life expectancy of an infantry soldier in vietnam life expectancy of an infantry soldier in vietnam

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. Grab some friends and go outside. We were discussing the different units and dangers of each. He pulled the company into a perimeter and dispatched 4th Platoon to recon the trail to the west, while 1st Platoon performed a similar mission to the east-southeast. happened. Rarely do we examine war through the unique bond between a man and his weaponin this case the M60 machine gun. So I guess i lasted longer than I was supposed to. John Doever Ever since that fateful day in 1967, I have often wondered what became of my beloved M60. What is the life expectancy of Vietnam veterans? Now, to calmly answer your question, air strikes have actually been an efficient technique used by us for years now. I remember hearing a Lieutenant (Kennedy) say to one of his two platoon RTOs My RTO is Foxtrot Uniform. 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. Posterior Thigh _____ 4. I traveled to Fort Lewis, Washington, and trained there for 10 months before deploying to Vietnam as specialist 4. 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. (many of the Soviet casualties were POWs, though). If the NVA shot at the group retrieving the bodies, I was to fire over the heads of the grunts and engage the enemy. Such as in the song Jimmy by M.I.A look at aaja in the dictionary My indian boyfriend told me is meaning come to me, 6 Answers I have never had or heard of that particular brand, but have had several here in Canada, plus a number in the Caribbean and Asia, and there all the same, small cut hot dogs in a can, no need q now please.. Name the major nerves that serve the following body areas:? As the entire platoon hit the ground, I saw guys crawling back toward me. After a couple of hours, the Viet Cong stopped shooting and melted back into the jungle. 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. 1st Platoon, C Company, 2nd Battalion 327th Infantry. Lucky you. Date: March 8, 2020 Author: pdoggbiker 97 Comments Photo above is of Stanley Kober with RTO, John Scheur. 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 . The Kb of pyridine, C5H5N, is 1.5 x 10-9. The average age of the men killed: 23.1 years. 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. The battalion was sending us to a village with a small river running through it. Welcome Home Brothers ! It was more or less next man up . Fact: Assuming KIAs accurately represented age groups serving in Vietnam, the average age of an infantryman (MOS 11B) serving in Vietnam to be 19 years old is a myth, it is actually 22. Interesting but something is missing. African Americans played a prominent role in the Vietnam War. An NVA soldier had evidently spotted the gun and waited patiently for me to stick my head up. Nixon Presidential Papers. Cause-specific . My friend May, I later learned, was doing the same thing in 2nd Platoon. Activated in 1915, as the 173rd Infantry Brigade, the unit saw service in World War II but is best known for its actions during the Vietnam War. He said fighting was especially deadly in the war-torn city of Bakhmut, dubbed "the meat . It was on the Job Training ! It was a daily challenge to know who your real enemy was. NFS. The gas-operated, belt-fed gun had a maximum rate of fire of 550-650 rounds per minute. See my calculation below in the comments bogus indeed. Thats why I never understand people talking about survivors guilt it should have been me, why him? etc. Both my tours were in the Delta (IV Corps) where the only ground troops were regular ARVNs and RUFF/PUFFS. 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. I am one lucky SOB. located on the South End of, the Post. Ed, I was in a Grunt Platoon in Vietnam 70-71. I was a point man, M60 Gunner and squad leader. While traveling through the boonies the first few men were usually always shot first. As I made it back to the road I remember seeing the 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). Dont know why, but generally, their aircraft were not armed (door gunners, etc.). Welcome Home Roger. The CDC Vietnam Experience Study Mortality Assessment showed that during the first 5 years after discharge, deaths from suicide were 1.7 times more likely among Vietnam veterans than non-Vietnam veterans. 101st Airborne Division. 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. Re: Helicopter Crews (Medevac & Dustoff): To my knowledge, only the 1st Cav Medevac had M60s for protection. I wasnt aware that they kept life expectancy statistics. I was told to help carry one of the bodies. Thanks for the reply. Flipping the safety off, I scanned the jungle in front of me. Tumbling end over end, the canisters exploded in a white-hot fireball. 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. 1 gun! Everyone laughed. Had multiple Ks and Ws. Bloody May 1968 Mini TET. We soon learned that the NVA troops were very different from the local guerrillas we had fought around Tuy Hoa. 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 did worry about the strength of my flax vest. As of the current Census taken during August, 2000, the surviving U.S. Vietnam Veteran population estimate is: 1,002,511. (LogOut/ Sholly injured an ankle, and 1st Lt. Cary Allen took command of Company B. Thank God I made it. Carrying a dead man some 300 yards through thick jungle in 100-degree heat was extraordinarily difficult. I was stationed on 2 FSBs (8 & 175mm guns) west of Tay Ninh on the Cambodian boarder in the Ho Chi Minh trail and was wounded but nothing as bad as he was. I would carry when on ambush. Both served in A 2/18 1st Infantry Division For some reason, the written word of this article was somehow deleted and lost. The fact is that most machine gunners, RTOs, junior officers and other extremely dangerous jobs survived the war. In the few firefights and skirmishes we had with local VC, the gun always performed well. If it was 1941 and you were an average Soviet soldier, your life expectancy on the front line was days, not weeks, thanks to the ongoing german offence. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. As some said, averages are meaningless. We had been carrying machine guns for over seven months. I will always think/say, we had absolutely no reason for being in that place. Our battalion operated at a base camp near Tuy Hoa in Phu Yen province along the South China Sea from October 1966 to January 1967. Jimmy aaja, jimmy aaja. Staying alive was kinda of important. We observed the rules of the Geneva Convention while the bad guys had no interest in doing so. No combat assignments for another year of service in Vietnam or get out in about a month. The smell of those charred bodies, blackened and smoking from the napalm strike, is something I can never forget. I was still pondering the move to 4th Platoon when U.S. Air Force jets screamed over the treetops with canisters of napalm. 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? (You can unsubscribe anytime), The US Wings website is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) compliant and adheres to their standards for accessibility of the internet so people with disabilities can surf the web more easily & efficiently. Nervous, I set up my gun on the hill and loaded a new hundred-round belt. Suddenly, I heard my name shouted from the Company B command group. Still, militarily, the Tet Offensive was a total defeat of the Communist forces on all fronts. I know this is a standard cliche, but it is so true, All gave some. 4. Different jobs have different life expectancy. Mi hermana se sorprende N-F C-F Cl-F F-F 2 Answers C-F is the most polar. He was killed in an ambush along with three others. Total fantasy. Love you Wortman!!!! 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 Some Brothers said why spend another year in this hellhole???? I think convoy truck drivers had one of the most dangerous job. Completa las oraciones con la forma correcta del presente de subjuntivo de los verbos entre parntesis.? Cluster F, SNAFU and FUBAR fer sur. We were very, lucky. 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). DeLong had only fired the weapon once in training, so I let him fire off a few rounds to practice. endstream endobj startxref Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Although the percent that died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. wmy:LsN{/^yzJ] 6.7>n-:FqOa#CW>ia?wt?Xa@ghCd bF)`Schl4*f. to the empployees was very informative. Anyway I was wondering about the RTOs in a grunt platoon, was that their MOS or were they 11B that carried a PRC ? Company B had seven dead, Grandstaff announced, and I was to take No. Found NVA bunker complex. Sgt. We all gotta die sometime, Red. SSgt Barnes, Platoon, its nothing to really concern yourself with, on a long enough time line everyones survival rate is 0%. 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. Bruce Grandstaff and my best friend, Sgt. Some were constantly exposed to combat, some not so often. When we reached Company A, we placed our dead in the center of the two-company perimeter. What were the life expectancies of soldiers during the VietnamWar? Some of my men didnt. I saw aircraft loaded with troops explode in mid-air. 82nd 2/505th. I told by RTO that i could carry my own radio, When he agreed he was humping ammo. For example, life expectancy of male and female Veterans with household incomes less than $20,000, at respectively. Papitto Opportunity Connections Mission: The Papitto Opportunity Connection (POC) is a private foundation dedicated to listening and working together with Rhode Islands BIPOC communities to empower and create individual success stories by investing in education, job skills training, and entrepreneurial ventures. Remember he wanted to reenlist for one more year in Vietnam. I couldnt disagree. Was No. Supported by a shoulder strap, No. where can i find red bird vienna sausage? Does this mean addressing to a crowd? Both served in A 2/18 1st Infantry Division. 4 Bill May and Spc. The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand stayed free of Communism because of the U.S. commitment to Vietnam. The Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files contains records of 58,220 U.S. military fatal casualties of the Vietnam War. Explore the Life of a U.S. Infantryman in Vietnam. 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. Not much different than his unit. 4314 0 obj <> endobj We then took all Trucks and equipment to the Port Of Saigon. There were two different groups that flew aeromedical evacuations. To cut the Ho Chi Minh Traila week after the mission endedthe trail was booming with business from the north.. Was a door gunner and crew chief for just shy of 18 months (I extended to get out early). In Vietnam, 1 in 400 of the wounded died of their . Lt lost a finger, same time. The rule of thumb was , any new guys would get the radio and keep it until another new guy came in. I carried the proc 26 radio after I was asked by my field 1st ( E 7 ) if I would for my platoon . Cruz quite a lot. 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. That was a hell of a responsibility to take on. 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. I was wounded 3 times during the 10 1/2 months I was in-country before being medevacd out in Apr of 68. The Regiment traces its lineage back to World War II. C Co, 1st-12th 66-67. At that time, an infantry company consisted of about 150 men. Sociologists Charles C. Moskos and John Sibley Butler, in their recently published book All That We Can Be, said they analyzed the claim that blacks were used like cannon fodder during Vietnam and can report definitely that this charge is untrue. AS LEADERS IN AMERICAS SERVICES WE MUST BE PROFICIENT AND READY TO ACCOMPLISH OUR MISSIONS- Umm..maybe its because we also learn from experience. Address: 561 E Hines Hill Road Hudson, Ohio 44236 Phone: 1-800-650-0659 / 330-655-5050 Fax: 330-653-3750 Email: [emailprotected], Retail Store Hours: Monday-Friday: 9am - 5pm EST Saturdays: 10am -3pm (Oct-Jan) Sundays: Closed. Hack received the Purple Heart for major combat injuries, and spent the rest of his military career as a recruiter for the US Army in Akron, Ohio. It was the silent power of the pig, I suppose. Or is it on display in a Hanoi museum so curious citizens of that city can inspect a weapon captured from American imperialists? Es ridculo que t ______ (tener) un resfriado en verano. Interesting, I carried a Prick 25, for 2 months. Before he was drafted Renza had worked as a hairdresser for women in his hometown of Peekskill, New York. Naturally I was excited at the opportunity to join Sanzone, but at the same time I hated leaving 2nd Platoons No. By the time we reached Vietnam in October 1966 I felt the gun had become a part of me. For example: 7*x^2. Five RTOs. Some unfortunately also came home with physical scars. News media have reported tha an American commander ordered the air strike that burned Kim Phuc.Those are incorrect. This was another example in the Vietnam War of an inaccuracy becoming the perceived truth. 1 Gun before my luck ran out. I was also told that the Radio did put a target on my back. MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. I was an Artillery Forward Observer 13F20 E-5 at that time. 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. Suddenly I realized that my platoon sergeant was screaming at me to stop firing. If anything went wrong, I could easily kill some of our soldiers. We wanted a break. We took fire all the time and responded. year old Marine thinking this is my last day on earth. The first man to die in Vietnam was James Davis, in 1961. Certainly got my attention. 76% of the men sent to Vietnam were from lower middle/working class backgrounds. 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. The Army suffered the most total casualties, 38,179 or 2.7 percent of its force. hmK#1+yNvA No. 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.. Although we do tend to bomb a lot, thats only half of what we do. Then I dropped back down in the streambed to organize our ammo. Artillery, and ground forces. Roger Loves you too, Im sure. said to me. Unable to reach Company A, my company pulled back, formed a perimeter and called in air and artillery support. Calculate the pH of a solution of 0.157 M pyridine.? Our 5th night there, the AMMO area started burning / blowing up. Nevertheless, I swung No. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. My heart was pounding out of my chest. Four platoons in a rifle company. Fact: Servicemen who went to Vietnam from well-to-do areas had a slightly elevated risk of dying because they were more likely to be pilots or infantry officers. 4 Charlie Ranallo, were on No. Our chase after the enemy unwittingly led us into a large ambush. 5 seconds. U.S. Wings is a manufacturer and a supplier. The dead were placed on ponchos. So I guess I defied the odds. I always found life expectancy numbers interesting in that I could never find any supporting information that could be validated. Of the . I picked up my M60 and walked to the center of the perimeter, where I found the company commander, Capt. (and yes, you cant ask them, so it would have to be derived from the AA-reports and survivors). Ambulances are not supposed to be armed (either) though in training, medics are told they and their vehicles will be a prime target. 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. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. Bravo, 3/187th Inf, 101st Airborne Div, 2nd Plt, 2nd Sq, Hamburger Hill, May 69. Enter the the Ksp expression forC2D3 in terms of the molar solubility x.? Great story!!! It didnt matter who you were or where you were. We ambushed and got ambushed, firebase got attacked who carried what or did what had no bearing. 58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who served. 11,465 of those killed were younger than 20 years old. They were lazy, cowardly and of questionable loyalty, especially the RUFF/PUFFS, and they would steal your under ware if given half a chance. In Company A, 22 men had been killedadded to the seven killed in Company B. 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. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Ha Ha always enjoyed being a volunteer! A soldier or Marine in Vietnam had a 98% chance of survival if he was evacuated within the first hour of being injured the best odds in the history of American warfare up to that time. Stop staring at your computer already, get up. I didnt want any medals. As of April 14, 2017, there are 1,611 Americans still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War across Vietnam (1,258), Laos(297), Cambodia(49), and China(7). 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. There were usually 3 man (At least 2) point teams. I packed my own radio and got a Thank you from his Mom. I pumped 200 rounds into that riverbank. 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. 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. Life expectancy at birth. https://open.spotify.com/show/5Th7BCpIKDE1hVTqNL3u0Q. I met a Marine a few years ago who was stationed North of Da Nang. They also struggled with logistical problems and the complex political situation in Vietnam. 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. I have a fried Who is killed in Vietnam six months before I got there cause of death was other how would I find out since his parents are long gone, Do a search for his name n Coffeltdatabase.org, Sir, would you mind me translating this into Spanish and getting it posted in our blog? 1 Gun used to kill Americans? Every mission, I had the same thought. I remember we were always short of replacements throughout 1968 because of the high Kia & wounded rate we suffered at that time ! THANKS! 1st Cav, 101st, etc. Approximately 70% of those killed in Vietnam were volunteers. My dog and I walked point my whole tour in Vietnam. The man listed as missing was machine gunner Joe DeLong, captured along with No. But I made it back in one piece. All of the next day, we could see SMOKE from the fire caused by the explosions of the AMMO at, the AMMO DUMP. They kept coming up the hill bringing more bodies to me until all seven had been found. Fact: 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. !We dont abuse prisoners Now, if he reaches for his weapon to continue the fight BLOW HIS ASS AWAY THIS AINT SUNDAY SCHOOL!!! We looked for cover and returned fire the best we could. Over 600 Navy FMF Hospital Corpsmen were killed in Vietnam. 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. 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. We gathered the casualties and set out for Company A. The average life expectancy of a Soviet soldier during the height of the battle was just 24 hours. Great reading. Vietnam War the helicopters that came in to transport soldiers were the hardest hit with mass casualties . Our home base was Quang Tri fire Base, But I spent about 6 months out at Mai Loc with the rig. This is not Vietnam where a machine gunners life expectancy was short because you had an entire army shooting at them. Wow I was 31.8 Gun shot Carried model 1200 Winchester shot gun WIA May 68 Article was great. 79% had a high school education or better. He served as a sergeant with the Big Red One in Lai Khe, Vietnam. We were expecting, an attack. Mech. July 68 to July 69. If you were an administrative officer or clerk in an air-conditioned trailer in Saigon, your war might be a lot like peacetime duty. 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. I worried about that kind of leadership style in the highlands. Both were infantry in WW2. From the Landing Zone, we were carried not too far. Robert Sholly, standing with Platoon Sgt. KICK ASS AS NEEDED!!! The other group of aeromedical evacuation were divisional, i.e. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. That means you lose five RTOs in 5 seconds. Over 900,000 patients were airlifted (nearly half were American). Your Dad and I had the same job. In our spare time we did medevacs and medcaps for the local communities and when required inserted SEALs . 4 Paul Domke, who carried extra belts of ammo and fed them into the gun. 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. waving then I realized they Werent shooting at him only at the We can all hold our heads high and be proud of our service. well i have been army infantry for 12 years with 2 deployments, and still going strong. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. I won a few times, and even when I did not I benefited from handling the gun under stress. The enemy fire ceased, and we made arrangements to collect our dead before continuing on to Company A. Point, slack and compass. Thats 390 per day. I served in A Company 3/22 of the 3rd Brigade 4th Infantry 12/66, then Hq Co 2/12 of the 3rd Brigade 25th Inf until the night of the TET offensive end of January 1968 and returned home July 18 1968. 10 1/2 months in the bush. I was an M-60 machine gunner for a battalion recon platoon in 1967, for the First Infantry Division, Known as The Black Scarf Battalion. Well, according to current mortality and morbidity statistics for the USright around 77.5 Years! In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. Still shaken, I grabbed the gun and crawled to the left inside the streambed. He said when they were ambushed they took defensive positions, returned fire, called for assistance when needed, and retreated when necessary. As we approached the battle, we heard intense firing. Sept 69 to Sept 70. Before I became a team leader on ambush and recon I was in command of the scout jeep for the 25th ID resupply convoy from January 1968 to June 15, 1968 and I found the resupply convoys a lot more dangerous because the enemy always knew where it would be and when. Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old. Love this analysis. They were also in a circular formation. 1: physical position (in the field / column) The NVA had wedged a blocking force between our company and Company A, preventing us from advancing any farther. 2: role (MOS?). BS but ia a way you are correct. Got hit inside 15 minutes, first ambush we walked up too. Fortunately, it was recorded on Spotify and can be listened to here: Thank you for both articles: (1)Going up river to port and (2) the flight from Italy back to Nam. The jungle seemed to want No. I was a grunt with c co. 4/31 196th it inf bade. Welcome home brothers and sisters. 1,713,823 of those who served in Vietnam were still alive as of August, 1995 (census figures). Also, it would mean the killed RTOs died within seconds of the fight (it doesnt distinguish between ambush or regular fight, eg. Lived too tell about it. 2 Gun to Ranallo. However, it was the discretion of the individual crewmen if they wanted to carry personal weapons or not. If the enemy was near, we never saw any. I was an Artillery Forward Observer with the Infantry. Take out the power center, youve got the edge. Most of us have memories of these kind of experiences. His best friend is 86 and still alive. I do remember when I got short I thought about it a lot more. I personally believe and agree with previous posts that when its your time, not much you can do.