life expectancy of an infantry soldier in vietnam

(LogOut/ MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. I am 81 now and survived the encounter by terminated the sniper. Total fantasy. By this census, FOUR OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE VIETNAM VETS ARE NOT. The 4th Platoon survivors stayed put for the night. Shermans had fairly thin armor (76mm at the thickest compared to a Tiger with 180mm at the thickest with most around 100mm). Appx: 6 months in, all of the 543d TC joined forces with the 572d TC. 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? A former expert with the M60 machine gun shares his experiences wielding the fearsome weapon in Vietnam. 1 Gun kept a lot of enemy heads down. 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. Umm..maybe its because we also learn from experience. I was an FO back in the day. THE MAN I INHERITED THE GUN FROM WASNT SO LUCKY. If anything went wrong, I could easily kill some of our soldiers. The group found the first man killed and carried him up the hill, placing his body right next to me. Carried the prc25 for about 7 months. 99% of infantry men will currently live to die of natural causes. I was one of the lucky ones I came home without a physical scratch. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. Different type units, different locations, different opinions on dangers. 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. Does this mean addressing to a crowd? 2) by my research, medics suffered 93% casualties with about 33% deaths. 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. aND, mAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! The Tet Offensive succeeded on only one front and that was the News front and the political arena. The early days of May 1970, I arrived at the Airport, next to Saigon. Date: March 8, 2020 Author: pdoggbiker 97 Comments Photo above is of Stanley Kober with RTO, John Scheur. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. 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. 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.. Cruz quite a lot. 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. 4 Charlie Ranallo, were on No. I never saw any correlation as to what MOS a soldier was and their survival rate. . What is the life expectancy of Vietnam veterans? Staying alive was kinda of important. The TOTAL number of CIB and CMB awarded would give you the answer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Contents1 [] Often as not he was right beside you with a stolen chicken and a bag of rice. Then the tempo changed suddenly and violently. I was a REMF but Ive heard of 05Cs that were stuck out in the boonies on a firebase. 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. 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. Once we turned on the radar they could hit us with a harm missile. Fact: 86% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasians, 12.5% were black, 1.2% were other races. If my memory is correct, only the 1st Cab flew wiith doorgunners. 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. I pumped 200 rounds into that riverbank. Thats what I figured but didnt know for sure. Both halves quickly swept toward the river to clear the village. The incredibly important role in the U.S. Army is responsible for defending the country through real-life combat. A "Sapper" is a combat engineer soldier who is with the front line infantry troops. Sergeant Galiano's experience does not deny Brands depiction of the battle in Vietnam, but offers a typically overlooked perspective of a drafted soldier fighting in the central highlands of Vietnam. ), special forces, combat support, engineering, medics, and vehicle assault weapons. Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be in prison only one-half of one percent of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes. Company A searched in vain for the platoon in the dark and finally found the shattered unit on the morning of May 19. I prayed I would not have to fire over the heads of the 4th Platoon troops entering the draw to retrieve our dead. The helicopter provided unprecedented mobility. We fought to an agreed stalemate. Bob Sanzone. It doesnt make any sense statistically/mathematically it is impossible. The one number that is really important is 56,220 and we all know what that number represents. 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. The enemy fire ceased, and we made arrangements to collect our dead before continuing on to Company A. If it was your day to get hit or die, it happened. Soldiers from 2nd Platoon, Company C, 87th Infantry Regiment, walk on patrol north of the Long . Your email address will not be published. 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. Me, a vehicle mechanic with Btry E, 41st Arty Quads 1970. (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. If it had been up to me, I would have awarded my gun the CIB too. Ordered to reinforce the unit, the Company B commander put our four platoons abreast of each other, and we marched west. Some Brothers said why spend another year in this hellhole???? John Doever One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. Done ranting. The Vietnam War was the turning point for Communism. We were very, lucky. I flew Dustoff and our unit did not have M60s for protection, nor did any other Dustoff unit that Im aware of. El subjuntivo Enter the the Ksp expression forC2D3 in terms of the molar solubility x.? 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. 1 Gun and I survived our first firefight. Was I lucky ? Many were killed or wounded ! The machine guns were numbered within each platoon. BUT WE MUST ALSO BE COGNIZANT OF OUR REQUIREMENT TO BE COMPASSIONATE HUMAN BEINGS. Was No. I was a medic on one for two yrs and the only weapon I was issue was a six-shot .38. I met a Marine a few years ago who was stationed North of Da Nang. His body was torn to pieces. It didnt matter who you were or where you were. we were getting it with machine gun and mortars. Had multiple Ks and Ws. Then we learned, appx: 1 mile to our North was, an American AMMO storage area. Originally I went to the 543d TC. Contents 1 Unclear objectives 2 North Vietnamese strategy The jungle seemed to want No. As soon as he did, a round hit him in the forehead, blowing out the back of his skull. %PDF-1.5 % It was very nearly my last. Company B had seven dead, Grandstaff announced, and I was to take No. In 1973, Renza opened his own salon in Peekskill. I think the number of Army and Hospital Corpsmen serving with the Marine Corp was very high, with the ratio of the number of them over there. We observed the rules of the Geneva Convention while the bad guys had no interest in doing so. Welcome Home Brothers ! Still, militarily, the Tet Offensive was a total defeat of the Communist forces on all fronts. Some unfortunately also came home with physical scars. Despite initial victories by the Communists forces, the Tet Offensive resulted in a major defeat of those forces. 1st Cav, 101st, etc. When I popped back up to put out some automatic fire, a bullet whizzed by my earno more than an inch from my headand slammed into the tree next to me, shattering the bark. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. He said fighting was especially deadly in the war-torn city of Bakhmut, dubbed "the meat . A documentary about our company and our 1st Sgt was made. I also was 2/327 B company. As I remember it the life expectancy was based on after the ambush was sprung or the fire fight started. Rarely do we examine war through the unique bond between a man and his weaponin this case the M60 machine gun. They were also in a circular formation. Although we do tend to bomb a lot, thats only half of what we do. 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. DeLong had only fired the weapon once in training, so I let him fire off a few rounds to practice. I was over there twice serving as a Hospital Corpsman with a marine unit. Me molesta que mis padres no ______ (cuidar) su alimentacin.. 3. Supported by a shoulder strap, No. My 31-months in-country was in three Direct Support US Army aviation units, 15TC BN, First Cav, 335TH, Americal and 17TH Cav 101ST ABD65-71In the last battle I was directly involved, LAM SON 719, into Laos, cost army aviation units over 600-helicopters shot down or battle damagedthe NVA were waiting for our SECRET mission in early 71I was glad to go home at battles end, in March 71 , almost unscathed, I was TDY for my absurd third tourTo the point, many ARVN Rangers, airborne and their other best died in Lam Son 719US Army Infantry were forbidden entry to Laos in 71.. the ARVN were massacredand many US Army pilots and crew mambers were KIA & WIAeven MIA. I credit my longetivity to great training at Ft Benning. 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. After a quick lesson, DeLong became the new owner of 4th Platoons No.1 Gun. Approximately 70% of those killed in Vietnam were volunteers. An Rtos job was essential, tough,(Carrying the extra weight of the radio transmitter along with his rucksack), and dangerous. As the entire platoon hit the ground, I saw guys crawling back toward me. Welcome Home Roger. I personally believe and agree with previous posts that when its your time, not much you can do. He served as a sergeant with the Big Red One in Lai Khe, Vietnam. If you were an administrative officer or clerk in an air-conditioned trailer in Saigon, your war might be a lot like peacetime duty. I wasnt aware that they kept life expectancy statistics. They also struggled with logistical problems and the complex political situation in Vietnam. I was a point man, M60 Gunner and squad leader. Carrying a dead man some 300 yards through thick jungle in 100-degree heat was extraordinarily difficult. Fact: The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. Over the next two months, we exchanged fire with groups of the NVA. Vietnam veterans' personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent. We all gotta die sometime, Red. SSgt Barnes, Platoon, its nothing to really concern yourself with, on a long enough time line everyones survival rate is 0%. Hey Robert I was with the 38th Scout Dog Plt. I knew some of this, but certainly not all. Jimmy aaja, jimmy aaja. I handled Top Secret Commo on a daily basis. We looked for cover and returned fire the best we could. 11,465 of those killed were younger than 20 years old. 76% of the men sent to Vietnam were from lower middle/working class backgrounds. Please do not send samples. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 10-4. Our home base was Quang Tri fire Base, But I spent about 6 months out at Mai Loc with the rig. As some said, averages are meaningless. Background [ edit] It means, IF (!) I traveled to Fort Lewis, Washington, and trained there for 10 months before deploying to Vietnam as specialist 4. Ron. 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. hmK#1+yNvA Life expectancy at birth. My shit got weak and a sniper popped three rounds in my young ass. Before he was drafted Renza had worked as a hairdresser for women in his hometown of Peekskill, New York. Work Plz. The dead were placed on ponchos. We had 5 kias and roughly 50 wounded in our company so about one in three got hit. I was with HHC and 1st Platoon C Company in 70-71. I never thought of it that way before but have many times since. Anxiously extending the bipod legs on the M60, I added a 100-round belt to the one I already had in the gun. It was reported as an overwhelming success for the Communist forces and a decided defeat for the U.S. forces. 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. Stop staring at your computer already, get up. I know the scouts in my company had a slightly longer rate but not much. 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. I personally carried 300 rounds of ammo at all times, one belt in the gun and two across my chest. 1 Gun, I jumped into a small dry streambed with Domke, my assistant gunner. As I carried a PRC25 radio for over seven-months in the > Nam, I was curious to find out what I did RIGHT to surv >, One MOS I figured was a sure short timer was POL{Fuel} Truck Driver. where can i find red bird vienna sausage? We walked the mountains and rice patties all thru Tu Thien Province. They were great patriots fighting for their families and their homeland. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Address: 9241 13th Ave SW Not long after the artillery barrage ended, the North Vietnamese swept through 4th Platoon and executed some of the survivors. But I made it back in one piece. I've never heard about the life expectancy of 6 weeks (even with a short google search). See you in the next life!!!!! We wanted a break. In my tour everyone had the same chance of getting shot. Half of the company hopped off the Huey on one side of the river, and the rest exited on the other side. The gas-operated, belt-fed gun had a maximum rate of fire of 550-650 rounds per minute. Together we had passed the test. Now, to calmly answer your question, air strikes have actually been an efficient technique used by us for years now. Thats my experience. located on the South End of, the Post. In total, the 7th Infantry spent four years in Vietnam. I am one lucky SOB. 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. That was supposed to be 58, 220. but wait, there are more numbers for the same story.