Some Brothers said why spend another year in this hellhole???? The group found the first man killed and carried him up the hill, placing his body right next to me. The Kb of pyridine, C5H5N, is 1.5 x 10-9. Carried the prc25 for about 7 months. I spent 10 1/2 months in the jungles of Vietnam. Your article was quite interesting. In total, the United States military lost in Vietnam almost 10,000 aircraft, helicopters and UAVs (3,744 planes, 5,607 helicopters and 578 UAVs). 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. Now, the wisdom of this soldier tough but humanly compassionate warrior ethos can be assessed through the 2d Bn recordNO complaints about mistreatment of prisonerswhile achieving the most combat SUCCESSES IN THE BRIGADE. At Fort Lewis, every recruit learned to operate various weapons. Not long after the artillery barrage ended, the North Vietnamese swept through 4th Platoon and executed some of the survivors. The TOTAL number of CIB and CMB awarded would give you the answer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If it was your day to get hit or die, it happened. Name the major nerves that serve the following body areas? Database. Staying alive was kinda of important. I was a REMF but Ive heard of 05Cs that were stuck out in the boonies on a firebase. The answer that we have always been given is that 1 year in the Infantry is equivalent to 3 years of hard labor. 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). I was a 2nd Lt. Infantry platoon Leader. 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. He was with the 509th Radio Research Station. We had run patrols for about a month when I first saw action. RIght there and the NVA we were usually up against knew this. Suddenly I realized that my platoon sergeant was screaming at me to stop firing. If youre American (which you probably are), I could give a f***. . I loved it. The one number that is really important is 56,220 and we all know what that number represents. 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. Comments were more interesting than the article it self. Data based on the latest United Nations Population Division estimates. A typical Patrol Boat River (PBR) was about 31 feet long and had twin 50s forward an M 60 midships and a 50 aft. I was with HHC and 1st Platoon C Company in 70-71. 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. 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. What was the average life expectancy of a soldier in Vietnam? 1ST MAW 66-68. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. I was told to help carry one of the bodies. Arthur Parker and Spc. is sharing facts, thats truly good, keep up writing. 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! 10 1/2 months in the bush. I spent my year in Vietnam with the 1/22nd infantry part of the 4th division. He decided to stay even though he had a deep feeling he wasnt going to make it. Wortman, another RTO never made it back to The World. From the Landing Zone, we were carried not too far. However, Shermans were very outmatched by the German tanks on the field of battle. Umm..maybe its because we also learn from experience. During that same Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served was: 9,492,958. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. This is excellent! I was also told that the Radio did put a target on my back. There were usually 3 man (At least 2) point teams. The dead were placed on ponchos. 2) by my research, medics suffered 93% casualties with about 33% deaths. Robert Sholly, standing with Platoon Sgt. 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. Sgt. In 1973, Renza opened his own salon in Peekskill. Welcome home. Fact: The American military was not defeated in Vietnam. They were held in special regard after the Normandy landings, when 225 Rangers scaled cliffs at Pointe Du Hoc on June 6, 1944 under intense enemy fire. 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." While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. approaching a village and a firefight starts). It had a crew of 4 (forward gunner, the coxswain (steering and driving) and the two aft gunners. Totally bogus. Re: Helicopter Crews (Medevac & Dustoff): To my knowledge, only the 1st Cav Medevac had M60s for protection. We went out typically in two boat patrols one lead one cover . 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 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. Veteran Owned Since 1986. Hurrying forward with No. By this census, FOUR OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE VIETNAM VETS ARE NOT. Dont know why, but generally, their aircraft were not armed (door gunners, etc.). Correct. I was told to show the new guy how to use it properly. 1 Gun used to kill Americans? The fact is that most machine gunners, RTOs, junior officers and other extremely dangerous jobs survived the war. Fact: No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. Before he was drafted Renza had worked as a hairdresser for women in his hometown of Peekskill, New York. Very Good , I was a radio operator up in I corps in 68 & to me the worst thing was the walking . Although the percent that died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. Sholly injured an ankle, and 1st Lt. Cary Allen took command of Company B. Really? I had been shot in the back early in the battle and was lying behind a log with two other soldiers. 85% of Vietnam Veterans made successful transitions to civilian life. DeLong was later killed attempting to escape from a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp in Cambodia. (tirotactico.net). I picked up my M60 and walked to the center of the perimeter, where I found the company commander, Capt. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. Proudly holding my M60 over my head, I screamed at the top of my lungs, No. I worried about that kind of leadership style in the highlands. 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. Company B arrived in-country with four rifle platoons, and each platoon was armed with two M60s. An infantry platoon commander in combat had an average of 6 weeks life expectancy. We can all hold our heads high and be proud of our service. US Wings is a veteran-owned business and an official supplier to the US Military. I was drafted on Nov. 10, 1965, and assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. Then the tempo changed suddenly and violently. The oldest man killed was 62 years old. My shit got weak and a sniper popped three rounds in my young ass. It was an HONOR and a privilege to serve with these brave men for my 11 month tour. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_losses_of Why is my internet redirecting to gslbeacon.ligit.com and how do I STOP THIS. I always was told that the life expectancy of a LT was 14 seconds in INITIAL combat versus 9 seconds for an RTO. endstream endobj startxref (LogOut/ One was holding a carbine. I am proud to have fought alongside of them. In Company A, 22 men had been killedadded to the seven killed in Company B. 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. Around 3 p.m., when Grandstaff realized we were about to be overrun, he called in artillery right on top of our location. 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. At age 55, World War 2 Veterans Thank God I made it. No trees or anything on the ground. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. I know this is a standard cliche, but it is so true, All gave some. Like you, I carried a PRC-25 for about 5 months and never got hit. My good friend who was a RTO was killed. Express your answer in terms of x. Certainly got my attention. Eventually I found a spot where the bed leveled off and began firing on the NVA. Both served in A 2/18 1st Infantry Division For some reason, the written word of this article was somehow deleted and lost. Mech. After a couple of hours, the Viet Cong stopped shooting and melted back into the jungle. The jungle seemed to want No. I flew Dustoff and our unit did not have M60s for protection, nor did any other Dustoff unit that Im aware of. They were lazy, cowardly and of questionable loyalty, especially the RUFF/PUFFS, and they would steal your under ware if given half a chance. My bud, Price took over as RTO. 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). 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? ), special forces, combat support, engineering, medics, and vehicle assault weapons. I am 16 years old an 150 pounds qith some good muscle. 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. Thats 390 per day. He served as a sergeant with the Big Red One in Lai Khe, Vietnam. I think convoy truck drivers had one of the most dangerous job. We had 5 kias and roughly 50 wounded in our company so about one in three got hit. Also: for years I have read those life-expectancy numbers never really understanding them, but also noting that they wildly vary. News media have reported tha an American commander ordered the air strike that burned Kim Phuc.Those are incorrect. Done ranting. Not to mention that right now its safer than some cities in the us. So I guess i lasted longer than I was supposed to. TONY DISAGREED> hE SAID TAKE A 19 YEAR OLD, WHO HAS JUST TAKEN TWO ROUNDS TO HIS BODY, And IS watching his best friend die from multiple, bleeding wounds he wont give a shit about the Geneva Convention. David H. McNerney, who assumed command of the company when all of its officers were killed or wounded, was presented with the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony in September 1968. The fall of Saigon happened 30 April 1975, two years AFTER the American military left Vietnam. 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 two platoons were to advance no more than 200 yards from the main body of the company. In Vietnam he cut the hair of everyone in his company for free. Artillery, and ground forces. As it was, less than 40 did not need evacuation. The casualty rate in the current war today is a fraction. Prayers for all. Sometimes on Family Guy when there about to take someones heart out they say, calimar or maybe its spelled different. _____ 1. Rarely do we examine war through the unique bond between a man and his weaponin this case the M60 machine gun. I would suspect that stating with any accuracy the life span of a grunt like me, or any other MOS, would be pretty much pure speculation. 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. As I made it back to the road I remember seeing the After a quick lesson, DeLong became the new owner of 4th Platoons No.1 Gun. 4 Answers aaja Come. The NVA had wedged a blocking force between our company and Company A, preventing us from advancing any farther. Soon I could take the gun apart and put it back together in the dark. As a Huey door gunner, when we left the ground on a mission, I always thought that this mission would be my last! He was not the type to hump a radio. The Statistics in the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF 11/93) show an average age of death much higher than that of news reports. 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). I remember we were always short of replacements throughout 1968 because of the high Kia & wounded rate we suffered at that time ! THE MAN I INHERITED THE GUN FROM WASNT SO LUCKY. I saw aircraft loaded with troops explode in mid-air. %PDF-1.5 % %%EOF Some were constantly exposed to combat, some not so often. On Sun, Mar 8, 2020 at 4:00 PM CherriesWriter Vietnam War website wrote: > pdoggbiker posted: A friend recently sent me the link to an article > claiming that the life expectancy of a radio operator in the Vietnam War > was only 5 seconds. Great information. 1 Gun and I survived our first firefight. We did interdictions, blocks and other fun things on the river. Dap, Hope this helps. The rolling fire burned everything to the ground and undoubtedly killed scores of NVA. Two of my classmates were killed within 2 weeks incountry and three wounded I know of. Me molesta que mis padres no ______ (cuidar) su alimentacin.. 3. estimated education differentials in life expectancy for Veterans in 2011-14 are close to those of U. S. population in 1979-89. That was a hell of a responsibility to take on. At that time, an infantry company consisted of about 150 men. 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. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. My second tour was as the S3 for LTC Anthony Herbertone of Americas greatest leaders and WARRIORS OF ALL TIME. located on the South End of, the Post. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 1 Gun had registered its first kill. As with much of the Vietnam War, the news media misreported and misinterpreted the 1968 Tet Offensive. An Hinglish word (Hindi/English). I was an O5C-20 in Vietnam. then youd carry an extra 200 rounds of M60 ammo for the machine gunner , plus drag grenades , one smoke grenade plus etc. We were expecting, an attack. Men and women die everyday. Ha Ha always enjoyed being a volunteer! Our 5th night there, the AMMO area started burning / blowing up. Thanks. But I made it back in one piece. 79% had a high school education or better. This is not Vietnam where a machine gunners life expectancy was short because you had an entire army shooting at them. Just to show that its hard to get an accurate number, note my typo of 56,220. I was over there twice serving as a Hospital Corpsman with a marine unit. Contents 1 Unclear objectives 2 North Vietnamese strategy happened. Every mission, I had the same thought. Welcome home!! There were also wounded. Originally I went to the 543d TC. To an, open area. The average time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one hour. What were the life expectancies of soldiers during the VietnamWar? They also struggled with logistical problems and the complex political situation in Vietnam. Spanish Help I think those numbers are percentages of US KIA, not mortality times. Soon after, Pfc. It is Honor in the Valley of Tears. Take out the power center, youve got the edge. I also earned a Combat Infantryman Badge, signifying that I had been actively engaged in combat. The body felt as though it weighed considerably more than it looked. 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. Rules may have changed, I was in the Delta region. If it had been up to me, I would have awarded my gun the CIB too. The man with the carbine immediately dropped it, and the two VC surrendered. I got shot on a mission with 45 days left. 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? 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. 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 I was a medic on one for two yrs and the only weapon I was issue was a six-shot .38. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. 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. A former expert with the M60 machine gun shares his experiences wielding the fearsome weapon in Vietnam. Bob Sanzone. AS LEADERS IN AMERICAS SERVICES WE MUST BE PROFICIENT AND READY TO ACCOMPLISH OUR MISSIONS- Rarely do we examine war through the unique bond between a man and his weaponin this case the . So do us all a favor and please learn to be tolerant, intelligent, and active. If the enemy was near, we never saw any. This makes calculations of those alive, even in 2017, difficult to maintain. I assisted Vessey and Capt Cartwright by helping prepare the Bee Hive Rounds (first time they were ever used), firing 4 rounds at proximity 0 range into a human wave attack on or weak side after 5 hours of relentless attacks on the opposite side of the perimeter Those 4 rounds killed @ 400 enemy soldiers, of the 881 total enemy losss John Vessey later became a 4 Star general and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs appointed by Reagan 1983, and at retirement became Chair of the POW MIA Commission for 14 years, Passing away in August 2016 just 6 months before our 50th Reunion. An NVA soldier had evidently spotted the gun and waited patiently for me to stick my head up. No. I remember hearing a Lieutenant (Kennedy) say to one of his two platoon RTOs My RTO is Foxtrot Uniform.