US Wings is a verified SAM Contractor and DLA Supplier and is officially listed as a manufacturer/retailer in the US Department of Commerce's Office of Textile and Apparel (OTEXA) Made in the USA database. 11 c mos , meaning I was also cross trained for mortars . He pulled the company into a perimeter and dispatched 4th Platoon to recon the trail to the west, while 1st Platoon performed a similar mission to the east-southeast. My bud, Price took over as RTO. I sure feel for all you guys that went outside the wire. Was I lucky ? where can i find red bird vienna sausage? The Republic of Vietnam lost 1,018 aircraft and helicopters from January 1964 to September 1973. The fact that PDoggbiker cant find any decent calculation/explanation, tells us a lot. Your email address will not be published. Roger Loves you too, Im sure. Vietnam War soldiers endured many hardships and faced many problems. Ron. 82nd 2/505th. This is not Vietnam where a machine gunners life expectancy was short because you had an entire army shooting at them. Thank You General Vessey for the almost 53 years I have lived since that day. The gas-operated, belt-fed gun had a maximum rate of fire of 550-650 rounds per minute. Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some of those who were listed as missing in action). It was one of my most memorable tours in the Navy I later went to a carrier and was bored silly because I had about 1% of the responsibilities I had as an O-2. From the Landing Zone, we were carried not too far. 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.. The three of us had trained together at Fort Lewis and were good friends. And us the living that served, who suffer from PTSD ,that figure or percent-aged would be about the greatest of all. We looked for cover and returned fire the best we could. Two of my closest friends in the company, Spc. In Company A, 22 men had been killedadded to the seven killed in Company B. 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. However, Shermans were very outmatched by the German tanks on the field of battle. 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. I saw aircraft loaded with troops explode in mid-air. I always felt that Infantry units were in more danger because of ambush issues and no permanent defensive structures. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. The fact is that most machine gunners, RTOs, junior officers and other extremely dangerous jobs survived the war. 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. We were probably not too far away on that day. It was an honor indeed to serve with some of the finest soldiers I have ever met. meaning what is the chance of me getting killed in combat. The one that should be there is the combat medic. We had one RTO killed because he was too close to a 2ND Lt, same thing happened to another RTO. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. The TOTAL number of CIB and CMB awarded would give you the answer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They were not randomly selected but simply the best at doing it. You were a Great RTO. 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! See also: Population 2023 CherriesWriter - Vietnam War website, RTO, John Scheur. An interesting comment I had. I am proud to have fought alongside of them. Vietnam War the helicopters that came in to transport soldiers were the hardest hit with mass casualties . The article was interesting. He said when they were ambushed they took defensive positions, returned fire, called for assistance when needed, and retreated when necessary. I was told to show the new guy how to use it properly. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Before he was drafted Renza had worked as a hairdresser for women in his hometown of Peekskill, New York. Really no mention of the regular rifleman. My assistant gunner and my ammo bearer also carried 300 rounds each. I just wanted to get off No. Ordered to reinforce the unit, the Company B commander put our four platoons abreast of each other, and we marched west. I was shot down on my very first mission in July 1968. I was a medic on one for two yrs and the only weapon I was issue was a six-shot .38. There were also wounded. The jungle seemed to want No. Take out the power center, youve got the edge. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. It was very nearly my last. I told by RTO that i could carry my own radio, When he agreed he was humping ammo. Nobody attacked, where we were. !We dont abuse prisoners Now, if he reaches for his weapon to continue the fight BLOW HIS ASS AWAY THIS AINT SUNDAY SCHOOL!!! _____ 1. 4 Joey Piambino were to my right in the streambed. It was always quick/quick, load the bodies in and get the hell out. Then I dropped back down in the streambed to organize our ammo. Just to show that its hard to get an accurate number, note my typo of 56,220. That same day, I along with 3/4 others was transported to Long Bhin Post. %PDF-1.5 % PLEASE HELP!!! This has been going on for about a week Every time I try to watch a video on Youtube from my laptop I get instantly redirected to "gslbeacon.ligit.com." Sorry,I was one of your Brothers in Arms that helped talk you out of enlisting for another year in Vietnam. I am 16 years old an 150 pounds qith some good muscle. I remember we were always short of replacements throughout 1968 because of the high Kia & wounded rate we suffered at that time ! Once we turned on the radar they could hit us with a harm missile. Everyone in the company hit the dirt. https://open.spotify.com/show/5Th7BCpIKDE1hVTqNL3u0Q. Comments were more interesting than the article it self. John Doever My good friend who was a RTO was killed. When Apache Snow began, I was an RTO, after Airborne, and before the CA on Dong Ap Bia, I became the AG for Roeski. A soldier or Marine in Vietnam had a 98% chance of survival if he was evacuated within the first hour of being injured the best odds in the history of American warfare up to that time. 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. Company B arrived in-country with four rifle platoons, and each platoon was armed with two M60s. 1 Gun. I for one commend you for your courage and thank you for your service to your country. I was wounded 3 times during the 10 1/2 months I was in-country before being medevacd out in Apr of 68. So I guess i lasted longer than I was supposed to. 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. In 1973, Renza opened his own salon in Peekskill. The Indonesians threw the Soviets out in 1966 because of Americas commitment in Vietnam. Fighters and planes dont make up the Army, thats the Air Force. Really? Hurrying forward with No. I always found life expectancy numbers interesting in that I could never find any supporting information that could be validated. Our chase after the enemy unwittingly led us into a large ambush. We were in2dBn 503d . I am one lucky SOB. In my tour everyone had the same chance of getting shot. I too never understood survivor quilt, Enjoyed your article. 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. Love you Wortman!!!! The first six or seven months I walked point for our platoon and led many ambushes and green eye patrols. of what was usually 5 or 6 going in and many times the leads would find traps, punji pits or the VC waiting. If it had been up to me, I would have awarded my gun the CIB too. They were lazy, cowardly and of questionable loyalty, especially the RUFF/PUFFS, and they would steal your under ware if given half a chance. Rarely do we examine war through the unique bond between a man and his weaponin this case the . Fact: No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. As mentioned, who kept track of that in the first place? I had scary thoughts about myself humping the bush as a RTO, I was a real puny guy back then. 74% say they would serve again, even knowing the outcome. I had a 20% death rate in my Hospital Corpsman Class. First thing we did was, Set up a complete circular perimeter. In an instant the jungle erupted in gunfire. Every mission, I had the same thought. A "Sapper" is a combat engineer soldier who is with the front line infantry troops. Amazingly, the NVA men then walked a short distance away, sat down and ate lunch. KICK ASS AS NEEDED!!! Umm..maybe its because we also learn from experience. I will always think/say, we had absolutely no reason for being in that place. El subjuntivo The 4th Platoon survivors stayed put for the night. At this time- senior Army leadership ordered us all to read the Geneva Convention to our troops because of the My Lai debachle. I didnt make a move without that gun beside me. Carried the prc25 for about 7 months. Deltoid muscle _____ 2. Some Brothers said why spend another year in this hellhole???? Bravo, 3/187th Inf, 101st Airborne Div, 2nd Plt, 2nd Sq, Hamburger Hill, May 69. Also, it would mean the killed RTOs died within seconds of the fight (it doesnt distinguish between ambush or regular fight, eg. It was just part of the job. I was told to help carry one of the bodies. By mid-April 1967 I was pleading with the captain to get a replacement gunner for my M60 in 4th Platoon. Both my tours were in the Delta (IV Corps) where the only ground troops were regular ARVNs and RUFF/PUFFS. We had 5 kias and roughly 50 wounded in our company so about one in three got hit. It doesnt make any sense statistically/mathematically it is impossible. There is no difference in drug usage between Vietnam Veterans and non-Vietnam Veterans of the same age group (Source: Veterans Administration Study). Soon I could take the gun apart and put it back together in the dark. The U.S. Infantryman Vietnam Pocket Manual contains gems such as infantry "patrol tips," maneuver techniques, and fighting methods for various environments. The average life expectancy of a front-line soldier in eastern Ukraine is four hours, a Marine said. Every single . Four platoons in a rifle company. US Wings provides aviation apparel to the U.S. Government and commercial customers along with the general public. 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. 4 Answers aaja Come. February 5 th, 1967, Galiano was headed to Saigon, Vietnam with 90 fellow Americans on an Air Force c-131, but orders were quickly altered . 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. He was not the type to hump a radio. US Wings recently added to OTEXA's Made in U.S.A. We gathered the casualties and set out for Company A. "The Cotton Balers, damn fine Soldiers." The Battalion returned to Fort Benning on October 11, 1970 and was inactivated. 2 Gun team, Ranallo and May, without any support. Still, militarily, the Tet Offensive was a total defeat of the Communist forces on all fronts. Like you, I carried a PRC-25 for about 5 months and never got hit. Please do not send samples. If you were an administrative officer or clerk in an air-conditioned trailer in Saigon, your war might be a lot like peacetime duty. Cluster F, SNAFU and FUBAR fer sur. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. 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. 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. I picked up my M60 and walked to the center of the perimeter, where I found the company commander, Capt. Contents1 [] Had multiple Ks and Ws. For example, life expectancy of male and female Veterans with household incomes less than $20,000, at respectively. 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 Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21 years old. 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. Our patrols were typically about 14 hours 24/7 We operated of old LSTs and large barges. 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. maybe your question i vauge. I carried the proc 26 radio after I was asked by my field 1st ( E 7 ) if I would for my platoon . Was No. by Zita Ballinger Fletcher 1/18/2022. then youd carry an extra 200 rounds of M60 ammo for the machine gunner , plus drag grenades , one smoke grenade plus etc. They were glad to see me as it had been a while for replacements with the unit. Me molesta que mis padres no ______ (cuidar) su alimentacin.. 3. The Vietnamese pilot who dropped the napalm in error is currently living in the United States. Moving west down the trail, 4th Platoon exchanged fire with a single NVA soldier, then a handful and finally a group of about 10-15 around noon. Tumbling end over end, the canisters exploded in a white-hot fireball. In your rucksack . I quit trying to make sense of all the numbers that have been generated about Vietnam. 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. The casualty rate in the current war today is a fraction. After a quick lesson, DeLong became the new owner of 4th Platoons No.1 Gun. In Vietnam, 1 in 400 of the wounded died of their . 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. I have a fried Who is killed in Vietnam six months before I got there cause of death was other how would I find out since his parents are long gone, Do a search for his name n Coffeltdatabase.org, Sir, would you mind me translating this into Spanish and getting it posted in our blog? News media have reported tha an American commander ordered the air strike that burned Kim Phuc.Those are incorrect. Correct. Cause-specific . Date: March 8, 2020 Author: pdoggbiker 97 Comments Photo above is of Stanley Kober with RTO, John Scheur. Nixon Presidential Papers. 1: physical position (in the field / column) Sometimes on Family Guy when there about to take someones heart out they say, calimar or maybe its spelled different. I was already lugging around a 24-pound weapon, 300 rounds of ammo and a pack that weighed a good 45 pounds. The rule of thumb was , any new guys would get the radio and keep it until another new guy came in. 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. As soon as he did, a round hit him in the forehead, blowing out the back of his skull. Database. No trees or anything on the ground. Three-fourths had family incomes above the poverty level; 50% were from middle income backgrounds. They were also in a circular formation. First Sgt. Back in 1965, I was a door gunner on Medevac recovery operations. Great information. Thats what I figured but didnt know for sure. The Vietnam War was the turning point for Communism. Thank You Roger!!! We had run patrols for about a month when I first saw action. They kept coming up the hill bringing more bodies to me until all seven had been found. We were discussing the different units and dangers of each. Nevertheless, I swung No. They have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups. I wasnt aware that they kept life expectancy statistics. Interesting reading. 99% of infantry men will currently live to die of natural causes. In total, the United States military lost in Vietnam almost 10,000 aircraft, helicopters and UAVs (3,744 planes, 5,607 helicopters and 578 UAVs). Then one hot, sunny day, while walking across rice paddies, we suddenly received small-arms fire from Viet Cong in some distant hills. We went out typically in two boat patrols one lead one cover . I carried the PRC-25 for most of a year. It was a daily challenge to know who your real enemy was. I was told my life expectancy was about 45 secs during a fire fight because of the weapons and demo I carried. It was the silent power of the pig, I suppose. 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. Anyway I was wondering about the RTOs in a grunt platoon, was that their MOS or were they 11B that carried a PRC ? I was an Artillery Forward Observer with the Infantry. rice farmer who was still working with is ox like nothing ever You just do the best job you can and if you got hit, so be it! After that initial post-service period, Vietnam veterans were no more likely to die from suicide than non-Vietnam veterans. It may not have worked for some other wars, but they were pretty helpful. 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). During this Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country is: 13,853,027. Enemy fire greeted as us as soon as we landed near the village. NFS. 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. hbbd```b`` ,&Iw sA '#o David H. McNerney, who assumed command of the company when all of its officers were killed or wounded, was presented with the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony in September 1968. 4329 0 obj <>stream Id love to see the casualties listed by Corps ? Different type units, different locations, different opinions on dangers. The rolling fire burned everything to the ground and undoubtedly killed scores of NVA. Ever since that fateful day in 1967, I have often wondered what became of my beloved M60. Interesting but something is missing. In the few firefights and skirmishes we had with local VC, the gun always performed well. What were the life expectancies of soldiers during the Vietnam War? Ha Ha always enjoyed being a volunteer! 1 Gun used to kill Americans? What unit lost the most soldiers in Vietnam? These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. While traveling through the boonies the first few men were usually always shot first. Background [ edit] Done ranting. Certainly got my attention. A former expert with the M60 machine gun shares his experiences wielding the fearsome weapon in Vietnam. They were well-armed, well-trained and knew how to fight. The Davis Station in Saigon was named for him. Change). A Co, 1/5 Cav, 1 Cav Division. By this census, FOUR OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE VIETNAM VETS ARE NOT. For some reason, the written word of this article was somehow deleted and lost. Ernest, Im glad that your first tour with the VN airborne was rewarding. I DISAGREETHE ENEMY WOULD SHOOT THE GUY NEXT TO THE RTO-KNOWING HE WAS THE COMMANDER. 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. 58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who served. Although we do tend to bomb a lot, thats only half of what we do. V. Victor Renza was sent home after he was wounded on May 18, 1967. 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. ), special forces, combat support, engineering, medics, and vehicle assault weapons. I got shot on a mission with 45 days left. aND, mAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! If the enemy was near, we never saw any. Can I use this word like this: The addressal by the C.E.O. means: 1 gets killed the 1st second, another one after 9 seconds avg.
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