Its just (bad) luck, fate, randomness theres no right or wrong, no justice or fairness, no reasoning. Why is my internet redirecting to gslbeacon.ligit.com and how do I STOP THIS. 10-4. I never thought of it that way before but have many times since. AS LEADERS IN AMERICAS SERVICES WE MUST BE PROFICIENT AND READY TO ACCOMPLISH OUR MISSIONS- In Vietnam, 1 in 400 of the wounded died of their . The enemy fire ceased, and we made arrangements to collect our dead before continuing on to Company A. You were a Great RTO. Suddenly, I heard my name shouted from the Company B command group. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. It may not have worked for some other wars, but they were pretty helpful. It was on the Job Training ! 1: physical position (in the field / column) I was drafted on Nov. 10, 1965, and assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. Your email address will not be published. Knowing I had a 100-round belt in my M60, I opened up on that hillside, my gun getting so hot that the barrel smoked. The incident in the photo took place on the second day of a three day battle between the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) who occupied the village of Trang Bang and the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) who were trying to force the NVA out of the village. Sergeant Galiano's experience does not deny Brands depiction of the battle in Vietnam, but offers a typically overlooked perspective of a drafted soldier fighting in the central highlands of Vietnam. Helicopters, F4 fighters. 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. Really no mention of the regular rifleman. I didnt want any medals. . This Battle changed his life and his future, had it not been for his actions, every man on this FSB Gold would have died. Here is an 18 He retired in 2012 and lives in Delray Beach, Florida. 1,713,823 of those who served in Vietnam were still alive as of August, 1995 (census figures). The casualty rate in the current war today is a fraction. 1 Gun used to kill Americans? The U.S. Infantryman Vietnam Pocket Manual contains gems such as infantry "patrol tips," maneuver techniques, and fighting methods for various environments. Sept 69 to Sept 70. Take out the power center, youve got the edge. No. At that time, an infantry company consisted of about 150 men. He was with the 509th Radio Research Station. Lowering my gun, I turned around and noticed two VC sitting in the doorway of the hut, staring at me. 11,465 of those killed were younger than 20 years old. Love this analysis. I remember hearing somewhere about an RTO who wasnt getting the info out correctly and the Lieutenant (Kennedy) grabbed the mic and said My RTO Is Foxtrot Uniform. I was a point man, M60 Gunner and squad leader. Everyone in the company hit the dirt. Saw from mostly safe distance almost all the weapons systems that where there used. The U.S. Army Infantryman Vietnam Pocket Manual Review - HistoryNet However, it was the discretion of the individual crewmen if they wanted to carry personal weapons or not. Although the percent that died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. Dap, Hope this helps. I will always think/say, we had absolutely no reason for being in that place. They also had a 12 gauge, and a M 79 grenade launcher and M 16. Bloody May 1968 Mini TET. It was always quick/quick, load the bodies in and get the hell out. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. This is not Vietnam where a machine gunners life expectancy was short because you had an entire army shooting at them. I was a REMF but Ive heard of 05Cs that were stuck out in the boonies on a firebase. The first man to die in Vietnam was James Davis, in 1961. Well he didnt make it. three, he believes he is doing what his country wants him to dojust like you So you better damn well treat him with the compassion you want for you!! They also struggled with logistical problems and the complex political situation in Vietnam. 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. In Service to My Men | Article | The United States Army en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_losses_of Ambushed on October 4th,1967. Postservice Mortality in Vietnam Veterans : 30-Year Follow-up - JAMA What was the average life expectancy of a soldier in Vietnam? We used to provide cover for these guys. Were talking averages, obviously so, an RTO, with an expectancy of 5 seconds (!) Vietnam War Facts, Stats and Myths - US Wings %%EOF Two points: 1) at least in Army units, Medevacs (dust offs) flew unarmed aircraft. 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. I do remember when I got short I thought about it a lot more. I was an Artillery Forward Observer 13F20 E-5 at that time. The Tet Offensive succeeded on only one front and that was the News front and the political arena. After a quick lesson, DeLong became the new owner of 4th Platoons No.1 Gun. Before he was drafted Renza had worked as a hairdresser for women in his hometown of Peekskill, New York. I quit trying to make sense of all the numbers that have been generated about Vietnam. 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.. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. In the hands of a well-trained machine gunner, the M60 was a devastating weaponso feared by our opponents that they usually aimed their first shots at the machine gunners, who were often in positions exposed to enemy fire. The peace settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. I remember we were always short of replacements throughout 1968 because of the high Kia & wounded rate we suffered at that time ! I saw killed and wounded everywhere in our combat operations. Assigned to HHC 1/77 Armor, 1st, BDE 5th Inf. 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. 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. Welcome Home Roger. 82nd 2/505th. Rarely do we examine war through the unique bond between a man and his weaponin this case the . Nervous, I set up my gun on the hill and loaded a new hundred-round belt. The Bn & Company I was assigned to, was on the last row of Bldgs. I never saw any correlation as to what MOS a soldier was and their survival rate. 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 am one lucky SOB. From Cam Rahn, we kept flying north to, a Landing Zone near QUANG TRI. I won a few times, and even when I did not I benefited from handling the gun under stress. The incredibly important role in the U.S. Army is responsible for defending the country through real-life combat. On average US troops served 1-2 years in Vietnam, and the percentage of troops killed was actually fairly low for a war this size, 2.14% of all who served were killed, the life expectancy was roughly around 1 year, 5 months and 3 weeks (taking into account the 1-2 year difference in some troops's serving times) Sponsored by Primal Labs 1 Gun and I now faced a new and more formidable foethe North Vietnamese Army. 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). 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. Calculate the pH of a solution of 0.157 M pyridine.? 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. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. There were also wounded. They were Kims cousins not her brothers. I think those numbers are percentages of US KIA, not mortality times. Naturally I was excited at the opportunity to join Sanzone, but at the same time I hated leaving 2nd Platoons No. I traveled to Fort Lewis, Washington, and trained there for 10 months before deploying to Vietnam as specialist 4. I was shot down on my very first mission in July 1968. 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? Seattle, Washington(WA), 98106. What unit lost the most soldiers in Vietnam? The average time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one hour. Sgt. Half of the company hopped off the Huey on one side of the river, and the rest exited on the other side. Total fantasy. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. 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. (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. I loved it. I was in 2nd Platoon and carried the platoons No. There were almost twice as many casualties in Southeast Asia (primarily Cambodia) the first two years, after the fall of Saigon in 1975, than there were during the ten years the U.S. was involved in Vietnam. As a Huey door gunner, when we left the ground on a mission, I always thought that this mission would be my last! The group found the first man killed and carried him up the hill, placing his body right next to me. It began just as, it was getting dark. LUCK pure LUCK. 4 Bill May and Spc. Ron. 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. 58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who served. Also: for years I have read those life-expectancy numbers never really understanding them, but also noting that they wildly vary. endstream endobj startxref Posterior Thigh _____ 4. US Wings provides aviation apparel to the U.S. Government and commercial customers along with the general public. The Vietnam War was the first American war in which Black and White troops were not formally segregated, and even saw significant growth in the number of African Americans engaged in battlefield combat, [1] though some de facto segregation still occurred. An Hinglish word (Hindi/English). Enemy fire greeted as us as soon as we landed near the village. US Wings recently added to OTEXA's Made in U.S.A. Surrounded by an enemy battalion, our hopelessly outnumbered platoon waged a desperate battle for survival. I was an Artillery Forward Observer with the Infantry. Cruz quite a lot. How could we lose a war we had already stopped fighting? Military history of African Americans in the Vietnam War 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. While traveling through the boonies the first few men were usually always shot first. (many of the Soviet casualties were POWs, though). Your email address will not be published. He decided to stay even though he had a deep feeling he wasnt going to make it. Just to show that its hard to get an accurate number, note my typo of 56,220. Our 5th night there, the AMMO area started burning / blowing up. It was a chaotic nightmare. Never knew they had life expectancy stats. So I guess I defied the odds. We had been carrying machine guns for over seven months. 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. The American military did not lose a battle of any consequence. During this Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country is: 13,853,027. Ive always considered myself damn lucky to make it out alive. To an, open area. 4 Joey Piambino were to my right in the streambed. Fact: No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. In the 1st Cav medics were right behind the rto making them a very easy find also. 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 Bronze Star was awarded to ALL that were awarded the CIB in WWII because the Infantry accounted for over 70% of the casualties in WWLL BUT NOT 70% )F ALL THE INFANTRY !!! Around 3 p.m., when Grandstaff realized we were about to be overrun, he called in artillery right on top of our location. 1st Platoon, C Company, 2nd Battalion 327th Infantry. Welcome home brothers and sisters. BUT WE MUST ALSO BE COGNIZANT OF OUR REQUIREMENT TO BE COMPASSIONATE HUMAN BEINGS. the life expectancy of a LT in Vietnam in major combat was 16 minutes. Me molesta que mis padres no ______ (cuidar) su alimentacin.. 3. 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. No. The rolling fire burned everything to the ground and undoubtedly killed scores of NVA. I was one of the many others I rode river boats in the Mekong Jan 68 to 69. Appx: 6 months in, all of the 543d TC joined forces with the 572d TC. 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. Then the tempo changed suddenly and violently. Id love to see the casualties listed by Corps ? The other group of aeromedical evacuation were divisional, i.e. His body was torn to pieces. Nevertheless, I swung No. 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. where can i find red bird vienna sausage? African Americans played a prominent role in the Vietnam War. An infantry platoon commander in combat had an average of 6 weeks life expectancy. I was on a radar crew and we were told that, during war time, we would most likely be killed within minutes. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. The Australian Vietnam veteran study assessed the postservice mortality of 19 205 Vietnam veterans and 25 677 non-Vietnam veterans through 1981. Ernest, Im glad that your first tour with the VN airborne was rewarding. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. (Getty Images) Most war stories are about soldiers and battles. If you have other information let me know. Soldier,this is a wardont forget that, and anytime we are in a fight we will be toughest SOBs in the fight!! My assistant gunner and my ammo bearer also carried 300 rounds each. maybe your question i vauge. 85% of Vietnam Veterans made successful transitions to civilian life. 2023 CherriesWriter - Vietnam War website, RTO, John Scheur. happened. Or is it on display in a Hanoi museum so curious citizens of that city can inspect a weapon captured from American imperialists? Suddenly I realized that my platoon sergeant was screaming at me to stop firing. They were glad to see me as it had been a while for replacements with the unit. The fall of Saigon happened 30 April 1975, two years AFTER the American military left Vietnam. I didnt make a move without that gun beside me. The death squads focused on leaders at the village level and on anyone who improved the lives of the peasants such as medical personnel, social workers, and school teachers. 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. As far as I knew that was done in the whole battalion in 1968 . !We dont abuse prisoners Now, if he reaches for his weapon to continue the fight BLOW HIS ASS AWAY THIS AINT SUNDAY SCHOOL!!! What was the life expectency of a private soldier in vietnam? If you would like to get a copy, and cant find it, let me know, and I will make sure you get one. I was told to help carry one of the bodies. I've never heard about the life expectancy of 6 weeks (even with a short google search). One was holding a carbine. They were well-armed, well-trained and knew how to fight. I am proud to have fought alongside of them. We could not see any enemy soldiers, but we could see smoke coming from their weapons through the trees. See my calculation below in the comments bogus indeed. The average age of the men killed: 23.1 years. Two of my classmates were killed within 2 weeks incountry and three wounded I know of. I know the scouts in my company had a slightly longer rate but not much. Different type units, different locations, different opinions on dangers. I was a medic on one for two yrs and the only weapon I was issue was a six-shot .38. 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 . Sholly finally agreed and stated that the next time we received replacements I could give one of them my M60. Great information.