life expectancy of an infantry soldier in vietnam

1 Gun. MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. If it was your day to get hit or die, it happened. The one that should be there is the combat medic. My friend May, I later learned, was doing the same thing in 2nd Platoon. Thats my experience. Often as not he was right beside you with a stolen chicken and a bag of rice. If anything went wrong, I could easily kill some of our soldiers. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. I was a medic on one for two yrs and the only weapon I was issue was a six-shot .38. Every mission, I had the same thought. A typical Patrol Boat River (PBR) was about 31 feet long and had twin 50s forward an M 60 midships and a 50 aft. 240 men were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. . 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. He also worked on Jacqueline Kennedys hair pieces and wigs. Name the major nerves that serve the following body areas? Some 23% of Vietnam vets had fathers with professional, managerial The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. At that time, an infantry company consisted of about 150 men. Im laying behind a rice paddie dike.I put my whole body as far down in the muck while the bullets were over my head. 8h%5HF8r,X'q#Vtgz%)P/Oi#rU(uO&*Xx1t^=xVLi I got shot on a mission with 45 days left. The gas-operated, belt-fed gun had a maximum rate of fire of 550-650 rounds per minute. Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old. 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. An infantry platoon commander in combat had an average of 6 weeks life expectancy. 1st Cav, 101st, etc. Cluster F, SNAFU and FUBAR fer sur. I for one commend you for your courage and thank you for your service to your country. Corrections and confirmations to this errored index resulted in the addition of 358 U.S. military personnel confirmed to have served in Vietnam but not originally listed by the Department of Defense (All names are currently on file and accessible 24/7/365). Supported by a shoulder strap, No. Two of my closest friends in the company, Spc. Well, according to current mortality and morbidity statistics for the USright around 77.5 Years! US Wings provides aviation apparel to the U.S. Government and commercial customers along with the general public. Why is my internet redirecting to gslbeacon.ligit.com and how do I STOP THIS. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. We can all hold our heads high and be proud of our service. I saw killed and wounded everywhere in our combat operations. Your Dad and I had the same job. You seen the enemy you shots him and vice versa. Posterior Thigh _____ 4. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I kept the radio because I understood the power of having the first communication with the support mechanisms of the military. happened. Point, slack and compass. Interesting reading. Ever since that fateful day in 1967, I have often wondered what became of my beloved M60. Vietnam War the helicopters that came in to transport soldiers were the hardest hit with mass casualties . I was an RTO for 9-1/2 months for Hawk Recon 2/327 101AB from dec, 1969 to sept 70. He served as a sergeant with the Big Red One in Lai Khe, Vietnam. 1 Gun onto a small hill and provide security while others retrieved them. Sure but so was everyone else who went 12 months without getting killed or wounded. Point was the safest place to be,they knew to wait for key elements, RTO, Medica, M60 Gunners. It didnt matter who you were or where you were. The average age of the 58,148 US Servicemembers killed in Vietnam was . 58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who served. Shortly before 11 a.m. on May 18, the point squad in Company Bs 2nd Platoon spotted three NVA soldiers walking on a trail near the Cambodian border and attempted to capture them, but the NVA dashed off into the jungle. Welcome Home Roger. They were great patriots fighting for their families and their homeland. In all that time, the Tet 1968 fighting in Saigon was the only time the unit fought a pitched urban battlevery unusual during the war. My first tour was as an advisor to the VN Abn. 23,24 This study found that the death rate for Vietnam veterans was 1.3 times that for non-Vietnam veterans; however, the excess deaths were limited to Engineer Corps members (RR, 2.5). Umm..maybe its because we also learn from experience. 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 handled Top Secret Commo on a daily basis. The enemy fire ceased, and we made arrangements to collect our dead before continuing on to Company A. Ernest, Im glad that your first tour with the VN airborne was rewarding. This article appeared in the October 2021 issue of Vietnam magazine. Expenditures for a body in a combat zone? The man with the carbine immediately dropped it, and the two VC surrendered. His body was torn to pieces. The last American troops departed in their entirety 29 March 1973. Hey Robert I was with the 38th Scout Dog Plt. 2. 1: physical position (in the field / column) HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. The average time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one hour. I was drafted on Nov. 10, 1965, and assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. Thanks for posting! Correct. .. Lived too tell about it. 79% had a high school education or better. Ordered to reinforce the unit, the Company B commander put our four platoons abreast of each other, and we marched west. Thats why I never understand people talking about survivors guilt it should have been me, why him? etc. By the time we reached Vietnam in October 1966 I felt the gun had become a part of me. Thanks for the reply. An infantry platoon commander in combat had an average of 6 weeks life expectancy. I also earned a Combat Infantryman Badge, signifying that I had been actively engaged in combat. Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some of those who were listed as missing in action). 2 Gun team, Ranallo and May, without any support. 4 Bill May and Spc. Carrying a dead man some 300 yards through thick jungle in 100-degree heat was extraordinarily difficult. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. Very interesting I carried theM 60 for 5 months that gun would cut down anything. None of the enlisted grades have an average age of less than 20. After every officer in our company was either killed or had serious wounds, our 1st Sgt , David McNerney took over the company and without his leadership, and knowledge of war, and unbelievable courage, our company would probably have been wiped out. I never saw any correlation as to what MOS a soldier was and their survival rate. An NVA soldier had evidently spotted the gun and waited patiently for me to stick my head up. The 4th Platoons single machine gun crewthe platoon had entered the fight short a gunhad been killed in the fighting, and I was to be moved there. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. Also: for years I have read those life-expectancy numbers never really understanding them, but also noting that they wildly vary. 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. S/F, There were no door gunners on dustoffs. Five RTOs. Both my tours were in the Delta (IV Corps) where the only ground troops were regular ARVNs and RUFF/PUFFS. The average age of the 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. meaning what is the chance of me getting killed in combat. Sometimes on Family Guy when there about to take someones heart out they say, calimar or maybe its spelled different. This is not Vietnam where a machine gunner's life expectancy was short because you had an entire army shooting at them. 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 . The blasts from the AMMO, really lit up the whole area. Look for the blue accessibility symbol floating on every page of our website and click on it to tailor your viewing experience to your particular disability. I was a REMF but Ive heard of 05Cs that were stuck out in the boonies on a firebase. Some gave all. Forget the statistics, we all had a job to do, we went where we were told. 76% of the men sent to Vietnam were from lower middle/working class backgrounds. Vietnam Veterans were the best educated forces our nation had ever sent into combat. Then he said youre on a FB, the enemy always knows your location, can pretty much attack at will, and you really dont have the capability to retreat. An Hinglish word (Hindi/English). Amen I was a machine gunner for 7 months 503rd infantry 173rd airborne and you hit the nail right on the head. Some were constantly exposed to combat, some not so often. Needless too say I depended on Sgt. I may not have hit anyone that day, but I am certain that No. 6 Answers They say Kali Ma Theyre referencing this scene from the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: What is the life expectancy of an army infantry soldier? "The Rangers pulled themselves over the top," President Ronald Reagan said of the men, in 1984. And I know what youre going to say, Because the American cs! Bullcrap!!!! The Department of Defense Vietnam War Service Index officially provided by The War Library originally reported with errors that 2,709,918 U.S. military personnel as having served in-country. In that time 4 us kia and 4 wounded. We (Americans) had nothing to do with controlling VNAF, according to Lieutenant General (Ret) James F. Hollingsworth, the Commanding General of TRAC at that time. Prayers for all. For example, life expectancy of male and female Veterans with household incomes less than $20,000, at respectively. Explore the Life of a U.S. Infantryman in Vietnam. What the hell did you hit him with? one of our men shouted. I carried the proc 26 radio after I was asked by my field 1st ( E 7 ) if I would for my platoon . Every single . A Marine on patrol crosses a rice paddy in Vietnam holding an M60 machine gun in 1966. I never thought of it that way before but have many times since. The average age of the 58,148 US Servicemembers killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years (CACF) Going backwards (Apr. Still, militarily, the Tet Offensive was a total defeat of the Communist forces on all fronts. An interesting comment I had. I worried about that kind of leadership style in the highlands. located on the South End of, the Post. I think convoy truck drivers had one of the most dangerous job. He was not the type to hump a radio. year old Marine thinking this is my last day on earth. The article was interesting. (LogOut/ Keep in step with US Wings Join our newsletter to receive all our latest news and offers, Example: Yes, I would like to receive emails from US Wings. I was wounded 3 times during the 10 1/2 months I was in-country before being medevacd out in Apr of 68. Our patrols were typically about 14 hours 24/7 We operated of old LSTs and large barges. As I made it back to the road I remember seeing the 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. 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. THANKS! It weighed 24 pounds, was 43.5 inches long and had bipod legs that folded down to stabilize the weapon when firing from a prone position. I was told to show the new guy how to use it properly. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_losses_of General Westmoreland quoting Douglas Pike (a professor at the University of California, Berkeley), a major military defeat for the VC and NVA. It was the silent power of the pig, I suppose. BUT WE MUST ALSO BE COGNIZANT OF OUR REQUIREMENT TO BE COMPASSIONATE HUMAN BEINGS. 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. Thats 390 per day. Total fantasy. I am 81 now and survived the encounter by terminated the sniper. I was an Artillery Forward Observer 13F20 E-5 at that time. I was a point man, M60 Gunner and squad leader. %%EOF Back in 1965, I was a door gunner on Medevac recovery operations. 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. The first thing my platoon sgt. According to the American War Library, as of February 28, 2019, it is estimated that approximately 610,000 Americans who served in land forces during the Vietnam War or in air missions over Vietnam between 1954 and 1975 are still alive to this day. We took fire all the time and responded. As a Huey door gunner, when we left the ground on a mission, I always thought that this mission would be my last! I was shot down on my very first mission in July 1968. The American military did not lose a battle of any consequence. It was a daily challenge to know who your real enemy was. It doesnt make any sense statistically/mathematically it is impossible. Two points: 1) at least in Army units, Medevacs (dust offs) flew unarmed aircraft. (Getty Images) Most war stories are about soldiers and battles. Stop staring at your computer already, get up. In the 1st Cav medics were right behind the rto making them a very easy find also. Theres 58,276. I met a Marine a few years ago who was stationed North of Da Nang. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. 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. 58,148 were killed in Vietnam, 75,000 severely disabled, 23,214 were 100% disabled, 5,283 lost limbs and 1,081 sustained multiple amputations. Arthur Parker and Spc. Because if only 1 RTO fought for say only 10 or 15 minutes before being killed, that would up the AVG for the total war! Ed, I was in a Grunt Platoon in Vietnam 70-71. Just to show that its hard to get an accurate number, note my typo of 56,220. No trees or anything on the ground. See also: Population 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 constantly untangling the barrel and bipod of the gun from grasping vines and branches. Their personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent. Wortman, another RTO never made it back to The World. African Americans played a prominent role in the Vietnam War. Change). 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. The key may be the word initial since we became more savvy with successive combats and had improved survivability. Sgt. I wasnt aware that they kept life expectancy statistics. See my calculation below in the comments bogus indeed. Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture, was Vietnamese. If you would like to get a copy, and cant find it, let me know, and I will make sure you get one. We had 5 kias and roughly 50 wounded in our company so about one in three got hit. I was on a radar crew and we were told that, during war time, we would most likely be killed within minutes. 4314 0 obj <> endobj 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.. We were all in our Bunkers, and at the ready with our weapons. My bud, Price took over as RTO. 87% of Americans hold Vietnam Veterans in high esteem. DeLong had only fired the weapon once in training, so I let him fire off a few rounds to practice. Sorry,I was one of your Brothers in Arms that helped talk you out of enlisting for another year in Vietnam. As mentioned, who kept track of that in the first place? As I was running to the rivers edge, ready to unload on the VC hiding in the elephant grass, I ran past a grass hut and never bothered to clear it. Commanders like him were few and far between many were afraid of their own shadow and were only there to get their ticket punched. They also had a 12 gauge, and a M 79 grenade launcher and M 16. 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. The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall): Average age of 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years. Then one hot, sunny day, while walking across rice paddies, we suddenly received small-arms fire from Viet Cong in some distant hills. 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 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. Thanks for the perceived loss and the countless assassinations and torture visited upon Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians goes mainly to the American media and their undying support-by-misrepresentation of the anti-War movement in the United States. Ha Ha always enjoyed being a volunteer! aND, mAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! 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. My father was on a lrrp team!65-67never was shot but killed alot.He never really got over it though died in 2012! Death by a Bottle! The peace settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. Your email address will not be published. 1 Gun became my very best friend. Our 5th night there, the AMMO area started burning / blowing up. In Company A, 22 men had been killedadded to the seven killed in Company B. I was to have that experience two more times before it was over. I am proud to have fought alongside of them. we were getting it with machine gun and mortars. Cause-specific . How could we lose a war we had already stopped fighting? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Address: 9241 13th Ave SW said to me. No. The rule of thumb was , any new guys would get the radio and keep it until another new guy came in. Nicknamed "the pig" due to its size, weight and sound, the gun struck fear into enemy troops. I remember hearing a Lieutenant (Kennedy) say to one of his two platoon RTOs My RTO is Foxtrot Uniform. We fought to an agreed stalemate. Express your answer in terms of x. If the enemy was near, we never saw any. Everyone in the company hit the dirt. Just published my book The Last Goodbye by John Fratangelo, available on line on Barnes and Noble and Amazon Prime Books, Getting great reviews. The next morning, the blasting could still be, heard.

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