life expectancy of an infantry soldier in vietnam

When Apache Snow began, I was an RTO, after Airborne, and before the CA on Dong Ap Bia, I became the AG for Roeski. See you in the next life!!!!! Was the 7th Infantry in Vietnam? - 2023 We were probably not too far away on that day. Thank God I made it. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. It was a daily challenge to know who your real enemy was. The fact that PDoggbiker cant find any decent calculation/explanation, tells us a lot. Totally bogus. Helicopters, F4 fighters. Five RTOs. What was the average life expectancy of a soldier in battle on - Quora Ron. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 1 Gun was firing. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. Both served in A 2/18 1st Infantry Division For some reason, the written word of this article was somehow deleted and lost. Different type units, different locations, different opinions on dangers. One afternoon, while Company B was still in the Tuy Hoa area, we received orders to gather up our gear and get ready to board choppers for an assault into a hot landing zone. As of the current Census taken during August, 2000, the surviving U.S. Vietnam Veteran population estimate is: 1,002,511. Thanks for posting! If youre American (which you probably are), I could give a f***. We went out typically in two boat patrols one lead one cover . 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. Learned a lot from him. Some very close calls but I am alive at age 74. We do have infantry (why do you think we have that MOS? The 140,000 evacuees in April 1975 during the fall of Saigon consisted almost entirely of civilians and Vietnamese military, NOT American military running for their lives. Like you, I carried a PRC-25 for about 5 months and never got hit. Two of my closest friends in the company, Spc. An Rtos job was essential, tough,(Carrying the extra weight of the radio transmitter along with his rucksack), and dangerous. Screaming Eagles! 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. I sure feel for all you guys that went outside the wire. Fact: 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. No combat assignments for another year of service in Vietnam or get out in about a month. What were the life expectancies of soldiers during the Vietnam War In our spare time we did medevacs and medcaps for the local communities and when required inserted SEALs . I was an Artillery Forward Observer with the Infantry. 1 Gun more than I did. waving then I realized they Werent shooting at him only at the By the time we reached Vietnam in October 1966 I felt the gun had become a part of me. Bruce Grandstaff and my best friend, Sgt. Artillery, and ground forces. Eventually I found a spot where the bed leveled off and began firing on the NVA. The U.S. Army Infantryman Vietnam Pocket Manual Review - HistoryNet Great information. I lost my cherry very early. You just do the best job you can and if you got hit, so be it! Umm..maybe its because we also learn from experience. Background [ edit] It was on the Job Training ! You were a Great RTO. I would carry when on ambush. This is hard to believe, losing nearly 711,000 between 95 and 00. 5 seconds. 0 Done ranting. I was to have that experience two more times before it was over. 2 Gun team, Ranallo and May, without any support. Two rounds smashed into a log inches above my head. However, inaccurately reported, the News Media made the Tet Offensive famous. 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. They also had a 12 gauge, and a M 79 grenade launcher and M 16. US Wings recently added to OTEXA's Made in U.S.A. The Tet Offensive succeeded on only one front and that was the News front and the political arena. Hey Robert I was with the 38th Scout Dog Plt. If you have other information let me know. In the 1st Cav medics were right behind the rto making them a very easy find also. We were expecting, an attack. 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. (tirotactico.net). I, in turn, would take an M16 rifle, which felt like a feather in comparison. As the entire platoon hit the ground, I saw guys crawling back toward me. Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21 years old. Originally I went to the 543d TC. His comparison to a FB was that if we were fired on we returned fire and requested assistance when needed. Most war stories are about soldiers and battles. Suddenly I realized that my platoon sergeant was screaming at me to stop firing. EACH OF US CARRIES OUR OWN MEMORIES AND THEY RUN THE GAMUT. Ha Ha always enjoyed being a volunteer! 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. The casualty rate in the current war today is a fraction. We were like sitting Ducks. 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. Four platoons in a rifle company. What was the average life expectancy for soldiers during World War 2 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 The average life expectancy of a Soviet soldier during the height of the battle was just 24 hours. The Bn & Company I was assigned to, was on the last row of Bldgs. The average time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one hour. Nothing could be further from the truth. 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. What percentage of Vietnam veterans actually saw combat? Around 3 p.m., when Grandstaff realized we were about to be overrun, he called in artillery right on top of our location. I was a grunt with c co. 4/31 196th it inf bade. I was a helicopter pilot As it was, less than 40 did not need evacuation. BS but ia a way you are correct. Dont know why, but generally, their aircraft were not armed (door gunners, etc.). African Americans played a prominent role in the Vietnam War. What the hell did you hit him with? one of our men shouted. It resulted in the death of some 45,000 NVA troops and the complete, if not total destruction of the Viet Cong elements in South Vietnam. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. Surrounded by an enemy battalion, our hopelessly outnumbered platoon waged a desperate battle for survival. E)V_5lu[vC3+"vg2L& I flew Dustoff and our unit did not have M60s for protection, nor did any other Dustoff unit that Im aware of. B)Enter the the Ksp expression forC2D3 in terms of the molar solubility x. Jimmy aaja -M.I.A. What were the life expectancies of soldiers during the Vietnam War? Before he was drafted Renza had worked as a hairdresser for women in his hometown of Peekskill, New York. We had one RTO killed because he was too close to a 2ND Lt, same thing happened to another RTO. Over the next two months, we exchanged fire with groups of the NVA. The enemy fire ceased, and we made arrangements to collect our dead before continuing on to Company A. It doesnt make any sense statistically/mathematically it is impossible. They kept coming up the hill bringing more bodies to me until all seven had been found. 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! It was just part of the job. Every mission, I had the same thought. Out of thousands of men that invaded that town in southern Afghanistan, we have lost 19. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. Military history of African Americans in the Vietnam War 4 Charlie Ranallo, were on No. Supported by a shoulder strap, No. Dap, Hope this helps. Non-divisional aeromedical evacuation units went by the callsign DUSTOFF. Calculate the pH of a solution of 0.157 M pyridine.? We could not see any enemy soldiers, but we could see smoke coming from their weapons through the trees. 5 Answers There is no word like addressal. Our chase after the enemy unwittingly led us into a large ambush. As I made it back to the road I remember seeing the A typical Patrol Boat River (PBR) was about 31 feet long and had twin 50s forward an M 60 midships and a 50 aft. Bob Sanzone. Fact: The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. meaning what is the chance of me getting killed in combat. There were usually 3 man (At least 2) point teams. Comments were more interesting than the article it self. Vietnam War Facts, Stats and Myths - US Wings This makes our site more accessible to the blind, visually impaired, motor disabled, people with cognitive disabilities and more. There were also wounded. 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.. However, Shermans were very outmatched by the German tanks on the field of battle. We were told in training that the life expectancy of a machine gunner was about seven seconds from the moment the first round was fired. It was one of my most memorable tours in the Navy I later went to a carrier and was bored silly because I had about 1% of the responsibilities I had as an O-2. He pulled the company into a perimeter and dispatched 4th Platoon to recon the trail to the west, while 1st Platoon performed a similar mission to the east-southeast. 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 I for one commend you for your courage and thank you for your service to your country. You seen the enemy you shots him and vice versa. He was with the 509th Radio Research Station. Sholly injured an ankle, and 1st Lt. Cary Allen took command of Company B. This Battle changed his life and his future, had it not been for his actions, every man on this FSB Gold would have died. 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 was drafted on Nov. 10, 1965, and assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. It is Honor in the Valley of Tears. He said when they were ambushed they took defensive positions, returned fire, called for assistance when needed, and retreated when necessary. 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. I wasnt sure if the VC had moved to right or left, so I sprayed the elephant grass in both directions. 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 No. At that time, an infantry company consisted of about 150 men. 1st Platoon, C Company, 2nd Battalion 327th Infantry. Most of us have memories of these kind of experiences. We were very, lucky. They used the callsign MEDIVAC and were armed. 1 Gun became my very best friend. Which soldier had the shortest life-expectancy? - Quora It was more or less next man up . I won a few times, and even when I did not I benefited from handling the gun under stress. Overview - Medics and Corpsmen - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund I will always think/say, we had absolutely no reason for being in that place. Love this analysis. Cruz quite a lot. I had yet to fire a shot with No. 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. Its just (bad) luck, fate, randomness theres no right or wrong, no justice or fairness, no reasoning. Both halves quickly swept toward the river to clear the village. 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. 101st Airborne Division. 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. In a strange country scared shitless .I was a minesweeper.My first time out on a mission they put me on the drag line fifty yards from the road which was route 1, Then all hell broke lose In Company A, 22 men had been killedadded to the seven killed in Company B. I was constantly untangling the barrel and bipod of the gun from grasping vines and branches. 2) by my research, medics suffered 93% casualties with about 33% deaths. Never knew they had life expectancy stats. What was the life expectancy of a point man 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 was already lugging around a 24-pound weapon, 300 rounds of ammo and a pack that weighed a good 45 pounds. Anxiously extending the bipod legs on the M60, I added a 100-round belt to the one I already had in the gun. US Wings provides aviation apparel to the U.S. Government and commercial customers along with the general public. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Despite initial victories by the Communists forces, the Tet Offensive resulted in a major defeat of those forces. I want to know what the life expectancy of a us infantry army soldier is. Es ridculo que t ______ (tener) un resfriado en verano. 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. There must have been a real mathematician to come up with those calculations. %%EOF Work Plz. I prayed I would not have to fire over the heads of the 4th Platoon troops entering the draw to retrieve our dead. Posterior Thigh _____ 4. From Cam Rahn, we kept flying north to, a Landing Zone near QUANG TRI. Fact: No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. We had been carrying machine guns for over seven months. 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. 1 Gun before my luck ran out. At age 55, World War 2 Veterans According to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) there are now officially 58, 318 names on the wall. 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? 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). A documentary about our company and our 1st Sgt was made. What was the average life expectancy for soldiers during Vietnam 1ST MAW 66-68. What is the life expectancy of Vietnam veterans? What unit lost the most soldiers in Vietnam? The Marine Corps lost 14,836, or 5 percent . 1 Gun kept a lot of enemy heads down. We are a woman-owned small business and Veteran-owned incorporated in Ohio. In my tour everyone had the same chance of getting shot. The one number that is really important is 56,220 and we all know what that number represents. If anything went wrong, I could easily kill some of our soldiers. For example: 7*x^2. As with much of the Vietnam War, the news media misreported and misinterpreted the 1968 Tet Offensive. to the empployees was very informative. Thank You Roger!!! (You can unsubscribe anytime), The US Wings website is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) compliant and adheres to their standards for accessibility of the internet so people with disabilities can surf the web more easily & efficiently. I carried the PRC-25 for most of a year. It may not have worked for some other wars, but they were pretty helpful. First Sgt. The Organization of the Viet Cong Units in the South never recovered. I just wanted to get off No. Back in 1965, I was a door gunner on Medevac recovery operations. Mi hermana se sorprende N-F C-F Cl-F F-F 2 Answers C-F is the most polar. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. You of course had the radio plus xtra batteries & handsets plus your rucksack with 7 to 8 canteens , 20 mags ( I used to carry 17 rounds in the mags instead of 20 ) because the springs would force the round into the chamber causing jams . I couldnt see DeLong and didnt know if No. Some of my men didnt. But, once the enemy lays down his weapon, I want YOU TO REMEMBER THREE THINGS: 1, HE IS A SOLDIER, JUST LIKE YOU.2, HE IS AWAY FROM HOME And family, just like you. The Vietnam War gave us trouble because we didnt know how to counteract against guerrilla warfare in a jungle (dont forget that the US Army was switching to M16s, which often jammed). The average life expectancy of a front-line soldier in eastern Ukraine is four hours, a Marine said. Many were killed or wounded ! Walked point way to many times but never had contact. 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. 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.

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