US Wings recently added to OTEXA's Made in U.S.A. From Cam Rahn, we kept flying north to, a Landing Zone near QUANG TRI. I lost my cherry very early. I was told to show the new guy how to use it properly. Information presented by SFC (Ret) David Hack. What was the life expectency of a private soldier in vietnam? well i have been army infantry for 12 years with 2 deployments, and still going strong. I do remember when I got short I thought about it a lot more. The rule of thumb was , any new guys would get the radio and keep it until another new guy came in. Robert Sholly, standing with Platoon Sgt. I DISAGREETHE ENEMY WOULD SHOOT THE GUY NEXT TO THE RTO-KNOWING HE WAS THE COMMANDER. I remember we were always short of replacements throughout 1968 because of the high Kia & wounded rate we suffered at that time ! Soldiers also act in the mobilization of vehicles, weaponry, troops, and more. To cut the Ho Chi Minh Traila week after the mission endedthe trail was booming with business from the north.. At age 55, World War 2 Veterans In Vietnam he cut the hair of everyone in his company for free. It was a chaotic nightmare. B)Enter the the Ksp expression forC2D3 in terms of the molar solubility x. Jimmy aaja -M.I.A. Nevertheless, I swung No. I personally carried 300 rounds of ammo at all times, one belt in the gun and two across my chest. There were usually 3 man (At least 2) point teams. May was eventually able to hand off 2nd Platoons No. Take out the power center, youve got the edge. After a quick lesson, DeLong became the new owner of 4th Platoons No.1 Gun. 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. Day in the life of a Vietnam Soldier | History 118: US History Since 1877 Can I use this word like this: The addressal by the C.E.O. Dont know why, but generally, their aircraft were not armed (door gunners, etc.). You seen the enemy you shots him and vice versa. Two of my classmates were killed within 2 weeks incountry and three wounded I know of. An interesting comment I had. We were expecting, an attack. %PDF-1.5 % Great story!!! Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. Soon I could take the gun apart and put it back together in the dark. Hats off to them. Before he was drafted Renza had worked as a hairdresser for women in his hometown of Peekskill, New York. It had a crew of 4 (forward gunner, the coxswain (steering and driving) and the two aft gunners. Lt lost a finger, same time. An Rtos job was essential, tough,(Carrying the extra weight of the radio transmitter along with his rucksack), and dangerous. I never saw any correlation as to what MOS a soldier was and their survival rate. I was constantly untangling the barrel and bipod of the gun from grasping vines and branches. The enemy fire ceased, and we made arrangements to collect our dead before continuing on to Company A. Artillery, and ground forces. Once we turned on the radar they could hit us with a harm missile. 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. It was just north of Saigon. We walked the mountains and rice patties all thru Tu Thien Province. 85% of Vietnam Veterans made successful transitions to civilian life. I was with HHC and 1st Platoon C Company in 70-71. The trailer for that video can be seen by googling the title, and it might still be sold on Amazon. 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. As we approached the battle, we heard intense firing. Very memorable comments. Fact: The domino theory was accurate. 2,709,918 Americans served in uniform in Vietnam. Point was the safest place to be,they knew to wait for key elements, RTO, Medica, M60 Gunners. Vietnam Veterans represented 9.7% of their generation. Sgt. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. Its not all written down. Four platoons in a rifle company. I was a medic on one for two yrs and the only weapon I was issue was a six-shot .38. 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. I always found life expectancy numbers interesting in that I could never find any supporting information that could be validated. General Vo Nguyen Giap, the designer of the Tet Offensive, is considered by some as ranking with Wellington, Grant, Lee and MacArthur as a great commander. We all have opinions, this is mine. Change). Thank God I made it. The American military did not lose a battle of any consequence. I had a 20% death rate in my Hospital Corpsman Class. Soldiers from 2nd Platoon, Company C, 87th Infantry Regiment, walk on patrol north of the Long . located on the South End of, the Post. As a result, less than one percent of all Americans wounded, who survived the first 24 hours, died. then youd carry an extra 200 rounds of M60 ammo for the machine gunner , plus drag grenades , one smoke grenade plus etc. It didnt matter who you were or where you were. Some unfortunately also came home with physical scars. I was lucky too but VN never left me. Michael Doolittle..I was with 1/8 inf, 1st Brigade, and that day, March 22nd was also our darkest day. hb```8fB cBLd2>Tb jz1@E; aK6Tmc.Nn"&gn7hj'wm,h d6p4u0`&88:,TMV& y@ b=e>a&^ >{2b`ZHE3psn QZ I had scary thoughts about myself humping the bush as a RTO, I was a real puny guy back then. During that same Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served was: 9,492,958. A much better approach would be/have been: of all the combat-casualties, what was their Now we know. They were all up there scanning the terrain and looking for signs. US Wings is a veteran-owned business and an official supplier to the US Military. We looked for cover and returned fire the best we could. hbbd```b`` ,&Iw sA '#o The income differentials in life expectancy for Veterans in 2011-14, however, are estimated to be smaller. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star in 1974. If my memory is correct, only the 1st Cab flew wiith doorgunners. According to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) there are now officially 58, 318 names on the wall. I was a helicopter pilot Thanks for the reply. This is hard to believe, losing nearly 711,000 between 95 and 00. 91% of Vietnam Veterans say they are glad they served. Many were killed or wounded ! Arthur Parker and Spc. I too never understood survivor quilt, Enjoyed your article. If anything went wrong, I could easily kill some of our soldiers. They were a great bunch. 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. Supported by a shoulder strap, No. 79% had a high school education or better. year old Marine thinking this is my last day on earth. And yes, please God, bless America. They kept coming up the hill bringing more bodies to me until all seven had been found. Cluster F, SNAFU and FUBAR fer sur. They were located, next to us, in/on Long Bhin Post. If youre American (which you probably are), I could give a f***. How old are Vietnam vets now? 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. Every single . Ernest, Im glad that your first tour with the VN airborne was rewarding. 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. Approximately 70% of those killed in Vietnam were volunteers. the life expectancy of a LT in Vietnam in major combat was 16 minutes. NFS. Thank You Roger!!! Back home he returned to hairdressing and got a job at Kenneth Salon in New York City working with top models and fashion magazine editors. 1 Gun and I now faced a new and more formidable foethe North Vietnamese Army. 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. 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). Radiomen in the Vietnam War faced a 5-second life expectancy (LogOut/ The U.S. Infantryman Vietnam Pocket Manual contains gems such as infantry "patrol tips," maneuver techniques, and fighting methods for various environments. Either way, thats a lot of soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coast guardsmen, male and female that made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, and there are still people dying as a result of their wounds receiver so very long ago in a place called Vietnam. He served as a sergeant with the Big Red One in Lai Khe, Vietnam. I was an Artillery Forward Observer with the Infantry. As with much of the Vietnam War, the news media misreported and misinterpreted the 1968 Tet Offensive. Very Good , I was a radio operator up in I corps in 68 & to me the worst thing was the walking . Lowering my gun, I turned around and noticed two VC sitting in the doorway of the hut, staring at me. I look over to 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 !!! 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. In that time 4 us kia and 4 wounded. 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. I never even got a shot off. Welcome home. My good friend who was a RTO was killed. 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. How many soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam? - 2023 So do us all a favor and please learn to be tolerant, intelligent, and active. I was on a radar crew and we were told that, during war time, we would most likely be killed within minutes. But I made it back in one piece. wmy:LsN{/^yzJ] 6.7>n-:FqOa#CW>ia?wt?Xa@ghCd bF)`Schl4*f. After a couple of hours, the Viet Cong stopped shooting and melted back into the jungle. Our home base was Quang Tri fire Base, But I spent about 6 months out at Mai Loc with the rig. 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. Out of thousands of men that invaded that town in southern Afghanistan, we have lost 19. It is Honor in the Valley of Tears. Name the major nerves that serve the following body areas? Army Infantryman (MOS 11B): 2022 Career Profile - Operation Military Kids (many of the Soviet casualties were POWs, though). Although the percent that died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. Answer (1 of 12): It heavily depends. 2 Gun.. Thats 390 per day. In Vietnam, 1 in 400 of the wounded died of their . In 1973, Renza opened his own salon in Peekskill. I think those numbers are percentages of US KIA, not mortality times. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Because if only 1 RTO fought for say only 10 or 15 minutes before being killed, that would up the AVG for the total war! I remember hearing a Lieutenant (Kennedy) say to one of his two platoon RTOs My RTO is Foxtrot Uniform. 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). I was to have that experience two more times before it was over. 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. Remember he wanted to reenlist for one more year in Vietnam. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. If the enemy was near, we never saw any. Carried the prc25 for about 7 months. I was wasting ammo and didnt even have a target! The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. 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. Enter the the Ksp expression forC2D3 in terms of the molar solubility x.? I always felt that Infantry units were in more danger because of ambush issues and no permanent defensive structures. HOOAH!!! 240 men were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. Here are statistics from the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF) as of November 1993. 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. My 31-months in-country was in three Direct Support US Army aviation units, 15TC BN, First Cav, 335TH, Americal and 17TH Cav 101ST ABD65-71In the last battle I was directly involved, LAM SON 719, into Laos, cost army aviation units over 600-helicopters shot down or battle damagedthe NVA were waiting for our SECRET mission in early 71I was glad to go home at battles end, in March 71 , almost unscathed, I was TDY for my absurd third tourTo the point, many ARVN Rangers, airborne and their other best died in Lam Son 719US Army Infantry were forbidden entry to Laos in 71.. the ARVN were massacredand many US Army pilots and crew mambers were KIA & WIAeven MIA. 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 8h%5HF8r,X'q#Vtgz%)P/Oi#rU(uO&*Xx1t^=xVLi Be glad you served with a soldiers soldier like LTC Herbert. Umm..maybe its because we also learn from experience. C Co, 1st-12th 66-67. hmK#1+yNvA The key may be the word initial since we became more savvy with successive combats and had improved survivability. PLEASE HELP!!! He decided to stay even though he had a deep feeling he wasnt going to make it. Point, slack and compass. Please do not send samples. On the morning of March 22, 1967, companies A and B of my battalion began a search-and-destroy operation along the Cambodian border. What was the life expectancy of a point man in Vietnam? Carrying a dead man some 300 yards through thick jungle in 100-degree heat was extraordinarily difficult. (LogOut/ Was the 7th Infantry in Vietnam? - 2023 If you were an administrative officer or clerk in an air-conditioned trailer in Saigon, your war might be a lot like peacetime duty. THANKS! The Kb of pyridine, C5H5N, is 1.5 x 10-9. What was the average life expectancy of a soldier in battle on - Quora He was not the type to hump a radio. Oh, and even the Air Force has ground units. 2: role (MOS?). well I wonder how long your going to last lieutenant? Enemy fire greeted as us as soon as we landed near the village. Both were infantry in WW2. 58,148 were killed in Vietnam, 75,000 severely disabled, 23,214 were 100% disabled, 5,283 lost limbs and 1,081 sustained multiple amputations. Interesting but something is missing. waving then I realized they Werent shooting at him only at the Ambulances are not supposed to be armed (either) though in training, medics are told they and their vehicles will be a prime target. In an instant the jungle erupted in gunfire. Well he didnt make it. Very interesting I carried theM 60 for 5 months that gun would cut down anything. of what was usually 5 or 6 going in and many times the leads would find traps, punji pits or the VC waiting. Thats why they called us GRUNTS ! News media have reported tha an American commander ordered the air strike that burned Kim Phuc.Those are incorrect. I am proud to have fought alongside of them. Contents 1 Unclear objectives 2 North Vietnamese strategy They were Kims cousins not her brothers. 5 seconds. 4329 0 obj <>stream Here is an 18 1 Gun. I had an assistant gunner, Spc. The average time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one hour. 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. LUCK pure LUCK. 1 Gun, I jumped into a small dry streambed with Domke, my assistant gunner. Amen I was a machine gunner for 7 months 503rd infantry 173rd airborne and you hit the nail right on the head. African Americans played a prominent role in the Vietnam War. We killed a lot of the enemy but we took few serious casualties. We flew north, then made a stop, in Cam Rahn Bay. Theres 58,276. I want to know what the life expectancy of a us infantry army soldier is. We were discussing the different units and dangers of each. Life Expectancy of the World Population. I was an RTO for 9-1/2 months for Hawk Recon 2/327 101AB from dec, 1969 to sept 70. Ed, I was in a Grunt Platoon in Vietnam 70-71. 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.) The two platoons were to advance no more than 200 yards from the main body of the company. At Fort Lewis, every recruit learned to operate various weapons. What is the life expectancy of an army infantry soldier? These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. I flew Dustoff and our unit did not have M60s for protection, nor did any other Dustoff unit that Im aware of. He also worked on Jacqueline Kennedys hair pieces and wigs. No. Wortman, another RTO never made it back to The World. You just do the best job you can and if you got hit, so be it! I told by RTO that i could carry my own radio, When he agreed he was humping ammo. Opinion | What a Combat Medic Still Carries - The New York Times I would carry when on ambush. 1 Gun over my shoulder, grabbed a corner of a poncho and stumbled off with three other soldiers. Much smaller income differentials in life expectancy, 0.2 to 3.6 life-years smaller for Veterans in 2010-17 are estimated. Welcome Home Brothers ! Was Billeted near an Army medevac Unit and was offered a chance to lay on my stomach with an M16 and door gun for them I decided not a good Idea. An interesting essay, even more interesting are the comments. The Davis Station in Saigon was named for him. 'No. 1 Gun': An M60 Machine Gunner in Vietnam Tells His Story - HistoryNet Some very close calls but I am alive at age 74. However, it was the discretion of the individual crewmen if they wanted to carry personal weapons or not. Grab some friends and go outside. rice farmer who was still working with is ox like nothing ever 99% of infantry men will currently live to die of natural causes. BUT WE MUST ALSO BE COGNIZANT OF OUR REQUIREMENT TO BE COMPASSIONATE HUMAN BEINGS. 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. Stop staring at your computer already, get up. There were two different groups that flew aeromedical evacuations. Background [ edit] Half of the company hopped off the Huey on one side of the river, and the rest exited on the other side. The NVA had wedged a blocking force between our company and Company A, preventing us from advancing any farther. 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. estimated education differentials in life expectancy for Veterans in 2011-14 are close to those of U. S. population in 1979-89. 1st Platoon, C Company, 2nd Battalion 327th Infantry. 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 planes doing the bombing near the village were VNAF (Vietnam Air Force) and were being flown by Vietnamese pilots in support of South Vietnamese troops on the ground. 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. To keep busy on the boat ride to Vietnam, my unitCompany B, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regimentheld competitions where we took the gun apart and put it back together while blindfolded to see who could do it fastest. The casualty rate in the current war today is a fraction. Nervous, I set up my gun on the hill and loaded a new hundred-round belt. PDF Sobering Statistics Concerning Vietnam Vets As of April 2016 Sure but so was everyone else who went 12 months without getting killed or wounded. I spent 10 1/2 months in the jungles of Vietnam. None of the enlisted grades have an average age of less than 20. You were a Great RTO. 1 Gun was on my hip with the safety off, ready to rock and roll. If you would like to get a copy, and cant find it, let me know, and I will make sure you get one. 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 one of the lucky ones I came home without a physical scratch. 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. Then we all, loaded on C-147 cargo planes. I knew some of this, but certainly not all. We were very, lucky. 1: physical position (in the field / column) All that other stuff about seconds and minutes were story tellers, embellishing things to impress some listeners back home. Just published my book The Last Goodbye by John Fratangelo, available on line on Barnes and Noble and Amazon Prime Books, Getting great reviews. Cruz quite a lot. Fighters and planes dont make up the Army, thats the Air Force. 1 Gun had registered its first kill. They were not randomly selected but simply the best at doing it. I was also told that the Radio did put a target on my back. Do the math. 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. I was shot down on my very first mission in July 1968. Was I lucky ? I prayed I would not have to fire over the heads of the 4th Platoon troops entering the draw to retrieve our dead. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. I was in 2nd Platoon and carried the platoons No. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. We could not see any enemy soldiers, but we could see smoke coming from their weapons through the trees. I won a few times, and even when I did not I benefited from handling the gun under stress. I was told to help carry one of the bodies. 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. The article was interesting. Really? My dog and I walked point my whole tour in Vietnam. I was told my life expectancy was about 45 secs during a fire fight because of the weapons and demo I carried. For some reason, the written word of this article was somehow deleted and lost. Posterior Thigh _____ 4. Quickly learned to control rate of fire. 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. 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). It was the silent power of the pig, I suppose. AS LEADERS IN AMERICAS SERVICES WE MUST BE PROFICIENT AND READY TO ACCOMPLISH OUR MISSIONS-
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