I had yet to fire a shot with No. It was a daily challenge to know who your real enemy was. Staying alive was kinda of important. Very Good , I was a radio operator up in I corps in 68 & to me the worst thing was the walking . The 4th Platoon survivors stayed put for the night. In the First Armored Division, now part of the 23rd Infantry Division, commonly known as the Americal Division, combat medics were called into action every day because the fighting was now. My bud, Price took over as RTO. This article appeared in the October 2021 issue of Vietnam magazine. 1 Gun had registered its first kill. They used the callsign MEDIVAC and were armed. An infantry platoon commander in combat had an average of 6 weeks life expectancy. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. No. 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. It was on the Job Training ! 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.) Thats what I figured but didnt know for sure. Bruce Grandstaff and my best friend, Sgt. Non-divisional aeromedical evacuation units went by the callsign DUSTOFF. Combatants on both sides faced physical challenges posed by the climate, terrain and wildlife of the country. And dug Berms, in the area. They also had a 12 gauge, and a M 79 grenade launcher and M 16. Nixon Presidential Papers. I was never hit by enemy fire even though they had multiple opportunities after that I was an rto for the company commander and I have to say both jobs were not fun. As soon as he did, a round hit him in the forehead, blowing out the back of his skull. There must have been a real mathematician to come up with those calculations. We fought to an agreed stalemate. 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 Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture, was Vietnamese. There were no Americans involved in any capacity. Bob Sanzone. 1 Gun more than I did. Their personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent. 4 Answers aaja Come. I never understood why they didnt put M60s on Medevacs (once the VC shot them down) but then, we now know they never intended to win that war in the first place. This is not Vietnam where a machine gunners life expectancy was short because you had an entire army shooting at them. This is excellent! Anyway I was wondering about the RTOs in a grunt platoon, was that their MOS or were they 11B that carried a PRC ? For example: 7*x^2. Lived too tell about it. It was the silent power of the pig, I suppose. I was trained as a RTO in 1970 at Fort Ord then went to Fort Gordon for teletype school, my MOS was 05C20 when I finished. They have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups. What was the average life expectancy of a soldier in Vietnam? 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. I know this is a standard cliche, but it is so true, All gave some. 1 Gun kept a lot of enemy heads down. The Army suffered the most total casualties, 38,179 or 2.7 percent of its force. Its not all written down. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. Wortman, another RTO never made it back to The World. I carried the PRC-25 for most of a year. 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. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 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. a RTO got killed, it happened within 5 seconds but not that always ALL RTOs got killed. Thats my experience. 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. John Doever We were discussing the different units and dangers of each. Every mission, I had the same thought. We were probably not too far away on that day. The Statistics in the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF 11/93) show an average age of death much higher than that of news reports. Or is it on display in a Hanoi museum so curious citizens of that city can inspect a weapon captured from American imperialists? It began just as, it was getting dark. Hey Robert I was with the 38th Scout Dog Plt. They were glad to see me as it had been a while for replacements with the unit. 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." The battalion was sending us to a village with a small river running through it. I was an Infantry Scout Dog handler. The TOTAL number of CIB and CMB awarded would give you the answer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First thing we did was, Set up a complete circular perimeter. Of the eight who remained, seven were wounded. 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. On the morning of March 22, 1967, companies A and B of my battalion began a search-and-destroy operation along the Cambodian border. Seattle, Washington(WA), 98106. My friend May, I later learned, was doing the same thing in 2nd Platoon. No combat assignments for another year of service in Vietnam or get out in about a month. During that same Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served was: 9,492,958. (LogOut/ They kept coming up the hill bringing more bodies to me until all seven had been found. I personally believe and agree with previous posts that when its your time, not much you can do. 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 prayed I would not have to fire over the heads of the 4th Platoon troops entering the draw to retrieve our dead. It is Honor in the Valley of Tears. The Republic of Vietnam lost 1,018 aircraft and helicopters from January 1964 to September 1973. Found NVA bunker complex. I was a REMF but Ive heard of 05Cs that were stuck out in the boonies on a firebase. said to me. The average age of the 58,148 US Servicemembers killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years (CACF) Going backwards (Apr. So do us all a favor and please learn to be tolerant, intelligent, and active. Roger Loves you too, Im sure. A dense mass of elephant grass hung over the riverbank, and he ducked under it. None of the enlisted grades have an average age of less than 20. For some reason, the written word of this article was somehow deleted and lost. Required fields are marked *. 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:? Here is an 18 Two rounds smashed into a log inches above my head. A "Sapper" is a combat engineer soldier who is with the front line infantry troops. And us the living that served, who suffer from PTSD ,that figure or percent-aged would be about the greatest of all. 2: role (MOS?). Foot soldiers went by the grace of God, but had a better chance than the infantry platoon commander in combat. Over 900,000 patients were airlifted (nearly half were American). 4 Bill May and Spc. It doesnt make any sense statistically/mathematically it is impossible. Both served in A 2/18 1st Infantry Division For some reason, the written word of this article was somehow deleted and lost. Re: Helicopter Crews (Medevac & Dustoff): To my knowledge, only the 1st Cav Medevac had M60s for protection. 4 Joey Piambino were to my right in the streambed. After that initial post-service period, Vietnam veterans were no more likely to die from suicide than non-Vietnam veterans. Me molesta que mis padres no ______ (cuidar) su alimentacin.. 3. I was lucky too but VN never left me. No. US Wings provides aviation apparel to the U.S. Government and commercial customers along with the general public. In 1973, Renza opened his own salon in Peekskill. 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. As I remember it the life expectancy was based on after the ambush was sprung or the fire fight started. July 68 to July 69. hb```8fB cBLd2>Tb jz1@E; aK6Tmc.Nn"&gn7hj'wm,h d6p4u0`&88:,TMV& y@ b=e>a&^ >{2b`ZHE3psn QZ I lost my cherry very early. Hack volunteered for service in Vietnam in 1968, joining the 1st Infantry Division. As we approached the battle, we heard intense firing. 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.. Although the percent that died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. _____ 1. The trailer for that video can be seen by googling the title, and it might still be sold on Amazon. If the NVA shot at the group retrieving the bodies, I was to fire over the heads of the grunts and engage the enemy. Here are statistics from the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF) as of November 1993. The earliest casualty record contains a date of death of . Proudly holding my M60 over my head, I screamed at the top of my lungs, No. RIP KOOKIE forever young, Thank god you are still alive, I am age 77. Work Plz. 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. The average age of the men killed: 23.1 years. Jimmy aaja, jimmy aaja. U.S. Wings is a manufacturer and a supplier. I was already lugging around a 24-pound weapon, 300 rounds of ammo and a pack that weighed a good 45 pounds. As some said, averages are meaningless. No trees or anything on the ground. 2. In that time 4 us kia and 4 wounded. A battery of big 155 mm howitzers blasted the tiny platoon perimeter, tearing trees out of the ground and hurling chunks of red-hot shell splinters through the air. Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be in prison only one-half of one percent of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes. This makes calculations of those alive, even in 2017, difficult to maintain. According to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) there are now officially 58, 318 names on the wall. 1 Gun and I now faced a new and more formidable foethe North Vietnamese Army. 1 Gun. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. We were expecting, an attack. 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. 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. where can i find red bird vienna sausage? My shit got weak and a sniper popped three rounds in my young ass. Mi hermana se sorprende N-F C-F Cl-F F-F 2 Answers C-F is the most polar. 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. African Americans played a prominent role in the Vietnam War. As with much of the Vietnam War, the news media misreported and misinterpreted the 1968 Tet Offensive. He was not the type to hump a radio. I was still pondering the move to 4th Platoon when U.S. Air Force jets screamed over the treetops with canisters of napalm. The U.S. Infantryman Vietnam Pocket Manual contains gems such as infantry "patrol tips," maneuver techniques, and fighting methods for various environments. I know the scouts in my company had a slightly longer rate but not much. Bravo, 3/187th Inf, 101st Airborne Div, 2nd Plt, 2nd Sq, Hamburger Hill, May 69. Every single . we were getting it with machine gun and mortars. If there was anything to this life expectancy of a few minutes then myself and many of my friends that are still alive today would be a long time dead. 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975. Welcome home. I too never understood survivor quilt, Enjoyed your article. Background [ edit] (and yes, you cant ask them, so it would have to be derived from the AA-reports and survivors). I knew some of this, but certainly not all. In Company A, 22 men had been killedadded to the seven killed in Company B. The rolling fire burned everything to the ground and undoubtedly killed scores of NVA. https://www.historynet.com/no-1-gun-an-m60-machine-gunner-in-vietnam-tells-his-story/, Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot, When 21 Sikh Soldiers Fought the Odds Against 10,000 Pashtun Warriors, Few Red Tails Remain: Tuskegee Airman Dies at 96. Sholly finally agreed and stated that the next time we received replacements I could give one of them my M60. He said when they were ambushed they took defensive positions, returned fire, called for assistance when needed, and retreated when necessary. I've never heard about the life expectancy of 6 weeks (even with a short google search). Needless too say I depended on Sgt. I never even got a shot off. (tirotactico.net). NFS. Rarely do we examine war through the unique bond between a man and his weaponin this case the . Soon I could take the gun apart and put it back together in the dark. 97% of Vietnam Veterans were honorably discharged. Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some of those who were listed as missing in action). 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. We were very, lucky. I had a 20% death rate in my Hospital Corpsman Class. An Rtos job was essential, tough,(Carrying the extra weight of the radio transmitter along with his rucksack), and dangerous. Fact: No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. El subjuntivo In Vietnam he cut the hair of everyone in his company for free. It was an honor indeed to serve with some of the finest soldiers I have ever met. Fact: The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. both tours. 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). The Organization of the Viet Cong Units in the South never recovered. 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? to the empployees was very informative. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. We all have opinions, this is mine. aND, mAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! Some Brothers said why spend another year in this hellhole???? The Vietnam War was the turning point for Communism. 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. We had one RTO killed because he was too close to a 2ND Lt, same thing happened to another RTO. Walked point way to many times but never had contact. However, Shermans were very outmatched by the German tanks on the field of battle. They were also in a circular formation. Dap, Hope this helps. Some very close calls but I am alive at age 74. Saw from mostly safe distance almost all the weapons systems that where there used. 11,465 of those killed were younger than 20 years old. Commanders like him were few and far between many were afraid of their own shadow and were only there to get their ticket punched. Really no mention of the regular rifleman. The last American troops departed in their entirety 29 March 1973. We can all hold our heads high and be proud of our service. Welcome Home Roger. Although we do tend to bomb a lot, thats only half of what we do. Veteran Owned Since 1986. Was No. 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. I think those numbers are percentages of US KIA, not mortality times. Three-fourths had family incomes above the poverty level; 50% were from middle income backgrounds. Grab some friends and go outside. Army Infantrymen (11B) are the main land combat force, and known as "Eleven Bravo.". Company B arrived in-country with four rifle platoons, and each platoon was armed with two M60s. Theres 58,276. Umm..maybe its because we also learn from experience. I never saw any correlation as to what MOS a soldier was and their survival rate. 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? 4329 0 obj <>stream Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. It was very nearly my last. 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. 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. Life expectancy at birth. Some unfortunately also came home with physical scars. We killed a lot of the enemy but we took few serious casualties. wias. Now we know. Naturally I was excited at the opportunity to join Sanzone, but at the same time I hated leaving 2nd Platoons No. Bloody May 1968 Mini TET. Sgt. Certainly got my attention. In your rucksack . The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. In the 1st Cav medics were right behind the rto making them a very easy find also. 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. His body was torn to pieces. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Id love to see the casualties listed by Corps ? Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21 years old. We took fire all the time and responded. No. The income differentials in life expectancy for Veterans in 2011-14, however, are estimated to be smaller. The average life expectancy of a Soviet soldier during the height of the battle was just 24 hours. We walked the mountains and rice patties all thru Tu Thien Province. We soon learned that the NVA troops were very different from the local guerrillas we had fought around Tuy Hoa. Both served in A 2/18 1st Infantry Division. Approximately 70% of those killed in Vietnam were volunteers. 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. In our spare time we did medevacs and medcaps for the local communities and when required inserted SEALs . I am proud to have fought alongside of them. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. 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. I carried the PRC-25 Radio most of that time. Men and women die everyday. The Marine Corps lost 14,836, or 5 percent . 1st Platoon, C Company, 2nd Battalion 327th Infantry. 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. Thanks for the reply. 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. Hi, the whole thing is going nicely here and ofcourse every one Overrun and utterly destroyed, the 30-man 4th Platoon had suffered 21 killed and one missing. 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. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_losses_of The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. Cause-specific . Stop staring at your computer already, get up. The dead were placed on ponchos. 1st Cav, 101st, etc. Before he was drafted Renza had worked as a hairdresser for women in his hometown of Peekskill, New York. It was an HONOR and a privilege to serve with these brave men for my 11 month tour. Both my tours were in the Delta (IV Corps) where the only ground troops were regular ARVNs and RUFF/PUFFS. The first thing my platoon sgt. Then we learned, appx: 1 mile to our North was, an American AMMO storage area. We went out typically in two boat patrols one lead one cover . Despite initial victories by the Communists forces, the Tet Offensive resulted in a major defeat of those forces. If it was your day to get hit or die, it happened. 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.
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