The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. I had yet to fire a shot with No. 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. by Zita Ballinger Fletcher 1/18/2022. Why is my internet redirecting to gslbeacon.ligit.com and how do I STOP THIS. (tirotactico.net). Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. Very Good , I was a radio operator up in I corps in 68 & to me the worst thing was the walking . well I wonder how long your going to last lieutenant? LUCK pure LUCK. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. Ha Ha always enjoyed being a volunteer! The Organization of the Viet Cong Units in the South never recovered. Two of my classmates were killed within 2 weeks incountry and three wounded I know of. Completa las oraciones con la forma correcta del presente de subjuntivo de los verbos entre parntesis.? Naturally I was excited at the opportunity to join Sanzone, but at the same time I hated leaving 2nd Platoons No. There were two different groups that flew aeromedical evacuations. African Americans played a prominent role in the Vietnam War. That same day, I along with 3/4 others was transported to Long Bhin Post. For his actions, he was awarded the Congressional Medal if Honor. endstream endobj startxref both tours. 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). If you have other information let me know. 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. !We dont abuse prisoners Now, if he reaches for his weapon to continue the fight BLOW HIS ASS AWAY THIS AINT SUNDAY SCHOOL!!! 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). The early days of May 1970, I arrived at the Airport, next to Saigon. 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. Our chase after the enemy unwittingly led us into a large ambush. I loved it. 240 men were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. Ever since that fateful day in 1967, I have often wondered what became of my beloved M60. The 4th Platoon survivors stayed put for the night. Expenditures for a body in a combat zone? Our home base was Quang Tri fire Base, But I spent about 6 months out at Mai Loc with the rig. You were a Great RTO. 4329 0 obj <>stream What percentage of Vietnam veterans actually saw combat? We could not see any enemy soldiers, but we could see smoke coming from their weapons through the trees. Calculate the pH of a solution of 0.157 M pyridine. Total fantasy. An infantry platoon commander in combat had an average of 6 weeks life expectancy. 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. Overrun and utterly destroyed, the 30-man 4th Platoon had suffered 21 killed and one missing. Yes, I made E4 at graduation, that was considered a NCO then. The rule of thumb was , any new guys would get the radio and keep it until another new guy came in. Dont know why, but generally, their aircraft were not armed (door gunners, etc.). Lucky you. The key may be the word initial since we became more savvy with successive combats and had improved survivability. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. We ambushed and got ambushed, firebase got attacked who carried what or did what had no bearing. 1 Gun and I now faced a new and more formidable foethe North Vietnamese Army. In Vietnam he cut the hair of everyone in his company for free. In an instant the jungle erupted in gunfire. Both were infantry in WW2. Nixon Presidential Papers. 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. 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975. We all have opinions, this is mine. And dug Berms, in the area. Mi hermana se sorprende N-F C-F Cl-F F-F 2 Answers C-F is the most polar. To my surprise, I qualified as an expert with the M60 machine gun, nicknamed the pig because of the size, weight and sound of the weapon. Sgt. Sorry,I was one of your Brothers in Arms that helped talk you out of enlisting for another year in Vietnam. 1 Gun more than I did. I traveled to Fort Lewis, Washington, and trained there for 10 months before deploying to Vietnam as specialist 4. According to the American War Library, as of February 28, 2019, it is estimated that approximately 610,000 Americans who served in land forces during the Vietnam War or in air missions over Vietnam between 1954 and 1975 are still alive to this day. Rarely do we examine war through the unique bond between a man and his weaponin this case the . The average life expectancy of a front-line soldier in eastern Ukraine is four hours, a Marine said. 1st Platoon, C Company, 2nd Battalion 327th Infantry. Was a door gunner and crew chief for just shy of 18 months (I extended to get out early). Very interesting I carried theM 60 for 5 months that gun would cut down anything. 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. My heart was pounding out of my chest. Of the eight who remained, seven were wounded. He was killed in an ambush along with three others. Fact: 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. We gathered the casualties and set out for Company A. However, inaccurately reported, the News Media made the Tet Offensive famous. I was an Artillery Forward Observer 13F20 E-5 at that time. I also earned a Combat Infantryman Badge, signifying that I had been actively engaged in combat. An Hinglish word (Hindi/English). History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. US Wings provides aviation apparel to the U.S. Government and commercial customers along with the general public. They have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups. After about 30 minutes, the four enemy soldiers got up and left the area. 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. The earliest casualty record contains a date of death of . I do remember when I got short I thought about it a lot more. 4 Bill May and Spc. As of the current Census taken during August, 2000, the surviving U.S. Vietnam Veteran population estimate is: 1,002,511. Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21 years old. If you were an administrative officer or clerk in an air-conditioned trailer in Saigon, your war might be a lot like peacetime duty. 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:? So I guess i lasted longer than I was supposed to. Hack volunteered for service in Vietnam in 1968, joining the 1st Infantry Division. We flew north, then made a stop, in Cam Rahn Bay. In the 1st Cav medics were right behind the rto making them a very easy find also. wmy:LsN{/^yzJ] 6.7>n-:FqOa#CW>ia?wt?Xa@ghCd bF)`Schl4*f. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. I would carry when on ambush. Fact: The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. Thanks. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. Nervous, I set up my gun on the hill and loaded a new hundred-round belt. Re: Helicopter Crews (Medevac & Dustoff): To my knowledge, only the 1st Cav Medevac had M60s for protection. Seattle, Washington(WA), 98106. (LogOut/ Together we had passed the test. Bloody May 1968 Mini TET. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Lived too tell about it. Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be in prison only one-half of one percent of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes. Most war stories are about soldiers and battles. Needless too say I depended on Sgt. Much smaller income differentials in life expectancy, 0.2 to 3.6 life-years smaller for Veterans in 2010-17 are estimated. They were Kims cousins not her brothers. 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. 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. Fact: The domino theory was accurate. The income differentials in life expectancy for Veterans in 2011-14, however, are estimated to be smaller. Diaphragm _____ 3. 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. How old are Vietnam vets now? 4 Paul Domke, who carried extra belts of ammo and fed them into the gun. 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. Work Plz. Really? The answer that we have always been given is that 1 year in the Infantry is equivalent to 3 years of hard labor. Each company had eight M60s. 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. No. I worried about that kind of leadership style in the highlands. Great reading. They were not randomly selected but simply the best at doing it. 10 1/2 months in the bush. What was the average life expectancy of a soldier in Vietnam? Saw from mostly safe distance almost all the weapons systems that where there used. This Battle changed his life and his future, had it not been for his actions, every man on this FSB Gold would have died. Also: for years I have read those life-expectancy numbers never really understanding them, but also noting that they wildly vary. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. We were very, lucky. 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. Different strokes for different folks in war fer sure. Nobody attacked, where we were. I think those numbers are percentages of US KIA, not mortality times. sweep team,then I heard the choppers and they were blowing the hell out in the tree line then it just got so quiet like nothing a RTO got killed, it happened within 5 seconds but not that always ALL RTOs got killed. 79% had a high school education or better. I would suspect that stating with any accuracy the life span of a grunt like me, or any other MOS, would be pretty much pure speculation. I agree with all of the comments, however I would add Tunnel Rats to the group I was one and saw many of my friends die in those tunnels I was very fortunate or very lucky and was never a lead but was at the tail end. I was in the AF a Reo in a F4-C. Who had time to worry about the life As we approached the battle, we heard intense firing. The Tet Offensive succeeded on only one front and that was the News front and the political arena. 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. Love this analysis. Here is an 18 The Bn & Company I was assigned to, was on the last row of Bldgs. 74% say they would serve again, even knowing the outcome. Four platoons in a rifle company. Startled, I quickly pointed my M60 at them. Every mission, I had the same thought. No trees or anything on the ground. U.S. Wings is a manufacturer and a supplier. But I made it back in one piece. Its just (bad) luck, fate, randomness theres no right or wrong, no justice or fairness, no reasoning. 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. Three-fourths had family incomes above the poverty level; 50% were from middle income backgrounds. They were a great bunch. Sholly finally agreed and stated that the next time we received replacements I could give one of them my M60. I couldnt see DeLong and didnt know if No. The next three weeks passed uneventfully. I was lucky too but VN never left me. Great story!!! The other group of aeromedical evacuation were divisional, i.e. Vietnam veterans' personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent. Proudly holding my M60 over my head, I screamed at the top of my lungs, No. We soon learned that the NVA troops were very different from the local guerrillas we had fought around Tuy Hoa. Was it left behind on some forgotten battlefield? Welcome home brothers and sisters. I always was told that the life expectancy of a LT was 14 seconds in INITIAL combat versus 9 seconds for an RTO. Some unfortunately also came home with physical scars. As the entire platoon hit the ground, I saw guys crawling back toward me. This makes our site more accessible to the blind, visually impaired, motor disabled, people with cognitive disabilities and more. The one that should be there is the combat medic. Bob Sanzone. They also struggled with logistical problems and the complex political situation in Vietnam. (and yes, you cant ask them, so it would have to be derived from the AA-reports and survivors). General Westmoreland quoting Douglas Pike (a professor at the University of California, Berkeley), a major military defeat for the VC and NVA. DeLong was later killed attempting to escape from a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp in Cambodia. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Combatants on both sides faced physical challenges posed by the climate, terrain and wildlife of the country. 2 Gun team, Ranallo and May, without any support. I spent my year in Vietnam with the 1/22nd infantry part of the 4th division. 11 c mos , meaning I was also cross trained for mortars . And yes, please God, bless America. Thank God I made it. Oh, and even the Air Force has ground units. Out of thousands of men that invaded that town in southern Afghanistan, we have lost 19. 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. Flipping the safety off, I scanned the jungle in front of me. 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. Like most inexperienced gunners, he underestimated the power of the pig and failed to keep the barrel down when firing. RIP KOOKIE forever young, Thank god you are still alive, I am age 77. My first tour was as an advisor to the VN Abn. 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. 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 . Suddenly, I heard my name shouted from the Company B command group. An Rtos job was essential, tough,(Carrying the extra weight of the radio transmitter along with his rucksack), and dangerous. As far as I knew that was done in the whole battalion in 1968 . 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. 4 Joey Piambino were to my right in the streambed. My good friend who was a RTO was killed. We were like sitting Ducks. The group found the first man killed and carried him up the hill, placing his body right next to me. It was very nearly my last. I wasnt sure if the VC had moved to right or left, so I sprayed the elephant grass in both directions. What were the life expectancies of soldiers during the Vietnam War? (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. By the time we reached Vietnam in October 1966 I felt the gun had become a part of me. I was a REMF but Ive heard of 05Cs that were stuck out in the boonies on a firebase. BUT WE MUST ALSO BE COGNIZANT OF OUR REQUIREMENT TO BE COMPASSIONATE HUMAN BEINGS. Carrying a dead man some 300 yards through thick jungle in 100-degree heat was extraordinarily difficult. I was constantly untangling the barrel and bipod of the gun from grasping vines and branches. The machine gun was also mounted in the UH-1 Huey helicopter and other Army aircraft. Non-divisional aeromedical evacuation units went by the callsign DUSTOFF. Of the . The Kb of pyridine, C5H5N, is 1.5 x 10-9. 1 Gun. Quickly learned to control rate of fire. The fact is that most machine gunners, RTOs, junior officers and other extremely dangerous jobs survived the war. Nothing could be further from the truth. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. I always felt that Infantry units were in more danger because of ambush issues and no permanent defensive structures. When Roeski got hit, I took over the M-60. wias. As a result, less than one percent of all Americans wounded, who survived the first 24 hours, died. 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. aND, mAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! 1 gun and was hoping it would stay that way. The jungle seemed to want No. Artillery, and ground forces. Bruce Grandstaff and my best friend, Sgt. I was told my life expectancy was about 45 secs during a fire fight because of the weapons and demo I carried. In my tour everyone had the same chance of getting shot. I am proud to have fought alongside of them. happened. To an, open area. What the hell did you hit him with? one of our men shouted. Wortman, another RTO never made it back to The World. By this census, FOUR OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE VIETNAM VETS ARE NOT. Sept 69 to Sept 70. Helicopters, F4 fighters. They were located, next to us, in/on Long Bhin Post. 2) by my research, medics suffered 93% casualties with about 33% deaths. I sure feel for all you guys that went outside the wire. Then we learned, appx: 1 mile to our North was, an American AMMO storage area. hbbd```b`` ,&Iw sA '#o 2023 CherriesWriter - Vietnam War website, RTO, John Scheur. Commanders like him were few and far between many were afraid of their own shadow and were only there to get their ticket punched. We had 5 kias and roughly 50 wounded in our company so about one in three got hit. There were no Americans involved in any capacity. The man with the carbine immediately dropped it, and the two VC surrendered. https://open.spotify.com/show/5Th7BCpIKDE1hVTqNL3u0Q. Before he was drafted Renza had worked as a hairdresser for women in his hometown of Peekskill, New York. Soldiers from 2nd Platoon, Company C, 87th Infantry Regiment, walk on patrol north of the Long . This was another example in the Vietnam War of an inaccuracy becoming the perceived truth.