life expectancy of an infantry soldier in vietnam life expectancy of an infantry soldier in vietnam

Every single . Ha Ha always enjoyed being a volunteer! The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall): Average age of 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years. Arthur Parker and Spc. What is the life expectancy of Vietnam veterans? Prayers for all. Wow I was 31.8 Gun shot Carried model 1200 Winchester shot gun WIA May 68 Article was great. Most of us have memories of these kind of experiences. I was a REMF but Ive heard of 05Cs that were stuck out in the boonies on a firebase. My good friend who was a RTO was killed. Every mission, I had the same thought. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. The income differentials in life expectancy for Veterans in 2011-14, however, are estimated to be smaller. The enemy fire ceased, and we made arrangements to collect our dead before continuing on to Company A. I was shot down on my very first mission in July 1968. My heart was pounding out of my chest. 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). I DISAGREETHE ENEMY WOULD SHOOT THE GUY NEXT TO THE RTO-KNOWING HE WAS THE COMMANDER. MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. I was also told that the Radio did put a target on my back. both tours. He served as a sergeant with the Big Red One in Lai Khe, Vietnam. 1st Cav, 101st, etc. My second tour was as the S3 for LTC Anthony Herbertone of Americas greatest leaders and WARRIORS OF ALL TIME. They kept coming up the hill bringing more bodies to me until all seven had been found. (LogOut/ Really no mention of the regular rifleman. This is not Vietnam where a machine gunner's life expectancy was short because you had an entire army shooting at them. The average age of the 58,148 US Servicemembers killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years (CACF) Going backwards (Apr. For example, life expectancy of male and female Veterans with household incomes less than $20,000, at respectively. No. We looked for cover and returned fire the best we could. Enemy fire greeted as us as soon as we landed near the village. I look over to 99% of infantry men will currently live to die of natural causes. 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 all in our Bunkers, and at the ready with our weapons. 2 Gun to Ranallo. Great story!!! Company A searched in vain for the platoon in the dark and finally found the shattered unit on the morning of May 19. Some very close calls but I am alive at age 74. Id love to see the casualties listed by Corps ? Welcome home brothers and sisters. Activated in 1915, as the 173rd Infantry Brigade, the unit saw service in World War II but is best known for its actions during the Vietnam War. Surrounded by an enemy battalion, our hopelessly outnumbered platoon waged a desperate battle for survival. I lost my cherry very early. African Americans played a prominent role in the Vietnam War. Lowering my gun, I turned around and noticed two VC sitting in the doorway of the hut, staring at me. 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 went out typically in two boat patrols one lead one cover . Fact: 86% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasians, 12.5% were black, 1.2% were other races. I remember hearing a Lieutenant (Kennedy) say to one of his two platoon RTOs My RTO is Foxtrot Uniform. 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. Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some of those who were listed as missing in action). we were getting it with machine gun and mortars. Thanks. There were two different groups that flew aeromedical evacuations. maybe your question i vauge. 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 I packed my own radio and got a Thank you from his Mom. It was an honor indeed to serve with some of the finest soldiers I have ever met. The one number that is really important is 56,220 and we all know what that number represents. The average time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one hour. 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 !!! I was told my life expectancy was about 45 secs during a fire fight because of the weapons and demo I carried. 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. Veteran Owned Since 1986. Point was the safest place to be,they knew to wait for key elements, RTO, Medica, M60 Gunners. The casualty rate in the current war today is a fraction. I want to know what the life expectancy of a us infantry army soldier is. Answer (1 of 12): It heavily depends. When Roeski got hit, I took over the M-60. The fact that PDoggbiker cant find any decent calculation/explanation, tells us a lot. I had scary thoughts about myself humping the bush as a RTO, I was a real puny guy back then. I just wanted to get off No. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. This is not Vietnam where a machine gunners life expectancy was short because you had an entire army shooting at them. 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. 15 May he was killed by friendly fire, and a host of us were WIA, myself included. Contents1 [] The man listed as missing was machine gunner Joe DeLong, captured along with No. Both halves quickly swept toward the river to clear the village. I was an O5C-20 in Vietnam. Two rounds smashed into a log inches above my head. my left and saw this rice paddie farmer and his ox and I was trying to motion him to get down he just looks at me and starts Half of the company hopped off the Huey on one side of the river, and the rest exited on the other side. I didnt make a move without that gun beside me. Foot soldiers went by the grace of God, but had a better chance than the infantry platoon commander in combat. I was a helicopter pilot Everyone in the company hit the dirt. Overrun and utterly destroyed, the 30-man 4th Platoon had suffered 21 killed and one missing. 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! You just do the best job you can and if you got hit, so be it! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_losses_of Once we turned on the radar they could hit us with a harm missile. I saw aircraft loaded with troops explode in mid-air. All that other stuff about seconds and minutes were story tellers, embellishing things to impress some listeners back home. As mentioned, who kept track of that in the first place? Our 5th night there, the AMMO area started burning / blowing up. Theres 58,276. Amen I was a machine gunner for 7 months 503rd infantry 173rd airborne and you hit the nail right on the head. Nobody attacked, where we were. After every officer in our company was either killed or had serious wounds, our 1st Sgt , David McNerney took over the company and without his leadership, and knowledge of war, and unbelievable courage, our company would probably have been wiped out. We all have opinions, this is mine. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. An infantry platoon commander in combat had an average of 6 weeks life expectancy. The average life expectancy of a front-line soldier in eastern Ukraine is four hours, a Marine said. 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. I am 16 years old an 150 pounds qith some good muscle. 1 gun and was hoping it would stay that way. So I guess I defied the odds. I've never heard about the life expectancy of 6 weeks (even with a short google search). 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. approaching a village and a firefight starts). No. Totally bogus. I never thought of it that way before but have many times since. I wasnt sure if the VC had moved to right or left, so I sprayed the elephant grass in both directions. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. E)V_5lu[vC3+"vg2L& I couldnt see DeLong and didnt know if No. The Kb of pyridine, C5H5N, is 1.5 x 10-9. . No. said to me. 2 Gun team, Ranallo and May, without any support. After about 30 minutes, the four enemy soldiers got up and left the area. According to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) there are now officially 58, 318 names on the wall. 1 gun! Everyone laughed. (LogOut/ The first six or seven months I walked point for our platoon and led many ambushes and green eye patrols. I worried about that kind of leadership style in the highlands. Of the eight who remained, seven were wounded. .. I felt the same way jumping off the chopper with my m-60, 300. rounds of ammo,grenades,sandbags and six canteens of water. wmy:LsN{/^yzJ] 6.7>n-:FqOa#CW>ia?wt?Xa@ghCd bF)`Schl4*f. It was on the Job Training ! All of the next day, we could see SMOKE from the fire caused by the explosions of the AMMO at, the AMMO DUMP. The smell of those charred bodies, blackened and smoking from the napalm strike, is something I can never forget. At Fort Lewis, every recruit learned to operate various weapons. Ordered to reinforce the unit, the Company B commander put our four platoons abreast of each other, and we marched west. Correct. 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? Here is an 18 Cause-specific . I applaud your courage as I know an RTOs job is essential, difficult (carrying the weight of his radio transmitter, his rifle, his ammo, and his rucksack), and dangerous as the enemy surely wanted to knock out any communications for support. 1 Gun became my very best friend. I couldnt disagree. . Our Aussie Dust off choppers had door gunners, we worked on the theory if the Noggies would shot at Red Cross choppers, we would return fire, Aussie grunt, 60000 00 Aussies fought in Vietnam, Up the Old Red Rooster and more beer. At this time- senior Army leadership ordered us all to read the Geneva Convention to our troops because of the My Lai debachle. Vietnam Veterans were the best educated forces our nation had ever sent into combat. I met a Marine a few years ago who was stationed North of Da Nang. As the entire platoon hit the ground, I saw guys crawling back toward me. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. All the comments and replies are of absolute truth, I was only 18 when I got to Nam ,Im a country boy from NC so here I am Together we had passed the test. Still shaken, I grabbed the gun and crawled to the left inside the streambed. Fact: The domino theory was accurate. What were the life expectancies of soldiers during the VietnamWar? Thank You General Vessey for the almost 53 years I have lived since that day. 1 Gun and I survived our first firefight. No. 1 Gun, as always, thumped out a throaty roar as I fought desperately to push the enemy back. V. Victor Renza was sent home after he was wounded on May 18, 1967. I put the M60s bipod legs down, lifted the weapon and positioned it on the ground outside the streambed facing the NVA. I was never formally trained as an RTO. The peace settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. 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.