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Non-divisional aeromedical evacuation units went by the callsign DUSTOFF. Thats why they called us GRUNTS ! Take out the power center, youve got the edge. 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. hb```8fB cBLd2>Tb jz1@E; aK6Tmc.Nn"&gn7hj'wm,h d6p4u0`&88:,TMV& y@ b=e>a&^ >{2b`ZHE3psn QZ It was more or less next man up . Point, slack and compass. 4314 0 obj <> endobj I wasnt aware that they kept life expectancy statistics. My second tour was as the S3 for LTC Anthony Herbertone of Americas greatest leaders and WARRIORS OF ALL TIME. 1 Gun more than I did. 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. That was a hell of a responsibility to take on. Veteran Owned Since 1986. Date: March 8, 2020 Author: pdoggbiker 97 Comments Photo above is of Stanley Kober with RTO, John Scheur. I had been shot in the back early in the battle and was lying behind a log with two other soldiers. Certainly got my attention. By this census, FOUR OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE VIETNAM VETS ARE NOT. You were a Great RTO. The American military did not lose a battle of any consequence. 4 Paul Domke, who carried extra belts of ammo and fed them into the gun. That same day, I along with 3/4 others was transported to Long Bhin Post. Why is my internet redirecting to gslbeacon.ligit.com and how do I STOP THIS. The Kb of pyridine, C5H5N, is 1.5 x 10-9. So I guess i lasted longer than I was supposed to. Tumbling end over end, the canisters exploded in a white-hot fireball. Posterior Thigh _____ 4. They were lazy, cowardly and of questionable loyalty, especially the RUFF/PUFFS, and they would steal your under ware if given half a chance. Together we had passed the test. Umm..maybe its because we also learn from experience. Please do not send samples. As a result, less than one percent of all Americans wounded, who survived the first 24 hours, died. I loved it. The incident in the photo took place on the second day of a three day battle between the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) who occupied the village of Trang Bang and the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) who were trying to force the NVA out of the village. Im laying behind a rice paddie dike.I put my whole body as far down in the muck while the bullets were over my head. (tirotactico.net). a RTO got killed, it happened within 5 seconds but not that always ALL RTOs got killed. I applaud the courage and difficult and all so dangerous job of Roger Herforth when he served as an RTO for the Hawk Recon Platoon of the 101st airborne division in Vietnam.. Love this analysis. 1 Gun. Before he was drafted Renza had worked as a hairdresser for women in his hometown of Peekskill, New York. They were great patriots fighting for their families and their homeland. In fact, after the 5-year post-service period, the rate of suicides is less in the Vietnam veterans group. 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. Done ranting. Lowering my gun, I turned around and noticed two VC sitting in the doorway of the hut, staring at me. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. year old Marine thinking this is my last day on earth. An Rtos job was essential, tough,(Carrying the extra weight of the radio transmitter along with his rucksack), and dangerous. May they rest in peace. I personally believe and agree with previous posts that when its your time, not much you can do. They used the callsign MEDIVAC and were armed. located on the South End of, the Post. He then said that they were generally on patrol moving through their area, both attacking and being attacked depending if the VC knew their location. The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall): Average age of 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years. His body was torn to pieces. From Cam Rahn, we kept flying north to, a Landing Zone near QUANG TRI. All of the next day, we could see SMOKE from the fire caused by the explosions of the AMMO at, the AMMO DUMP. The man listed as missing was machine gunner Joe DeLong, captured along with No. I was told my life expectancy was about 45 secs during a fire fight because of the weapons and demo I carried. 99% of infantry men will currently live to die of natural causes. Well, according to current mortality and morbidity statistics for the USright around 77.5 Years! The average age of the 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. It was the silent power of the pig, I suppose. The Tet Offensive succeeded on only one front and that was the News front and the political arena. Thank You Roger!!! 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 worried about that kind of leadership style in the highlands. (LogOut/ KICK ASS AS NEEDED!!! I was a grunt with c co. 4/31 196th it inf bade. A former expert with the M60 machine gun shares his experiences wielding the fearsome weapon in Vietnam. It doesnt make any sense statistically/mathematically it is impossible. Dap, Hope this helps. Vietnam Veterans represented 9.7% of their generation. In Vietnam he cut the hair of everyone in his company for free. All that other stuff about seconds and minutes were story tellers, embellishing things to impress some listeners back home. I saw killed and wounded everywhere in our combat operations. But I made it back in one piece. meaning what is the chance of me getting killed in combat. Sholly finally agreed and stated that the next time we received replacements I could give one of them my M60. At Fort Lewis, every recruit learned to operate various weapons. Rules may have changed, I was in the Delta region. Bravo, 3/187th Inf, 101st Airborne Div, 2nd Plt, 2nd Sq, Hamburger Hill, May 69. Still shaken, I grabbed the gun and crawled to the left inside the streambed. Nervous, I set up my gun on the hill and loaded a new hundred-round belt. 58,148 were killed in Vietnam, 75,000 severely disabled, 23,214 were 100% disabled, 5,283 lost limbs and 1,081 sustained multiple amputations. 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. I personally carried 300 rounds of ammo at all times, one belt in the gun and two across my chest. Then we all, loaded on C-147 cargo planes. Different jobs have different life expectancy. To an, open area. The Republic of Vietnam lost 1,018 aircraft and helicopters from January 1964 to September 1973. wias. As soon as he did, a round hit him in the forehead, blowing out the back of his skull. How Many Vietnam War Veterans Are Still Alive? At that time, an infantry company consisted of about 150 men. Thats my experience. Quickly learned to control rate of fire. No. Me, a vehicle mechanic with Btry E, 41st Arty Quads 1970. It was very nearly my last. Contents 1 Unclear objectives 2 North Vietnamese strategy He said when they were ambushed they took defensive positions, returned fire, called for assistance when needed, and retreated when necessary. If you have other information let me know. Change). 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. Name the major nerves that serve the following body areas? Bloody May 1968 Mini TET. 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! We are a woman-owned small business and Veteran-owned incorporated in Ohio. Ambulances are not supposed to be armed (either) though in training, medics are told they and their vehicles will be a prime target. Total fantasy. We went out typically in two boat patrols one lead one cover . The dead were placed on ponchos. If you were an administrative officer or clerk in an air-conditioned trailer in Saigon, your war might be a lot like peacetime duty. In Company A, 22 men had been killedadded to the seven killed in Company B. My dog and I walked point my whole tour in Vietnam. 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). We soon learned that the NVA troops were very different from the local guerrillas we had fought around Tuy Hoa. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. Sometimes on Family Guy when there about to take someones heart out they say, calimar or maybe its spelled different. Well he didnt make it. Anxiously extending the bipod legs on the M60, I added a 100-round belt to the one I already had in the gun. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I want to know what the life expectancy of a us infantry army soldier is. I was an RTO for 9-1/2 months for Hawk Recon 2/327 101AB from dec, 1969 to sept 70. Great information. I was an M-60 machine gunner for a battalion recon platoon in 1967, for the First Infantry Division, Known as The Black Scarf Battalion. I remember we were always short of replacements throughout 1968 because of the high Kia & wounded rate we suffered at that time ! While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. 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 Different strokes for different folks in war fer sure. Fact: 86% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasians, 12.5% were black, 1.2% were other races. Then one hot, sunny day, while walking across rice paddies, we suddenly received small-arms fire from Viet Cong in some distant hills. Both served in A 2/18 1st Infantry Division For some reason, the written word of this article was somehow deleted and lost. According to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) there are now officially 58, 318 names on the wall. Address: 561 E Hines Hill Road Hudson, Ohio 44236 Phone: 1-800-650-0659 / 330-655-5050 Fax: 330-653-3750 Email: [emailprotected], Retail Store Hours: Monday-Friday: 9am - 5pm EST Saturdays: 10am -3pm (Oct-Jan) Sundays: Closed. He was killed in an ambush along with three others. Men and women die everyday. Roger Loves you too, Im sure. The 4th Platoon survivors stayed put for the night. I couldnt see DeLong and didnt know if No. then youd carry an extra 200 rounds of M60 ammo for the machine gunner , plus drag grenades , one smoke grenade plus etc. LUCK pure LUCK. S/F, There were no door gunners on dustoffs. Be glad you served with a soldiers soldier like LTC Herbert. Do the math. I was a 2LT on Hamburger Hill and had 4 RTOs over a 7 day period (excluding the times I ended up carrying my own radio). Despite initial victories by the Communists forces, the Tet Offensive resulted in a major defeat of those forces. Appx: 6 months in, all of the 543d TC joined forces with the 572d TC. The NVA had wedged a blocking force between our company and Company A, preventing us from advancing any farther. A much better approach would be/have been: of all the combat-casualties, what was their Everyone in the company hit the dirt. Was No. Got hit inside 15 minutes, first ambush we walked up too. Often as not he was right beside you with a stolen chicken and a bag of rice. 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. Sure, its softer than it was before, but the training they go through is intense, something a loser who spends his time on the computer all day attacking people he doesnt know anything about and all the facts CANNOT do. This makes calculations of those alive, even in 2017, difficult to maintain. Was I lucky ? Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21 years old. A "Sapper" is a combat engineer soldier who is with the front line infantry troops. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. To my surprise, I qualified as an expert with the M60 machine gun, nicknamed the pig because of the size, weight and sound of the weapon. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. 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. Calculate the pH of a solution of 0.157 M pyridine.? The Army suffered the most total casualties, 38,179 or 2.7 percent of its force. As some said, averages are meaningless. Here is an 18 Ive always considered myself damn lucky to make it out alive. 4 Bill May and Spc. 4 Joey Piambino were to my right in the streambed. approaching a village and a firefight starts). Walked point way to many times but never had contact. They were also in a circular formation. Here are statistics from the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF) as of November 1993. See also: Population Love you Wortman!!!! A dense mass of elephant grass hung over the riverbank, and he ducked under it. 101st Airborne Division. Lived too tell about it. 4329 0 obj <>stream 1 Gun onto a small hill and provide security while others retrieved them. 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%. 85% of Vietnam Veterans made successful transitions to civilian life. We had run patrols for about a month when I first saw action. We were about 700 yards east of Company A when it was ambushed by an NVA battalion. Flipping the safety off, I scanned the jungle in front of me. Ambushed on October 4th,1967. well I wonder how long your going to last lieutenant? One was holding a carbine. Startled, I quickly pointed my M60 at them. Explore the Life of a U.S. Infantryman in Vietnam. "The Cotton Balers, damn fine Soldiers." The Battalion returned to Fort Benning on October 11, 1970 and was inactivated. (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Spanish Help In the last 5 years the symptoms of PTSD and AO are starting getting worse in me. 11,465 of those killed were younger than 20 years old. They were a great bunch. Four platoons in a rifle company. Hack volunteered for service in Vietnam in 1968, joining the 1st Infantry Division. 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. Eventually I found a spot where the bed leveled off and began firing on the NVA. (and yes, you cant ask them, so it would have to be derived from the AA-reports and survivors).