99% of infantry men will currently live to die of natural causes. Do the math. Two points: 1) at least in Army units, Medevacs (dust offs) flew unarmed aircraft. Your email address will not be published. This is excellent! Fighters and planes dont make up the Army, thats the Air Force. Here are statistics from the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF) as of November 1993. I couldnt see DeLong and didnt know if No. It was just north of Saigon. We took fire all the time and responded. Contents 1 Unclear objectives 2 North Vietnamese strategy I am 81 now and survived the encounter by terminated the sniper. meaning what is the chance of me getting killed in combat. How old are Vietnam vets now? . Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old. Thanks for posting! We can all hold our heads high and be proud of our service. I am proud to have fought alongside of them. Each company had eight M60s. We were about 700 yards east of Company A when it was ambushed by an NVA battalion. Suddenly, I heard my name shouted from the Company B command group. I was to have that experience two more times before it was over. HOOAH!!! We were in2dBn 503d . At age 55, World War 2 Veterans Our home base was Quang Tri fire Base, But I spent about 6 months out at Mai Loc with the rig. As we approached the battle, we heard intense firing. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. 1 Gun was firing. When we reached Company A, we placed our dead in the center of the two-company perimeter. S/F, There were no door gunners on dustoffs. And dug Berms, in the area. There were two different groups that flew aeromedical evacuations. You can find the polarity of a compound by finding electronegativities (an atoms desire for an electron) of the atoms; Carbon has an electronegativity of 2.5, compared to Fluorines A) Enter the the Ksp expression for the solid AB2 in terms of the molar solubility x. 4322 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<4E412331B845E54EBDFDC79FA0627A18>]/Index[4314 16]/Info 4313 0 R/Length 65/Prev 560501/Root 4315 0 R/Size 4330/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. Over 600 Navy FMF Hospital Corpsmen were killed in Vietnam. The fact that PDoggbiker cant find any decent calculation/explanation, tells us a lot. What was the average life expectancy of a soldier in Vietnam? We had been carrying machine guns for over seven months. The income differentials in life expectancy for Veterans in 2011-14, however, are estimated to be smaller. well i have been army infantry for 12 years with 2 deployments, and still going strong. Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be in prison only one-half of one percent of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes. The other group of aeromedical evacuation were divisional, i.e. They also struggled with logistical problems and the complex political situation in Vietnam. 99% of infantry men will currently live to die of natural causes. If you were an administrative officer or clerk in an air-conditioned trailer in Saigon, your war might be a lot like peacetime duty. Of the eight who remained, seven were wounded. The rolling fire burned everything to the ground and undoubtedly killed scores of NVA. Three-fourths had family incomes above the poverty level; 50% were from middle income backgrounds. Point was the safest place to be,they knew to wait for key elements, RTO, Medica, M60 Gunners. As soon as he did, a round hit him in the forehead, blowing out the back of his skull. said to me. He served as a sergeant with the Big Red One in Lai Khe, Vietnam. Yes, I made E4 at graduation, that was considered a NCO then. I just wanted to get off No. Fact: The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. Some unfortunately also came home with physical scars. Also , it I might add that the, Government big wigs, have a quota [percentage]of a lot of the Military equipment etc that had a certain amount of time to function until it was disable, blow up, wrecked, junk, etc. Vietnam War soldiers endured many hardships and faced many problems. Terrified, I dropped down as fast as I could, pulling the gun and two ammo belts of 100 rounds apiece on top of me as I fell back into the dry streambed. Isolated atrocities committed by American Soldiers produced torrents of outrage from anti-war critics and the news media while Communist atrocities were so common that they received hardly any media mention at all. %%EOF We wanted a break. Welcome home brothers and sisters. I think the number of Army and Hospital Corpsmen serving with the Marine Corp was very high, with the ratio of the number of them over there. Over the next two months, we exchanged fire with groups of the NVA. Ron. Proudly holding my M60 over my head, I screamed at the top of my lungs, No. I was also told that the Radio did put a target on my back. RIP KOOKIE forever young, Thank god you are still alive, I am age 77. I agree with all of the comments, however I would add Tunnel Rats to the group I was one and saw many of my friends die in those tunnels I was very fortunate or very lucky and was never a lead but was at the tail end. 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. . When the Company B units that landed on the opposite side of the river got to the bank, some troops reached in and pulled the enemy from the water. The Organization of the Viet Cong Units in the South never recovered. In January 1967, the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry, was airlifted to Pleiku province in the Central Highlands. It doesnt make any sense statistically/mathematically it is impossible. I am convinced the same NVA soldier who shot at me moments before had killed my good friend, a budding doo-wop singer from Long Island, New York. See you in the next life!!!!! The casualty rate in the current war today is a fraction. I was one of the lucky ones I came home without a physical scratch. Never knew they had life expectancy stats. We were told in training that the life expectancy of a machine gunner was about seven seconds from the moment the first round was fired. Their personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent. 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 It called for release of all U.S. prisoners, withdrawal of U.S. forces, limitation of both sides forces inside South Vietnam and a commitment to peaceful reunification. 1 Gun had registered its first kill. 2 tour Nam Vet, The Navys First Vietnamese Admiral Saw His Family Killed by an Infamous Viet CongGuerrilla, The Navy's First Vietnamese Admiral Saw His Family Killed by an Infamous Viet Cong Guerrilla, A Day in the Life of an Infantry Point Man in Vietnam, The Story behind the famous Saigon Execution Photo. I was wasting ammo and didnt even have a target! On the morning of March 22, 1967, companies A and B of my battalion began a search-and-destroy operation along the Cambodian border. (and yes, you cant ask them, so it would have to be derived from the AA-reports and survivors). I had yet to fire a shot with No. For example, life expectancy of male and female Veterans with household incomes less than $20,000, at respectively. endstream endobj 4315 0 obj <>/Metadata 89 0 R/Pages 4312 0 R/StructTreeRoot 120 0 R/Type/Catalog>> endobj 4316 0 obj <>/MediaBox[0 0 612 792]/Parent 4312 0 R/Resources<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> endobj 4317 0 obj <>stream The Army suffered the most total casualties, 38,179 or 2.7 percent of its force. Non-divisional aeromedical evacuation units went by the callsign DUSTOFF. He also worked on Jacqueline Kennedys hair pieces and wigs. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. It was an honor indeed to serve with some of the finest soldiers I have ever met. The casualty rate in the current war today is a fraction. I know this is a standard cliche, but it is so true, All gave some. The average life expectancy of a Soviet soldier during the height of the battle was just 24 hours. Sept 69 to Sept 70. I was sitting on the ground one day trying to dry out my gear and better configure my ruck when my squad leader came walking over to me and said, Gow, youve got the radio. As he turned and walked away! 1: physical position (in the field / column) 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. We were expecting, an attack. All of the next day, we could see SMOKE from the fire caused by the explosions of the AMMO at, the AMMO DUMP. I was on a radar crew and we were told that, during war time, we would most likely be killed within minutes. https://open.spotify.com/show/5Th7BCpIKDE1hVTqNL3u0Q. Shea's gallantry in action at the cost of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon . In Vietnam, 1 in 400 of the wounded died of their . I quit trying to make sense of all the numbers that have been generated about Vietnam. May they rest in peace. The 4th Platoon survivors stayed put for the night. US Wings is a veteran-owned business and an official supplier to the US Military. I was a REMF but Ive heard of 05Cs that were stuck out in the boonies on a firebase. This is not Vietnam where a machine gunners life expectancy was short because you had an entire army shooting at them. The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall): Average age of 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years. Also, it would mean the killed RTOs died within seconds of the fight (it doesnt distinguish between ambush or regular fight, eg. I was in 2nd Platoon and carried the platoons No. And yes, please God, bless America. I carried the PRC-25 for most of a year. We do have infantry (why do you think we have that MOS? 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.
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