Our home base was Quang Tri fire Base, But I spent about 6 months out at Mai Loc with the rig. Still, militarily, the Tet Offensive was a total defeat of the Communist forces on all fronts. Thanks for the reply. 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 Most war stories are about soldiers and battles. Company B arrived in-country with four rifle platoons, and each platoon was armed with two M60s. The U.S. Infantryman Vietnam Pocket Manual contains gems such as infantry "patrol tips," maneuver techniques, and fighting methods for various environments. 1 Gun used to kill Americans? We used to provide cover for these guys. Different strokes for different folks in war fer sure. 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975. This is hard to believe, losing nearly 711,000 between 95 and 00. hmK#1+yNvA Wow I was 31.8 Gun shot Carried model 1200 Winchester shot gun WIA May 68 Article was great. This makes calculations of those alive, even in 2017, difficult to maintain. After that initial post-service period, Vietnam veterans were no more likely to die from suicide than non-Vietnam veterans. Total fantasy. My dad died of cancer at 52. We ambushed and got ambushed, firebase got attacked who carried what or did what had no bearing. What percentage of Vietnam veterans actually saw combat? We fought to an agreed stalemate. This is not Vietnam where a machine gunners life expectancy was short because you had an entire army shooting at them. Stop staring at your computer already, get up. We then took all Trucks and equipment to the Port Of Saigon. An Hinglish word (Hindi/English). He also worked on Jacqueline Kennedys hair pieces and wigs. Fact: No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. 99% of infantry men will currently live to die of natural causes. Thank You Roger!!! The average age of the 58,148 US Servicemembers killed in Vietnam was . Thats why I never understand people talking about survivors guilt it should have been me, why him? etc. The man listed as missing was machine gunner Joe DeLong, captured along with No. Can I use this word like this: The addressal by the C.E.O. year old Marine thinking this is my last day on earth. Was a door gunner and crew chief for just shy of 18 months (I extended to get out early). I was still pondering the move to 4th Platoon when U.S. Air Force jets screamed over the treetops with canisters of napalm. Supported by a shoulder strap, No. I just wanted to get off No. I was never formally trained as an RTO. I carried the PRC-25 for most of a year. A dense mass of elephant grass hung over the riverbank, and he ducked under it. The first thing my platoon sgt. Over 600 Navy FMF Hospital Corpsmen were killed in Vietnam. I spent my year in Vietnam with the 1/22nd infantry part of the 4th division. The income differentials in life expectancy for Veterans in 2011-14, however, are estimated to be smaller. I was in the AF a Reo in a F4-C. Who had time to worry about the life A "Sapper" is a combat engineer soldier who is with the front line infantry troops. TONY DISAGREED> hE SAID TAKE A 19 YEAR OLD, WHO HAS JUST TAKEN TWO ROUNDS TO HIS BODY, And IS watching his best friend die from multiple, bleeding wounds he wont give a shit about the Geneva Convention. Terrified, I dropped down as fast as I could, pulling the gun and two ammo belts of 100 rounds apiece on top of me as I fell back into the dry streambed. 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. I carried the proc 26 radio after I was asked by my field 1st ( E 7 ) if I would for my platoon . Amen I was a machine gunner for 7 months 503rd infantry 173rd airborne and you hit the nail right on the head. The fall of Saigon happened 30 April 1975, two years AFTER the American military left Vietnam. I didnt want any medals. Nixon Presidential Papers. If it was 1941 and you were an average Soviet soldier, your life expectancy on the front line was days, not weeks, thanks to the ongoing german offence. Gotta say I think you hit it on the nose. We had been carrying machine guns for over seven months. I look over to They also had a 12 gauge, and a M 79 grenade launcher and M 16. Lt lost a finger, same time. We had one RTO killed because he was too close to a 2ND Lt, same thing happened to another RTO. Each company had eight M60s. 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? As mentioned, who kept track of that in the first place? 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). 74% say they would serve again, even knowing the outcome. By the time we reached Vietnam in October 1966 I felt the gun had become a part of me. John Doever 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 machine guns were numbered within each platoon. (Getty Images) Most war stories are about soldiers and battles. Love you Wortman!!!! At that time, an infantry company consisted of about 150 men. When we reached Company A, we placed our dead in the center of the two-company perimeter. (many of the Soviet casualties were POWs, though). I prayed I would not have to fire over the heads of the 4th Platoon troops entering the draw to retrieve our dead. Good article. To my right, Piambino had poked his head out of the trench to fire his M16 rifle. B)Enter the the Ksp expression forC2D3 in terms of the molar solubility x. Jimmy aaja -M.I.A. That was a hell of a responsibility to take on. Just to show that its hard to get an accurate number, note my typo of 56,220. Naturally I was excited at the opportunity to join Sanzone, but at the same time I hated leaving 2nd Platoons No. The machine gun was also mounted in the UH-1 Huey helicopter and other Army aircraft. 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. 2: role (MOS?). The jungle seemed to want No. The key may be the word initial since we became more savvy with successive combats and had improved survivability. 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. My bud, Price took over as RTO. Tumbling end over end, the canisters exploded in a white-hot fireball. Now we know. 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). An infantry platoon commander in combat had an average of 6 weeks life expectancy. As I made it back to the road I remember seeing the What was the average life expectancy of a soldier in Vietnam? %PDF-1.5 % No. Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old. then youd carry an extra 200 rounds of M60 ammo for the machine gunner , plus drag grenades , one smoke grenade plus etc. 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. We were like sitting Ducks. As I remember it the life expectancy was based on after the ambush was sprung or the fire fight started. meaning what is the chance of me getting killed in combat. The group found the first man killed and carried him up the hill, placing his body right next to me. 3 Answers C5H5N in water > C5H5NH+ & OH- Kb = [C5H5NH+] [OH-] / [C5H5N] 1.5e-9 = [x] 1. Over 900,000 patients were airlifted (nearly half were American). Non-divisional aeromedical evacuation units went by the callsign DUSTOFF. The Statistics in the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF 11/93) show an average age of death much higher than that of news reports. 1 Gun and I survived our first firefight. I was sitting on the ground one day trying to dry out my gear and better configure my ruck when my squad leader came walking over to me and said, Gow, youve got the radio. As he turned and walked away! estimated education differentials in life expectancy for Veterans in 2011-14 are close to those of U. S. population in 1979-89. Rules may have changed, I was in the Delta region. If anything went wrong, I could easily kill some of our soldiers. What Was It Like To Hump The Boonies in Vietnam? We were about 700 yards east of Company A when it was ambushed by an NVA battalion. The fact is that most machine gunners, RTOs, junior officers and other extremely dangerous jobs survived the war. An interesting comment I had. I am one lucky SOB. Lucky you. Life expectancy at birth. %%EOF 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. 101st Airborne Division. Was I lucky ? Rarely do we examine war through the unique bond between a man and his weaponin this case the . _____ 1. Soldier,this is a wardont forget that, and anytime we are in a fight we will be toughest SOBs in the fight!! Fact: 86% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasians, 12.5% were black, 1.2% were other races. Back in 1965, I was a door gunner on Medevac recovery operations. 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. Required fields are marked *. They kept coming up the hill bringing more bodies to me until all seven had been found. The body felt as though it weighed considerably more than it looked. https://open.spotify.com/show/5Th7BCpIKDE1hVTqNL3u0Q. I flew Dustoff and our unit did not have M60s for protection, nor did any other Dustoff unit that Im aware of. Flipping the safety off, I scanned the jungle in front of me. I was told to show the new guy how to use it properly. Proudly holding my M60 over my head, I screamed at the top of my lungs, No. located on the South End of, the Post. 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 THE MAN I INHERITED THE GUN FROM WASNT SO LUCKY. 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. 1 Gun kept a lot of enemy heads down. It didnt matter who you were or where you were. wias. S/F, There were no door gunners on dustoffs. said to me. No. 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. Id love to see the casualties listed by Corps ? .. We were expecting, an attack. 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). 8h%5HF8r,X'q#Vtgz%)P/Oi#rU(uO&*Xx1t^=xVLi 0 Fighters and planes dont make up the Army, thats the Air Force. I won a few times, and even when I did not I benefited from handling the gun under stress. E)V_5lu[vC3+"vg2L& The average life expectancy of a Soviet soldier during the height of the battle was just 24 hours. 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.) 11,465 of those killed were younger than 20 years old. The blasts from the AMMO, really lit up the whole area. I handled Top Secret Commo on a daily basis. You seen the enemy you shots him and vice versa. Foot soldiers went by the grace of God, but had a better chance than the infantry platoon commander in combat. After a couple of hours, the Viet Cong stopped shooting and melted back into the jungle. wmy:LsN{/^yzJ] 6.7>n-:FqOa#CW>ia?wt?Xa@ghCd bF)`Schl4*f. Ha Ha always enjoyed being a volunteer!