In my tour everyone had the same chance of getting shot. He served as a sergeant with the Big Red One in Lai Khe, Vietnam. Really no mention of the regular rifleman. 97% of Vietnam Veterans were honorably discharged. 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. Supported by a shoulder strap, No. 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. We had run patrols for about a month when I first saw action. 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. We killed a lot of the enemy but we took few serious casualties. _____ 1. This is not Vietnam where a machine gunner's life expectancy was short because you had an entire army shooting at them. 2 Gun team, Ranallo and May, without any support. Please do not send samples.
Totally bogus. It was very nearly my last. I may not have hit anyone that day, but I am certain that No. I packed my own radio and got a Thank you from his Mom. 11,465 of those killed were younger than 20 years old. It is Honor in the Valley of Tears. Take out the power center, youve got the edge. 87% of Americans hold Vietnam Veterans in high esteem. Life Expectancy of the World Population. MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. The gas-operated, belt-fed gun had a maximum rate of fire of 550-650 rounds per minute. The smell of those charred bodies, blackened and smoking from the napalm strike, is something I can never forget. We are a woman-owned small business and Veteran-owned incorporated in Ohio. I was told to show the new guy how to use it properly. I put the M60s bipod legs down, lifted the weapon and positioned it on the ground outside the streambed facing the NVA. Unable to reach Company A, my company pulled back, formed a perimeter and called in air and artillery support. We ambushed and got ambushed, firebase got attacked who carried what or did what had no bearing. The oldest man killed was 62 years old. aND, mAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! 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. I was an Artillery Forward Observer with the Infantry. Name the major nerves that serve the following body areas? I carried the proc 26 radio after I was asked by my field 1st ( E 7 ) if I would for my platoon . We were about 700 yards east of Company A when it was ambushed by an NVA battalion. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. Vietnam Veterans were the best educated forces our nation had ever sent into combat. Id love to see the casualties listed by Corps ? Appx: 6 months in, all of the 543d TC joined forces with the 572d TC. 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. Back in 1965, I was a door gunner on Medevac recovery operations. 4322 0 obj
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You were a Great RTO. The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall): Average age of 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years. 1 Gun onto a small hill and provide security while others retrieved them. The TOTAL number of CIB and CMB awarded would give you the answer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Prayers for all. In total, the 7th Infantry spent four years in Vietnam. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. Much smaller income differentials in life expectancy, 0.2 to 3.6 life-years smaller for Veterans in 2010-17 are estimated. Sometimes on Family Guy when there about to take someones heart out they say, calimar or maybe its spelled different. I felt the same way jumping off the chopper with my m-60, 300. rounds of ammo,grenades,sandbags and six canteens of water. We all have opinions, this is mine. As mentioned, who kept track of that in the first place?
Military history of African Americans in the Vietnam War Every mission, I had the same thought. 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.
Radiomen in the Vietnam War faced a 5-second life expectancy BUT WE MUST ALSO BE COGNIZANT OF OUR REQUIREMENT TO BE COMPASSIONATE HUMAN BEINGS. Id had a premonition, and asked the LT to let me trade off to become the AG. 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. Photo above is of Stanley Kober with RTO, John Scheur. 85% of Vietnam Veterans made successful transitions to civilian life. 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. All of the next day, we could see SMOKE from the fire caused by the explosions of the AMMO at, the AMMO DUMP. I would carry when on ambush. Walked point way to many times but never had contact. 1 Gun was on my hip with the safety off, ready to rock and roll. I quit trying to make sense of all the numbers that have been generated about Vietnam. What the hell did you hit him with? one of our men shouted. I didnt make a move without that gun beside me. A typical Patrol Boat River (PBR) was about 31 feet long and had twin 50s forward an M 60 midships and a 50 aft. rice farmer who was still working with is ox like nothing ever The one number that is really important is 56,220 and we all know what that number represents. Love you Wortman!!!! (Getty Images) Most war stories are about soldiers and battles. Some 23% of Vietnam vets had fathers with professional, managerial It was a chaotic nightmare. Wow I was 31.8 Gun shot Carried model 1200 Winchester shot gun WIA May 68 Article was great. An infantry platoon commander in combat had an average of 6 weeks life expectancy. Or is it on display in a Hanoi museum so curious citizens of that city can inspect a weapon captured from American imperialists? 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). both tours. This is hard to believe, losing nearly 711,000 between 95 and 00. I wasnt sure if the VC had moved to right or left, so I sprayed the elephant grass in both directions. Amen I was a machine gunner for 7 months 503rd infantry 173rd airborne and you hit the nail right on the head. 10 1/2 months in the bush.
The U.S. Army Infantryman Vietnam Pocket Manual Review - HistoryNet However, inaccurately reported, the News Media made the Tet Offensive famous. Sholly injured an ankle, and 1st Lt. Cary Allen took command of Company B. The incredibly important role in the U.S. Army is responsible for defending the country through real-life combat. It didnt matter who you were or where you were. The average age of the 58,148 US Servicemembers killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years (CACF) Going backwards (Apr. Had multiple Ks and Ws.
PDF Mortality Rates and Life Expectancy of Veterans from 1980 to 2017, and The Army suffered the most total casualties, 38,179 or 2.7 percent of its force. 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. S/F, There were no door gunners on dustoffs. Mi hermana se sorprende N-F C-F Cl-F F-F 2 Answers C-F is the most polar. The Davis Station in Saigon was named for him. Cluster F, SNAFU and FUBAR fer sur. For example: 7*x^2. https://open.spotify.com/show/5Th7BCpIKDE1hVTqNL3u0Q. If you were an administrative officer or clerk in an air-conditioned trailer in Saigon, your war might be a lot like peacetime duty.
What is the life expectancy of an army infantry soldier? Not to mention that right now its safer than some cities in the us. I have a fried Who is killed in Vietnam six months before I got there cause of death was other how would I find out since his parents are long gone, Do a search for his name n Coffeltdatabase.org, Sir, would you mind me translating this into Spanish and getting it posted in our blog?
PDF Mortality Rates and Life Expectancy of Veterans - Veterans Affairs An interesting comment I had. Combatants on both sides faced physical challenges posed by the climate, terrain and wildlife of the country. The two platoons were to advance no more than 200 yards from the main body of the company. Dap, Hope this helps. Bruce Grandstaff and my best friend, Sgt. Comments were more interesting than the article it self. The first thing my platoon sgt. An NVA soldier had evidently spotted the gun and waited patiently for me to stick my head up. During this Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country is: 13,853,027. My shit got weak and a sniper popped three rounds in my young ass. Interesting, I carried a Prick 25, for 2 months. We walked the mountains and rice patties all thru Tu Thien Province. Fact: The domino theory was accurate. Stop staring at your computer already, get up. 1: physical position (in the field / column) It means, IF (!) 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. US Wings recently added to OTEXA's Made in U.S.A. Vietnam veterans' personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent. They were held in special regard after the Normandy landings, when 225 Rangers scaled cliffs at Pointe Du Hoc on June 6, 1944 under intense enemy fire. I saw killed and wounded everywhere in our combat operations. In Vietnam, 1 in 400 of the wounded died of their . As I made my way to the river, I saw a VC guerrilla jump into the water on the other side. Different jobs have different life expectancy. Company B had seven dead, Grandstaff announced, and I was to take No. As I remember it the life expectancy was based on after the ambush was sprung or the fire fight started. 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! I prayed I would not have to fire over the heads of the 4th Platoon troops entering the draw to retrieve our dead. Welcome home!! Each company had eight M60s. Half of the company hopped off the Huey on one side of the river, and the rest exited on the other side. "The Cotton Balers, damn fine Soldiers." The Battalion returned to Fort Benning on October 11, 1970 and was inactivated. I had yet to fire a shot with No. The Marine Corps lost 14,836, or 5 percent . May was eventually able to hand off 2nd Platoons No. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. John Doever Some were constantly exposed to combat, some not so often. It was an HONOR and a privilege to serve with these brave men for my 11 month tour. 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. by Zita Ballinger Fletcher 1/18/2022. They were located, next to us, in/on Long Bhin Post. If it had been up to me, I would have awarded my gun the CIB too. 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. That means you lose five RTOs in 5 seconds. Originally I went to the 543d TC.
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. I DISAGREETHE ENEMY WOULD SHOOT THE GUY NEXT TO THE RTO-KNOWING HE WAS THE COMMANDER. 1st Platoon, C Company, 2nd Battalion 327th Infantry. Fact: No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. I was in 2nd Platoon and carried the platoons No. 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 was still pondering the move to 4th Platoon when U.S. Air Force jets screamed over the treetops with canisters of napalm. 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 The rule of thumb was , any new guys would get the radio and keep it until another new guy came in. 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.
Opinion | What a Combat Medic Still Carries - The New York Times We looked for cover and returned fire the best we could. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star in 1974. 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. The fact that PDoggbiker cant find any decent calculation/explanation, tells us a lot. 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.
Very interesting I carried theM 60 for 5 months that gun would cut down anything. See my calculation below in the comments bogus indeed. 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.
How many draftees died in Vietnam? - 2023 From the Landing Zone, we were carried not too far. However, it was the discretion of the individual crewmen if they wanted to carry personal weapons or not. 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.. 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. Were talking averages, obviously so, an RTO, with an expectancy of 5 seconds (!) Contents 1 Unclear objectives 2 North Vietnamese strategy The blasts from the AMMO, really lit up the whole area. As I was running to the rivers edge, ready to unload on the VC hiding in the elephant grass, I ran past a grass hut and never bothered to clear it. 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? No. They also had a 12 gauge, and a M 79 grenade launcher and M 16. 82nd 2/505th. Anyway I was wondering about the RTOs in a grunt platoon, was that their MOS or were they 11B that carried a PRC ? E)V_5lu[vC3+"vg2L& Oh, and even the Air Force has ground units. By this census, FOUR OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE VIETNAM VETS ARE NOT. Sholly finally agreed and stated that the next time we received replacements I could give one of them my M60. Shortly before 11 a.m. on May 18, the point squad in Company Bs 2nd Platoon spotted three NVA soldiers walking on a trail near the Cambodian border and attempted to capture them, but the NVA dashed off into the jungle. The earliest casualty record contains a date of death of . RIP KOOKIE forever young, Thank god you are still alive, I am age 77. What were the life expectancies of soldiers during the Vietnam War? Your email address will not be published. This makes calculations of those alive, even in 2017, difficult to maintain. Found NVA bunker complex. He was with the 509th Radio Research Station. Learned a lot from him. 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. I was wounded 3 times during the 10 1/2 months I was in-country before being medevacd out in Apr of 68. Vietnam Veterans represented 9.7% of their generation. I had a 20% death rate in my Hospital Corpsman Class. We went out typically in two boat patrols one lead one cover . Do the math. 58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who served. never happened,we lost two sweep team members and some Wortman, another RTO never made it back to The World. Very Good , I was a radio operator up in I corps in 68 & to me the worst thing was the walking . KICK ASS AS NEEDED!!! (LogOut/ Two of my closest friends in the company, Spc. 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).