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. In Vietnam, 1 in 400 of the wounded died of their . Arthur Parker and Spc. I had scary thoughts about myself humping the bush as a RTO, I was a real puny guy back then. 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 spent my year in Vietnam with the 1/22nd infantry part of the 4th division. located on the South End of, the Post. Quickly learned to control rate of fire. I was never hit by enemy fire even though they had multiple opportunities after that I was an rto for the company commander and I have to say both jobs were not fun. Answer (1 of 12): It heavily depends. In our spare time we did medevacs and medcaps for the local communities and when required inserted SEALs . We were in2dBn 503d . From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. He decided to stay even though he had a deep feeling he wasnt going to make it. 2 Gun.. Its just (bad) luck, fate, randomness theres no right or wrong, no justice or fairness, no reasoning. Some were constantly exposed to combat, some not so often. The fact that PDoggbiker cant find any decent calculation/explanation, tells us a lot. The article was interesting. I did worry about the strength of my flax vest. Really no mention of the regular rifleman. What is the life expectancy of Vietnam veterans? 11 c mos , meaning I was also cross trained for mortars . Enemy fire greeted as us as soon as we landed near the village. To an, open area. The earliest casualty record contains a date of death of . After a couple of hours, the Viet Cong stopped shooting and melted back into the jungle. For example: 7*x^2. 91% of Vietnam Veterans say they are glad they served. Enter the the Ksp expression forC2D3 in terms of the molar solubility x.? Work Plz. Some of my men didnt. Tony told me that either he or I would greet all incoming troops and we did- and here is the speech we gave to them. Some gave all. Forget the statistics, we all had a job to do, we went where we were told. Staying alive was kinda of important. In your rucksack . 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. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. The TOTAL number of CIB and CMB awarded would give you the answer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ron. As we were, steadily building up, our area for protection. For his actions, he was awarded the Congressional Medal if Honor. Nervous, I set up my gun on the hill and loaded a new hundred-round belt. I was an RTO for 9-1/2 months for Hawk Recon 2/327 101AB from dec, 1969 to sept 70. Grab some friends and go outside. Its not all written down. At that time, an infantry company consisted of about 150 men. I was told to help carry one of the bodies. The three of us had trained together at Fort Lewis and were good friends. They were lazy, cowardly and of questionable loyalty, especially the RUFF/PUFFS, and they would steal your under ware if given half a chance. I saw killed and wounded everywhere in our combat operations. In Company A, 22 men had been killedadded to the seven killed in Company B. 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%. Fighters and planes dont make up the Army, thats the Air Force. I kept the radio because I understood the power of having the first communication with the support mechanisms of the military. 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. Overrun and utterly destroyed, the 30-man 4th Platoon had suffered 21 killed and one missing. The dead were placed on ponchos. 1 Gun was on my hip with the safety off, ready to rock and roll. 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.. Sure but so was everyone else who went 12 months without getting killed or wounded. Walked point way to many times but never had contact. I watched in horror as four NVA soldiers ambled through the branches of a downed tree that partially concealed us. 1 Gun kept a lot of enemy heads down. The fact is that most machine gunners, RTOs, junior officers and other extremely dangerous jobs survived the war. The average life expectancy of a front-line soldier in eastern Ukraine is four hours, a Marine said. Five RTOs. 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. Rarely do we examine war through the unique bond between a man and his weaponin this case the . Nobody attacked, where we were. Here is an 18 By the time we reached Vietnam in October 1966 I felt the gun had become a part of me. It was always quick/quick, load the bodies in and get the hell out. 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. 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. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. 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 Artillery, and ground forces. It was reported as an overwhelming success for the Communist forces and a decided defeat for the U.S. forces. When Apache Snow began, I was an RTO, after Airborne, and before the CA on Dong Ap Bia, I became the AG for Roeski. Once we turned on the radar they could hit us with a harm missile. I was in 2nd Platoon and carried the platoons No. Thank You General Vessey for the almost 53 years I have lived since that day. As a result, less than one percent of all Americans wounded, who survived the first 24 hours, died. The other group of aeromedical evacuation were divisional, i.e. The CDC Vietnam Experience Study Mortality Assessment showed that during the first 5 years after discharge, deaths from suicide were 1.7 times more likely among Vietnam veterans than non-Vietnam veterans. Different jobs have different life expectancy. Fact: The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. I know this is a standard cliche, but it is so true, All gave some. July 68 to July 69. I was constantly untangling the barrel and bipod of the gun from grasping vines and branches. aND, mAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! 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! 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. The one that should be there is the combat medic. 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 Sometimes on Family Guy when there about to take someones heart out they say, calimar or maybe its spelled different. Calculate the pH of a solution of 0.157 M pyridine. Not to mention that right now its safer than some cities in the us. We fought to an agreed stalemate. 99% of infantry men will currently live to die of natural causes. No. 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. The casualty rate in the current war today is a fraction. What was the average life expectancy of a soldier in Vietnam? happened. Two of my closest friends in the company, Spc. Completa las oraciones con la forma correcta del presente de subjuntivo de los verbos entre parntesis.? My bud, Price took over as RTO. Or is it on display in a Hanoi museum so curious citizens of that city can inspect a weapon captured from American imperialists? Roger Loves you too, Im sure. Despite initial victories by the Communists forces, the Tet Offensive resulted in a major defeat of those forces. Bruce Grandstaff and my best friend, Sgt. Often as not he was right beside you with a stolen chicken and a bag of rice. 58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who served. well I wonder how long your going to last lieutenant? Yes, I made E4 at graduation, that was considered a NCO then. Lt lost a finger, same time. No. We were probably not too far away on that day. If you would like to get a copy, and cant find it, let me know, and I will make sure you get one. It was just north of Saigon. Deltoid muscle _____ 2. They were not randomly selected but simply the best at doing it. Be glad you served with a soldiers soldier like LTC Herbert. On the morning of March 22, 1967, companies A and B of my battalion began a search-and-destroy operation along the Cambodian border. We all have opinions, this is mine. Two rounds smashed into a log inches above my head. Flipping the safety off, I scanned the jungle in front of me. As far as I knew that was done in the whole battalion in 1968 . said to me. How Many Vietnam War Veterans Are Still Alive? 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. Unable to reach Company A, my company pulled back, formed a perimeter and called in air and artillery support. We could not see any enemy soldiers, but we could see smoke coming from their weapons through the trees. Jimmy aaja, jimmy aaja. 1 Gun onto a small hill and provide security while others retrieved them. Good article. 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. Company B had seven dead, Grandstaff announced, and I was to take No. Helicopters, F4 fighters. If you were an administrative officer or clerk in an air-conditioned trailer in Saigon, your war might be a lot like peacetime duty. The machine guns were numbered within each platoon. meaning what is the chance of me getting killed in combat. I wasnt aware that they kept life expectancy statistics. I assisted Vessey and Capt Cartwright by helping prepare the Bee Hive Rounds (first time they were ever used), firing 4 rounds at proximity 0 range into a human wave attack on or weak side after 5 hours of relentless attacks on the opposite side of the perimeter Those 4 rounds killed @ 400 enemy soldiers, of the 881 total enemy losss John Vessey later became a 4 Star general and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs appointed by Reagan 1983, and at retirement became Chair of the POW MIA Commission for 14 years, Passing away in August 2016 just 6 months before our 50th Reunion. Eventually I found a spot where the bed leveled off and began firing on the NVA. 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. If you look at all of the things the radio operators were tasked with, it becomes abundantly clear why commo guys weren't expected to last long. The Statistics in the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF 11/93) show an average age of death much higher than that of news reports. I was an Artillery Forward Observer 13F20 E-5 at that time. I remember we were always short of replacements throughout 1968 because of the high Kia & wounded rate we suffered at that time ! It was very nearly my last. 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. Sorry,I was one of your Brothers in Arms that helped talk you out of enlisting for another year in Vietnam. I also was 2/327 B company. Corrections and confirmations to this errored index resulted in the addition of 358 U.S. military personnel confirmed to have served in Vietnam but not originally listed by the Department of Defense (All names are currently on file and accessible 24/7/365). (tirotactico.net). Interesting reading. Over the next two months, we exchanged fire with groups of the NVA. Posterior Thigh _____ 4. The average age of the men killed: 23.1 years. The last American troops departed in their entirety 29 March 1973. Fact: No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. 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 was a grunt with c co. 4/31 196th it inf bade. 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. Expenditures for a body in a combat zone? Because if only 1 RTO fought for say only 10 or 15 minutes before being killed, that would up the AVG for the total war! While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. Then we all, loaded on C-147 cargo planes. 1ST MAW 66-68. 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. 1 Gun. I had an assistant gunner, Spc. Back in 1965, I was a door gunner on Medevac recovery operations. We flew north, then made a stop, in Cam Rahn Bay. Ambushed on October 4th,1967. You of course had the radio plus xtra batteries & handsets plus your rucksack with 7 to 8 canteens , 20 mags ( I used to carry 17 rounds in the mags instead of 20 ) because the springs would force the round into the chamber causing jams . 1 Gun, as always, thumped out a throaty roar as I fought desperately to push the enemy back. RIP KOOKIE forever young, Thank god you are still alive, I am age 77. I put the M60s bipod legs down, lifted the weapon and positioned it on the ground outside the streambed facing the NVA. I got shot on a mission with 45 days left. We had 5 kias and roughly 50 wounded in our company so about one in three got hit. 4 Charlie Ranallo, were on No. 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. The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall): Average age of 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years. After a quick lesson, DeLong became the new owner of 4th Platoons No.1 Gun. I prayed I would not have to fire over the heads of the 4th Platoon troops entering the draw to retrieve our dead. Two points: 1) at least in Army units, Medevacs (dust offs) flew unarmed aircraft. We observed the rules of the Geneva Convention while the bad guys had no interest in doing so. We killed a lot of the enemy but we took few serious casualties. Background [ edit] Great information. If you have other information let me know. to the empployees was very informative. 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. the life expectancy of a LT in Vietnam in major combat was 16 minutes. Non-divisional aeromedical evacuation units went by the callsign DUSTOFF. We went out typically in two boat patrols one lead one cover . Nixon Presidential Papers. Out of the 3,000,000 men and women in our armed forces and reserves, we have lost 4,500 in this 9 year war. We were discussing the different units and dangers of each. He retired in 2012 and lives in Delray Beach, Florida. 1 Gun more than I did. And yes, please God, bless America. 2: role (MOS?). The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. I think those numbers are percentages of US KIA, not mortality times. Love you Wortman!!!! 5 seconds. Cause-specific . In January 1967, the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry, was airlifted to Pleiku province in the Central Highlands. Why is my internet redirecting to gslbeacon.ligit.com and how do I STOP THIS. BS but ia a way you are correct. In the 1st Cav medics were right behind the rto making them a very easy find also. 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. As I remember it the life expectancy was based on after the ambush was sprung or the fire fight started.