Nicknamed "the pig" due to its size, weight and sound, the gun struck fear into enemy troops. Though I flew only about 1/2 dozen missions as a Huey door gunner, I was initially told to sit on my flak jacket I always did so (personal protection first). In Vietnam he cut the hair of everyone in his company for free. If the NVA shot at the group retrieving the bodies, I was to fire over the heads of the grunts and engage the enemy. My second tour was as the S3 for LTC Anthony Herbertone of Americas greatest leaders and WARRIORS OF ALL TIME. I was shot down on my very first mission in July 1968. To my right, Piambino had poked his head out of the trench to fire his M16 rifle. 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. 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. Two of my closest friends in the company, Spc. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The income differentials in life expectancy for Veterans in 2011-14, however, are estimated to be smaller. The TOTAL number of CIB and CMB awarded would give you the answer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Life Expectancy of the World Population. If the enemy was near, we never saw any. I loved it. Nobody attacked, where we were. There were also wounded. We flew north, then made a stop, in Cam Rahn Bay. What unit lost the most soldiers in Vietnam? Sorry,I was one of your Brothers in Arms that helped talk you out of enlisting for another year in Vietnam. Army Infantryman (MOS 11B): 2022 Career Profile - Operation Military Kids Most of us have memories of these kind of experiences. KICK ASS AS NEEDED!!! The rule of thumb was , any new guys would get the radio and keep it until another new guy came in. I want to know what the life expectancy of a us infantry army soldier is. Radiomen in the Vietnam War faced a 5-second life expectancy The Vietnamese pilot who dropped the napalm in error is currently living in the United States. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_losses_of Both my tours were in the Delta (IV Corps) where the only ground troops were regular ARVNs and RUFF/PUFFS. Thats why they called us GRUNTS ! I was over there twice serving as a Hospital Corpsman with a marine unit. During this Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country is: 13,853,027. 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. As I made it back to the road I remember seeing the hmK#1+yNvA 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. For some reason, the written word of this article was somehow deleted and lost. I quit trying to make sense of all the numbers that have been generated about Vietnam. Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old. I always was told that the life expectancy of a LT was 14 seconds in INITIAL combat versus 9 seconds for an RTO. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. This article appeared in the October 2021 issue of Vietnam magazine. I was an RTO for 9-1/2 months for Hawk Recon 2/327 101AB from dec, 1969 to sept 70. Non-divisional aeromedical evacuation units went by the callsign DUSTOFF. 1ST MAW 66-68. AS LEADERS IN AMERICAS SERVICES WE MUST BE PROFICIENT AND READY TO ACCOMPLISH OUR MISSIONS- No trees or anything on the ground. What the hell did you hit him with? one of our men shouted. I, in turn, would take an M16 rifle, which felt like a feather in comparison. 4 Paul Domke, who carried extra belts of ammo and fed them into the gun. Our patrols were typically about 14 hours 24/7 We operated of old LSTs and large barges. The other group of aeromedical evacuation were divisional, i.e. I saw aircraft loaded with troops explode in mid-air. He retired in 2012 and lives in Delray Beach, Florida. The Vietnam War was the turning point for Communism. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. Look for the blue accessibility symbol floating on every page of our website and click on it to tailor your viewing experience to your particular disability. 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975. My first tour was as an advisor to the VN Abn. The Republic of Vietnam lost 1,018 aircraft and helicopters from January 1964 to September 1973. Amen I was a machine gunner for 7 months 503rd infantry 173rd airborne and you hit the nail right on the head. Hack volunteered for service in Vietnam in 1968, joining the 1st Infantry Division. Moving west down the trail, 4th Platoon exchanged fire with a single NVA soldier, then a handful and finally a group of about 10-15 around noon. The dead were placed on ponchos. 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 in 2nd Platoon and carried the platoons No. The machine guns were numbered within each platoon. I was told my life expectancy was about 45 secs during a fire fight because of the weapons and demo I carried. well i have been army infantry for 12 years with 2 deployments, and still going strong. All that other stuff about seconds and minutes were story tellers, embellishing things to impress some listeners back home. 3 Answers C5H5N in water > C5H5NH+ & OH- Kb = [C5H5NH+] [OH-] / [C5H5N] 1.5e-9 = [x] 1. 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. But I made it back in one piece. I am 16 years old an 150 pounds qith some good muscle. Much smaller income differentials in life expectancy, 0.2 to 3.6 life-years smaller for Veterans in 2010-17 are estimated. It was more or less next man up . 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). Shea's gallantry in action at the cost of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon . well I wonder how long your going to last lieutenant? 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. I am one lucky SOB. We did interdictions, blocks and other fun things on the river. 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. But it was my jobso I tried not to think about it much. 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. https://open.spotify.com/show/5Th7BCpIKDE1hVTqNL3u0Q. 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. Flipping the safety off, I scanned the jungle in front of me. 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. Then we all, loaded on C-147 cargo planes. Wow I was 31.8 Gun shot Carried model 1200 Winchester shot gun WIA May 68 Article was great. What is the life expectancy of Vietnam veterans? More importantly, Grandstaff was very gung-ho. Expenditures for a body in a combat zone? I told by RTO that i could carry my own radio, When he agreed he was humping ammo. The battalion was sending us to a village with a small river running through it. Stop staring at your computer already, get up. We looked for cover and returned fire the best we could. 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. We wanted a break. Database. 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 !!! If anything went wrong, I could easily kill some of our soldiers. I also was 2/327 B company. I was a REMF but Ive heard of 05Cs that were stuck out in the boonies on a firebase. This makes our site more accessible to the blind, visually impaired, motor disabled, people with cognitive disabilities and more. The Organization of the Viet Cong Units in the South never recovered. 2. I didnt make a move without that gun beside me. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. Assigned to HHC 1/77 Armor, 1st, BDE 5th Inf. 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. The machine gun was also mounted in the UH-1 Huey helicopter and other Army aircraft. 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. We were very, lucky. Also: for years I have read those life-expectancy numbers never really understanding them, but also noting that they wildly vary. %PDF-1.5 % I felt the same way jumping off the chopper with my m-60, 300. rounds of ammo,grenades,sandbags and six canteens of water. The U.S. Army Infantryman Vietnam Pocket Manual Review - HistoryNet They were lazy, cowardly and of questionable loyalty, especially the RUFF/PUFFS, and they would steal your under ware if given half a chance. In the few firefights and skirmishes we had with local VC, the gun always performed well. I served in A Company 3/22 of the 3rd Brigade 4th Infantry 12/66, then Hq Co 2/12 of the 3rd Brigade 25th Inf until the night of the TET offensive end of January 1968 and returned home July 18 1968. Naturally I was excited at the opportunity to join Sanzone, but at the same time I hated leaving 2nd Platoons No. Diaphragm _____ 3. Three-fourths had family incomes above the poverty level; 50% were from middle income backgrounds. 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. year old Marine thinking this is my last day on earth. Quickly learned to control rate of fire. Got hit inside 15 minutes, first ambush we walked up too. The Department of Defense Vietnam War Service Index officially provided by The War Library originally reported with errors that 2,709,918 U.S. military personnel as having served in-country. Was a door gunner and crew chief for just shy of 18 months (I extended to get out early). Great information. After a couple of hours, the Viet Cong stopped shooting and melted back into the jungle. What were the life expectancies of soldiers during the Vietnam War 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. 1st Cav, 101st, etc. PDF Sobering Statistics Concerning Vietnam Vets As of April 2016 Soldiers also act in the mobilization of vehicles, weaponry, troops, and more. . As I made my way to the river, I saw a VC guerrilla jump into the water on the other side. Really? Why is my internet redirecting to gslbeacon.ligit.com and how do I STOP THIS. Change). Your article was quite interesting. I was to have that experience two more times before it was over. I know the scouts in my company had a slightly longer rate but not much. THANKS! I met a Marine a few years ago who was stationed North of Da Nang. Id had a premonition, and asked the LT to let me trade off to become the AG. of what was usually 5 or 6 going in and many times the leads would find traps, punji pits or the VC waiting. I think convoy truck drivers had one of the most dangerous job. I would carry when on ambush. 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. The trailer for that video can be seen by googling the title, and it might still be sold on Amazon. It is Honor in the Valley of Tears. Grab some friends and go outside. Company B arrived in-country with four rifle platoons, and each platoon was armed with two M60s. Some very close calls but I am alive at age 74. What percentage of Vietnam veterans actually saw combat? Welcome home. Four platoons in a rifle company. When Roeski got hit, I took over the M-60. I picked up my M60 and walked to the center of the perimeter, where I found the company commander, Capt. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. I watched in horror as four NVA soldiers ambled through the branches of a downed tree that partially concealed us. We had 5 kias and roughly 50 wounded in our company so about one in three got hit. (LogOut/ Some were constantly exposed to combat, some not so often. I do remember when I got short I thought about it a lot more. The incredibly important role in the U.S. Army is responsible for defending the country through real-life combat. 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. 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. He said fighting was especially deadly in the war-torn city of Bakhmut, dubbed "the meat . 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. I just wanted to get off No. 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. Surrounded by an enemy battalion, our hopelessly outnumbered platoon waged a desperate battle for survival. 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:? I was wasting ammo and didnt even have a target! A Marine on patrol crosses a rice paddy in Vietnam holding an M60 machine gun in 1966. E)V_5lu[vC3+"vg2L& The blasts from the AMMO, really lit up the whole area. Love this analysis. There were no Americans involved in any capacity. located on the South End of, the Post. Some Brothers said why spend another year in this hellhole???? Thank You General Vessey for the almost 53 years I have lived since that day. Both served in A 2/18 1st Infantry Division. Which soldier had the shortest life-expectancy? - Quora Vietnam Veterans were the best educated forces our nation had ever sent into combat. Overview - Medics and Corpsmen - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund However, it was the discretion of the individual crewmen if they wanted to carry personal weapons or not. I had yet to fire a shot with No. "The Rangers pulled themselves over the top," President Ronald Reagan said of the men, in 1984. This is excellent! Background [ edit] They were glad to see me as it had been a while for replacements with the unit. Thats my experience. At age 55, World War 2 Veterans I was still pondering the move to 4th Platoon when U.S. Air Force jets screamed over the treetops with canisters of napalm. Soldiers from 2nd Platoon, Company C, 87th Infantry Regiment, walk on patrol north of the Long . Foot soldiers went by the grace of God, but had a better chance than the infantry platoon commander in combat. He then said that they were generally on patrol moving through their area, both attacking and being attacked depending if the VC knew their location. The Bn & Company I was assigned to, was on the last row of Bldgs. 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. 1 Gun more than I did. The first six or seven months I walked point for our platoon and led many ambushes and green eye patrols. Thats what I figured but didnt know for sure. We were about 700 yards east of Company A when it was ambushed by an NVA battalion. As mentioned, who kept track of that in the first place? (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. I was a medic on one for two yrs and the only weapon I was issue was a six-shot .38. How old are Vietnam vets now? To cut the Ho Chi Minh Traila week after the mission endedthe trail was booming with business from the north.. Combatants on both sides faced physical challenges posed by the climate, terrain and wildlife of the country. 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.) PDF Mortality Rates and Life Expectancy of Veterans - Veterans Affairs I never even got a shot off. His body was torn to pieces. by Zita Ballinger Fletcher 1/18/2022. No combat assignments for another year of service in Vietnam or get out in about a month. As we were, steadily building up, our area for protection. Seattle, Washington(WA), 98106. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. Now, to calmly answer your question, air strikes have actually been an efficient technique used by us for years now. Back in 1965, I was a door gunner on Medevac recovery operations. Screaming Eagles! 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. Fact: The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. One of them gazed in our direction, lowered his AK 47 assault rifle and fired six shots. We ambushed and got ambushed, firebase got attacked who carried what or did what had no bearing. 2 Gun to Ranallo. 1 Gun onto a small hill and provide security while others retrieved them. Unable to reach Company A, my company pulled back, formed a perimeter and called in air and artillery support. both tours. Still shaken, I grabbed the gun and crawled to the left inside the streambed. Vietnam War Facts, Stats and Myths - US Wings 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. The one that should be there is the combat medic. The average age of the 58,148 US Servicemembers killed in Vietnam was . Both were infantry in WW2. I was never formally trained as an RTO. We do have infantry (why do you think we have that MOS? The one number that is really important is 56,220 and we all know what that number represents. Do the math. 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. See my calculation below in the comments bogus indeed. to the empployees was very informative. 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 Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. We were discussing the different units and dangers of each. After a quick lesson, DeLong became the new owner of 4th Platoons No.1 Gun. Fighters and planes dont make up the Army, thats the Air Force. Now, the wisdom of this soldier tough but humanly compassionate warrior ethos can be assessed through the 2d Bn recordNO complaints about mistreatment of prisonerswhile achieving the most combat SUCCESSES IN THE BRIGADE. 99% of infantry men will currently live to die of natural causes. Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture, was Vietnamese. I was told to show the new guy how to use it properly. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star in 1974. 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. Around 3 p.m., when Grandstaff realized we were about to be overrun, he called in artillery right on top of our location. 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. Both served in A 2/18 1st Infantry Division. A Co, 1/5 Cav, 1 Cav Division. An NVA soldier had evidently spotted the gun and waited patiently for me to stick my head up. 10-4. I am proud to have fought alongside of them. I prayed I would not have to fire over the heads of the 4th Platoon troops entering the draw to retrieve our dead. Ever since that fateful day in 1967, I have often wondered what became of my beloved M60. Its not all written down. (many of the Soviet casualties were POWs, though). I was lucky too but VN never left me. I was a helicopter pilot 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. Rarely do we examine war through the unique bond between a man and his weaponin this case the M60 machine gun. So I guess I defied the odds. I worried about that kind of leadership style in the highlands. The Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files contains records of 58,220 U.S. military fatal casualties of the Vietnam War. An infantry platoon commander in combat had an average of 6 weeks life expectancy. It was a chaotic nightmare. I had scary thoughts about myself humping the bush as a RTO, I was a real puny guy back then. Very Good , I was a radio operator up in I corps in 68 & to me the worst thing was the walking . I packed my own radio and got a Thank you from his Mom. No. "And in seizing the firm land at the . Originally I went to the 543d TC. Every mission, I had the same thought. Be glad you served with a soldiers soldier like LTC Herbert. If it was your day to get hit or die, it happened. Fact: The American military was not defeated in Vietnam. 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. None of the enlisted grades have an average age of less than 20. If youre American (which you probably are), I could give a f***. What was the average life expectancy of a soldier in battle on - Quora In our spare time we did medevacs and medcaps for the local communities and when required inserted SEALs . Our 5th night there, the AMMO area started burning / blowing up. If youre a foreigner, I respect what you think, but make sure you read ALL your facts, and dont come to rash conclusion until you know everything from BOTH sides. EACH OF US CARRIES OUR OWN MEMORIES AND THEY RUN THE GAMUT. Carried the prc25 for about 7 months.
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