I didnt want any medals. It was more or less next man up . The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall): Average age of 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years. Amazingly, the NVA men then walked a short distance away, sat down and ate lunch. What percentage of Vietnam veterans actually saw combat? %%EOF We were discussing the different units and dangers of each. 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. Approximately 70% of those killed in Vietnam were volunteers. This article appeared in the October 2021 issue of Vietnam magazine. well I wonder how long your going to last lieutenant? This is excellent! I wasnt aware that they kept life expectancy statistics. 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. 79% had a high school education or better. Lived too tell about it. I know the scouts in my company had a slightly longer rate but not much. 67-67 11B 4th Id. Was I lucky ? If the NVA shot at the group retrieving the bodies, I was to fire over the heads of the grunts and engage the enemy. Correct. 4 Bill May and Spc. Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old. Re: Helicopter Crews (Medevac & Dustoff): To my knowledge, only the 1st Cav Medevac had M60s for protection. I am 16 years old an 150 pounds qith some good muscle. 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 also told that the Radio did put a target on my back. July 68 to July 69. 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. Great reading. hb```8fB cBLd2>Tb jz1@E; aK6Tmc.Nn"&gn7hj'wm,h d6p4u0`&88:,TMV& y@ b=e>a&^ >{2b`ZHE3psn QZ It was on the Job Training ! 1 Gun more than I did. It was an honor indeed to serve with some of the finest soldiers I have ever met. Once we turned on the radar they could hit us with a harm missile. Cluster F, SNAFU and FUBAR fer sur. DeLong was later killed attempting to escape from a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp in Cambodia. I always was told that the life expectancy of a LT was 14 seconds in INITIAL combat versus 9 seconds for an RTO. 2 Gun.. All the comments and replies are of absolute truth, I was only 18 when I got to Nam ,Im a country boy from NC so here I am 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. I was an Artillery Forward Observer 13F20 E-5 at that time. Hack volunteered for service in Vietnam in 1968, joining the 1st Infantry Division. I think what is missing is the fact that the life expectancy of those firing at us was much shorter than those that they were firing at. I was told my life expectancy was about 45 secs during a fire fight because of the weapons and demo I carried. The one number that is really important is 56,220 and we all know what that number represents. Overrun and utterly destroyed, the 30-man 4th Platoon had suffered 21 killed and one missing. Answer (1 of 12): It heavily depends. Learned a lot from him. Wortman, another RTO never made it back to The World. located on the South End of, the Post. You were a Great RTO. Often as not he was right beside you with a stolen chicken and a bag of rice. meaning what is the chance of me getting killed in combat. 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. There were two different groups that flew aeromedical evacuations. It was the silent power of the pig, I suppose. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. US Wings is a verified SAM Contractor and DLA Supplier and is officially listed as a manufacturer/retailer in the US Department of Commerce's Office of Textile and Apparel (OTEXA) Made in the USA database. I always felt that Infantry units were in more danger because of ambush issues and no permanent defensive structures. Welcome home brothers and sisters. _____ 1. 87% of Americans hold Vietnam Veterans in high esteem. They were glad to see me as it had been a while for replacements with the unit. I quit trying to make sense of all the numbers that have been generated about Vietnam. 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 am one lucky SOB. Assigned to HHC 1/77 Armor, 1st, BDE 5th Inf. I told by RTO that i could carry my own radio, When he agreed he was humping ammo. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. I credit my longetivity to great training at Ft Benning. I was over there twice serving as a Hospital Corpsman with a marine unit. I got shot on a mission with 45 days left. In Company A, 22 men had been killedadded to the seven killed in Company B. Four platoons in a rifle company. It was a chaotic nightmare. We had one RTO killed because he was too close to a 2ND Lt, same thing happened to another RTO. 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 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.) (and yes, you cant ask them, so it would have to be derived from the AA-reports and survivors). Of the . I may not have hit anyone that day, but I am certain that No. Then we learned, appx: 1 mile to our North was, an American AMMO storage area. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. It doesnt make any sense statistically/mathematically it is impossible. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 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. If youre a foreigner, I respect what you think, but make sure you read ALL your facts, and dont come to rash conclusion until you know everything from BOTH sides. After a quick lesson, DeLong became the new owner of 4th Platoons No.1 Gun. How old are Vietnam vets now? well i have been army infantry for 12 years with 2 deployments, and still going strong. Most of us have memories of these kind of experiences. Needless too say I depended on Sgt. This Battle changed his life and his future, had it not been for his actions, every man on this FSB Gold would have died. I would carry when on ambush. And us the living that served, who suffer from PTSD ,that figure or percent-aged would be about the greatest of all. Nobody attacked, where we were. Thanks for the reply. Quickly learned to control rate of fire. Love you Wortman!!!! One of them gazed in our direction, lowered his AK 47 assault rifle and fired six shots. Although the percent that died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. I was with HHC and 1st Platoon C Company in 70-71. I for one commend you for your courage and thank you for your service to your country. That same day, I along with 3/4 others was transported to Long Bhin Post. In my humble opiniona maneven leaders should often recalculate their adversaries capabilities and limitations and his own limitations as wellwhen 10,000 miles from home against a determined worthy foein a strange landThe objective of Lam Son 719? What were the life expectancies of soldiers during the Vietnam War? 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 never saw any correlation as to what MOS a soldier was and their survival rate. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star in 1974. I was a grunt with c co. 4/31 196th it inf bade. Welcome home!! We can all hold our heads high and be proud of our service. (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. In an instant the jungle erupted in gunfire. 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! We all die, so its not even worth worrying about when in my opinion, id rather do something that i knew was worth it and risk dieing instead of living in fear of death. The Organization of the Viet Cong Units in the South never recovered. Arthur Parker and Spc. 4314 0 obj <> endobj How many soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam? - 2023 LUCK pure LUCK. 4329 0 obj <>stream Ambushed on October 4th,1967. Prayers for all. Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some of those who were listed as missing in action). The Tet Offensive succeeded on only one front and that was the News front and the political arena. I remember we were always short of replacements throughout 1968 because of the high Kia & wounded rate we suffered at that time ! Black fatalities amounted to 12 percent of all Americans killed in Southeast Asia, a figure proportional to the number of blacks in the U.S. population at the time and slightly lower than the proportion of blacks in the Army at the close of the war.. 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. 1 Gun had registered its first kill. The Marine Corps lost 14,836, or 5 percent . What Was It Like To Hump The Boonies in Vietnam? I've never heard about the life expectancy of 6 weeks (even with a short google search). 4 Charlie Ranallo, were on No. !We dont abuse prisoners Now, if he reaches for his weapon to continue the fight BLOW HIS ASS AWAY THIS AINT SUNDAY SCHOOL!!! Me, a vehicle mechanic with Btry E, 41st Arty Quads 1970. For some reason, the written word of this article was somehow deleted and lost. Soldier,this is a wardont forget that, and anytime we are in a fight we will be toughest SOBs in the fight!! The TOTAL number of CIB and CMB awarded would give you the answer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great story!!! 1 Gun used to kill Americans? 58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who served. Its not all written down. See also: Population This is hard to believe, losing nearly 711,000 between 95 and 00. As the entire platoon hit the ground, I saw guys crawling back toward me. 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. My second tour was as the S3 for LTC Anthony Herbertone of Americas greatest leaders and WARRIORS OF ALL TIME. approaching a village and a firefight starts). B)Enter the the Ksp expression forC2D3 in terms of the molar solubility x. Jimmy aaja -M.I.A. Stop staring at your computer already, get up. I personally carried 300 rounds of ammo at all times, one belt in the gun and two across my chest. Express your answer in terms of x. Your article was quite interesting. That was a hell of a responsibility to take on. The man with the carbine immediately dropped it, and the two VC surrendered. The oldest man killed was 62 years old. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. A Co, 1/5 Cav, 1 Cav Division. 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. (Getty Images) Most war stories are about soldiers and battles. They were also in a circular formation. Both were infantry in WW2. 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.. The three of us had trained together at Fort Lewis and were good friends. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Out of thousands of men that invaded that town in southern Afghanistan, we have lost 19. I always found life expectancy numbers interesting in that I could never find any supporting information that could be validated. 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. Foot soldiers went by the grace of God, but had a better chance than the infantry platoon commander in combat. "The Rangers pulled themselves over the top," President Ronald Reagan said of the men, in 1984. 1ST MAW 66-68. 85% of Vietnam Veterans made successful transitions to civilian life. 240 men were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. US Wings provides aviation apparel to the U.S. Government and commercial customers along with the general public. Your Dad and I had the same job. 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. Proudly holding my M60 over my head, I screamed at the top of my lungs, No. A Marine on patrol crosses a rice paddy in Vietnam holding an M60 machine gun in 1966. S/F, There were no door gunners on dustoffs. Were talking averages, obviously so, an RTO, with an expectancy of 5 seconds (!) The battalion was sending us to a village with a small river running through it. I had to rely on my gun more than before.
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