S/F, There were no door gunners on dustoffs. As with much of the Vietnam War, the news media misreported and misinterpreted the 1968 Tet Offensive. 67-67 11B 4th Id. They also had a 12 gauge, and a M 79 grenade launcher and M 16. Soldiers also act in the mobilization of vehicles, weaponry, troops, and more. I carried the PRC-25 Radio most of that time. I, in turn, would take an M16 rifle, which felt like a feather in comparison. a RTO got killed, it happened within 5 seconds but not that always ALL RTOs got killed. 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:? Ambulances are not supposed to be armed (either) though in training, medics are told they and their vehicles will be a prime target. This is excellent! The man listed as missing was machine gunner Joe DeLong, captured along with No. Thank You General Vessey for the almost 53 years I have lived since that day. I think those numbers are percentages of US KIA, not mortality times. Soon after, Pfc. 2. I watched in horror as four NVA soldiers ambled through the branches of a downed tree that partially concealed us. 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. the life expectancy of a LT in Vietnam in major combat was 16 minutes. Expenditures for a body in a combat zone? What was the average life expectancy of a soldier in Vietnam? 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. Different type units, different locations, different opinions on dangers. My bud, Price took over as RTO. Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old. How old are Vietnam vets now? The first thing my platoon sgt. Flipping the safety off, I scanned the jungle in front of me. When Apache Snow began, I was an RTO, after Airborne, and before the CA on Dong Ap Bia, I became the AG for Roeski. 1 Gun before my luck ran out. both tours. by Zita Ballinger Fletcher 1/18/2022. I remember we were always short of replacements throughout 1968 because of the high Kia & wounded rate we suffered at that time ! Photo above is of Stanley Kober with RTO, John Scheur. In our spare time we did medevacs and medcaps for the local communities and when required inserted SEALs . E)V_5lu[vC3+"vg2L& 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.. .. For his actions, he was awarded the Congressional Medal if Honor. I worried about that kind of leadership style in the highlands. I was a grunt with c co. 4/31 196th it inf bade. I always was told that the life expectancy of a LT was 14 seconds in INITIAL combat versus 9 seconds for an RTO. Our home base was Quang Tri fire Base, But I spent about 6 months out at Mai Loc with the rig. As a point of reference, Patterson explained that combat troops in World War II, on average, spent 36 days in a combat environment; the average infantryman in Vietnam spent 245 days in constant. Yes, I made E4 at graduation, that was considered a NCO then. We fought to an agreed stalemate. 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. Although we do tend to bomb a lot, thats only half of what we do. 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 The American military did not lose a battle of any consequence. What Was It Like To Hump The Boonies in Vietnam? After about 30 minutes, the four enemy soldiers got up and left the area. For example: 7*x^2. Was No. I never saw any correlation as to what MOS a soldier was and their survival rate. I was an Artillery Forward Observer with the Infantry. According to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) there are now officially 58, 318 names on the wall. How could we lose a war we had already stopped fighting? Please do not send samples. Shermans had fairly thin armor (76mm at the thickest compared to a Tiger with 180mm at the thickest with most around 100mm). Mi hermana se sorprende N-F C-F Cl-F F-F 2 Answers C-F is the most polar. In that time 4 us kia and 4 wounded. No. Both halves quickly swept toward the river to clear the village. They were a great bunch. For example, life expectancy of male and female Veterans with household incomes less than $20,000, at respectively. Ever since that fateful day in 1967, I have often wondered what became of my beloved M60. 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. Do the math. Saw from mostly safe distance almost all the weapons systems that where there used. You just do the best job you can and if you got hit, so be it! 1 Gun. I had an assistant gunner, Spc. 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. I would carry when on ambush. They kept coming up the hill bringing more bodies to me until all seven had been found. Michael Doolittle..I was with 1/8 inf, 1st Brigade, and that day, March 22nd was also our darkest day. This is not Vietnam where a machine gunner's life expectancy was short because you had an entire army shooting at them. Sometimes on Family Guy when there about to take someones heart out they say, calimar or maybe its spelled different. 4 Bill May and Spc. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. 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 I was a point man, M60 Gunner and squad leader. (Getty Images) Most war stories are about soldiers and battles. A Marine on patrol crosses a rice paddy in Vietnam holding an M60 machine gun in 1966. Our chase after the enemy unwittingly led us into a large ambush. 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. 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. Despite initial victories by the Communists forces, the Tet Offensive resulted in a major defeat of those forces. Joe DeLong joined the company, and Sholly informed me that he would be the M60 gunner. Id love to see the casualties listed by Corps ? 4329 0 obj <>stream I was an Artillery Forward Observer 13F20 E-5 at that time. 4314 0 obj <> endobj 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. 101st Airborne Division. Wow I was 31.8 Gun shot Carried model 1200 Winchester shot gun WIA May 68 Article was great. Umm..maybe its because we also learn from experience. We all have opinions, this is mine. (tirotactico.net). 2,709,918 Americans served in uniform in Vietnam. 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! We could not see any enemy soldiers, but we could see smoke coming from their weapons through the trees. Suddenly I realized that my platoon sergeant was screaming at me to stop firing. 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. It didnt matter who you were or where you were. I did worry about the strength of my flax vest. Amen I was a machine gunner for 7 months 503rd infantry 173rd airborne and you hit the nail right on the head. wias. As mentioned, who kept track of that in the first place? Our 5th night there, the AMMO area started burning / blowing up. An Rtos job was essential, tough,(Carrying the extra weight of the radio transmitter along with his rucksack), and dangerous. 23,24 This study found that the death rate for Vietnam veterans was 1.3 times that for non-Vietnam veterans; however, the excess deaths were limited to Engineer Corps members (RR, 2.5). Now, to calmly answer your question, air strikes have actually been an efficient technique used by us for years now. The next morning, the blasting could still be, heard. I handled Top Secret Commo on a daily basis. Lucky you. Staying alive was kinda of important. Around 3 p.m., when Grandstaff realized we were about to be overrun, he called in artillery right on top of our location. He retired in 2012 and lives in Delray Beach, Florida. Your email address will not be published. During that same Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served was: 9,492,958. After a quick lesson, DeLong became the new owner of 4th Platoons No.1 Gun. What were the life expectancies of soldiers during the Vietnam War? A documentary about our company and our 1st Sgt was made. Sorry,I was one of your Brothers in Arms that helped talk you out of enlisting for another year in Vietnam. Then I dropped back down in the streambed to organize our ammo. Was Billeted near an Army medevac Unit and was offered a chance to lay on my stomach with an M16 and door gun for them I decided not a good Idea. If it had been up to me, I would have awarded my gun the CIB too. 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). MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. Four platoons in a rifle company. May they rest in peace. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. 2 Gun.. I was constantly untangling the barrel and bipod of the gun from grasping vines and branches. He was not the type to hump a radio. Bob Sanzone. The man with the carbine immediately dropped it, and the two VC surrendered. It doesnt make any sense statistically/mathematically it is impossible. well I wonder how long your going to last lieutenant? Half of the company hopped off the Huey on one side of the river, and the rest exited on the other side. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. 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. 1ST MAW 66-68. In Vietnam 70% 0f the casualties were Infantry BUT it might be 70% of ALL the Infantry that served in Vietnam. I kept the radio because I understood the power of having the first communication with the support mechanisms of the military. I spent 10 1/2 months in the jungles of Vietnam. Then the tempo changed suddenly and violently. This article appeared in the October 2021 issue of Vietnam magazine. Just published my book The Last Goodbye by John Fratangelo, available on line on Barnes and Noble and Amazon Prime Books, Getting great reviews. We had run patrols for about a month when I first saw action. Two of my closest friends in the company, Spc. We killed a lot of the enemy but we took few serious casualties. Five RTOs. However, Shermans were very outmatched by the German tanks on the field of battle. https://www.historynet.com/no-1-gun-an-m60-machine-gunner-in-vietnam-tells-his-story/, Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot, When 21 Sikh Soldiers Fought the Odds Against 10,000 Pashtun Warriors, Few Red Tails Remain: Tuskegee Airman Dies at 96.

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