For example, wealthy young men could afford to remain in college full-timeand even pursue advanced degrees following graduationin order to qualify for student deferments. The number of combat soldiers in Vietnam rose to Which made up only about 10% of the total American soldiers in Vietnam. With regards the first table, original studies and sources should be See also The History of the Ranch Hand Epidemiologic Investigation. veteran Tobias Wolff asked in Time. A few years later, we started talking. You love your friends in Alpha Companya kid named Chip, my buddy. Many factors combined to cause American combat troops to lash out violently against Vietnamese civilians. Myth: Most American soldiers were addicted to drugs, guilt-ridden about their role in the war, and deliberately used cruel and inhumane tactics. The men who served in Vietnam also tended to be younger than the U.S. soldiers who had fought in previous wars. But since it was often difficult to tell friends from enemies, the emphasis on body counts led to many civilian deaths. Here are some facts to clear up that poor job of reporting by the news media. What was the average age of soldiers in Vietnam? Packaging: Original (Unopened) Theme: TV, Movie & Video Games. The combat patrols rarely found any strong evidence linking the villages to the Viet Cong. Karnow, Stanley. WebFind many great new & used options and get the best deals for JXK1/6 North American Gray Wolf Model LXF2209 12" Soldier Accessory Decor Gift at the best online prices at eBay! Baskir, Lawrence M., and William A. Strauss. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. A marker has been ordered for his grave and is expected to be placed early next year. Very few U.S. soldiers came from upper-class families. bombers and were always exposed to hostile fire even in their base camps. only 10 to 20 minutes of that time exposed to hostile fire. [McCaffrey], 87% of the American people hold Vietnam Vets in high esteem. LOCATION: Vietnam This unfamiliar environment made their jobs more difficult and unpleasant. The domino theory was accurate. Updated: 7 February 2018 Son Tay, Vietnam [Burkett] Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation was Robbed of its Heroes and its History by B.G. It does not have to be war related. Peak troop strength in Vietnam was 543,482, on 30 April 1969. Phan Rang, Vietnam In all, a very scary time for our country. Antiwar groups claimed that the increasing numbers of desertions proved that the American combat troops opposed the war. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1986. Shortest US soldier in Vietnam War was not short in courage "Perhaps the best single image with which to synthesize [combine That sinister-sounding term was coined after the war) Orange was sprayed at three gallons per acre that was the equivalent of .009 of an ounce per square foot. Approximately 5'8" average height. Packaging: Original (Unopened) Theme: TV, Movie & Video Games. Congress while the North Vietnamese were very well supplied by China and the While there are still officially more than 2,200 cases, there now are only 55 incidents of American servicemen who were last seen alive but aren't accounted for. In the American Civil War, a typical Union soldier might carry a total of 60 lbs. I just asked Gunny Google She knows the booby trap is there, but she doesn't warn them. After completing basic training, he qualified for Officer Candidate School, from which he graduated as a second lieutenant, before receiving orders sending him to Vietnam. . Rather than trying to convince a draft board that they were physically unable to serve in the military, these men could get a note North Vietnam The Geneva Accords of 1954, which ended the First Indochina War (194654), divided the nation of Vietnam into two sections. The American military was not defeated in Vietnam. A Rumor of War. Today, interviews with vets give The voting age in the United States changed from twenty-one to eighteen in 1971. The dogs also served as sentries at U.S. bases and helped drag wounded American soldiers to safety in medical units. What is the average weight of a roman soldier? 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. Black and white soldiers tended to band together when they faced danger and the threat of death. WebDuring the Vietnam War era, between 1964 and 1973, the U.S. military drafted 2.2 million American men out of an eligible pool of 27 million. ." We believe that the Huey along with the Huey Cobra have more combat flight Lewy, Gunter. Yuzuk was stunned by both the sudden loss of a friend and the realization that he would need to do his own detective work to discover what Flaherty had not gotten around to telling him about his life. The Vietnam War was the turning point for Communism. Mortality studies show that 9,000 is a better estimate. They were more educated, affluent, and older than any assembled American fighting force [People.com] Vietnam 25 Years Later, by In reality, few soldiers left their units during combat patrols of South Vietnampartly because it was even more dangerous to travel through the countryside alone. They also became increasingly frustrated by trying to fight an enemy they could not see. In fact, many U.S. combat units measured their progress by how many Vietnamese Communists they had killed. [CACF] (Combat Area Casualty File) November 1993. of equipment, including a ten-pound musket. Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in. Jokes are funnier, green is greener. Friendships sometimes happen casually, the former policeman said. In previous wars, U.S. troops were required to serve for the duration of the conflict. It takes alot of support personnel to take care of the logistics, administrative needs, and etc for each combat soldier. "Almost as ." In the mountains, they exhausted themselves by marching up and down steep hillsides. Scattered thunderstorms this evening becoming more widespread overnight. He wrote letters to my sister, I wrote letters to his sister. In addition to exposing himself to enemy fire while leading the charge on the bunker, Flaherty displayed extraordinary heroism while engaged in close combat with a well dug-in enemy force, in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service.. Copy. Dude. This guy, Sergeant James Conner, was 53. The other Marines called him The Leprechaun (never to his face), because he was Irish and because Polner, Murray. When American soldiers arrived in Vietnam, they entered a land, climate, and culture that was very different from the United States. However, Communist governments in practice often limit personal freedom and individual rights. Encyclopedias almanacs transcripts and maps. In some cases, men who entered the service by enlisting rather than being drafted received better duty assignments. The Ten Thousand Day War: Vietnam, 19451975. But some officers seemed to place their own desire for glory and promotions ahead of the safety and welfare of their units. On average there were only about 35,000 combat soldiers in Vietnam, on the average. 1969 Sadly, only 200 of the American military dogs returned to the United States at the end of the Vietnam War. They are the average height for the men and women in that country. No mythical proportions here lol, the military personnel are derived from the pu Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be in prison - only 1/2 of one percent of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes. rsteelhammer@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5169 or follow. Another reason for declining morale and performance was the one-year tour-of-duty rotation schedule used in Vietnam. In the early years of the war, many African American men viewed military service as a positive thing. WebWhat was the average age of American soldiers in Vietnam? At the height of the war there were approximately 500,000 US Marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Coast I knew nothing about the culture, nothing about the religion, nothing about the village community. Fact: Assuming KIAs accurately represented age groups serving in Vietnam, the average age of an infantryman (MOS 11B) serving in Vietnam to be 19 years old is a myth, it is actually 22. New York: Free Press, 1974. involuntary process known as the draft. Tran Van Don and the head of the secret police Tran Kim Tuyen. Create a password that only you will remember. These forces opposed the United States in the Vietnam War. About 60 percent, or 16 million, of these draftable men avoided service in legal ways. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971. He was always recommending books and talking about philosophy, work and politics and eventually giving me advice. Vietnam seldom flew above 1,500 feet which is traffic pattern altitude for American soldiers knew that the war was unpopular at home. Approximately 5'8" average height. The two began meeting more frequently, and Yuzuk became so fascinated with Flahertys story that he asked permission to tell it in the form of a documentary. Myth: Air America, the airline operated by the CIA in Southeast Asia, and its pilots were involved in drug trafficking. These studies have concluded that the average U.S. soldier was a 19-year-old man from a poor or working-class family who had not attended college. During the spring "monsoon" season it would rain nonstop for days at a time. South Vietnam Created under the Geneva Accords of 1954, the southern section of Vietnam was known as the Republic of South Vietnam. War is brutal and not fair. POPULATION: 70-80 million Specifically, as it relates to western South Vietnamese military officer and political The U.S. Embassy and its helipad were much larger. He worked for a while as a confidential informant for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the 80s but he was homeless in Aventura, just north of Miami, by 1990. The last American troops departed in their entirety 29 March 1973. (The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, i.e. At the time, Yuzuk was a police officer and Flaherty was a member of Aventuras homeless community, camping under a palm tree off one of the citys main boulevards. Some gave candy to the children and tried to help in other ways. [VHPA Databases] Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association Databases. 10 Months later, U.S. military leaders abandon the base. This atmosphere of fear and distrust caused some men to behave in immoral ways they would never have demonstrated under normal circumstances. (Westmoreland quoting Douglas Pike, a professor at the University of California, Berkley a renowned expert on the Vietnam War) [Westmoreland] This included Tet 68, which was a major military defeat for the VC and NVA. [VHPA databases]. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 South Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. '", In addition to these physical discomforts, the American troops also experienced constant anxiety and tension in Vietnam. By the conclusion of the United States's involvement in 1973, over 3.1 million Which made up only about 10% of the total American soldiers in Vietnam. Some experts claim that U.S. military policies also contributed to the atrocities committed by American troops in Vietnam. WebU.S. In the My Lai massacre of 1968, for example, U.S. troops raided a South Vietnamese village and killed between 300 and 400 innocent civilians (see box titled "The My Lai Massacre" in Chapter 12, "Nixon's War (19691970)"). As a result, many American soldiers became increasingly frustrated with the war and the U.S. strategy. [Parade Magazine] August 18, 1996 page 10. When he graduated high school in 1966, the 4-foot-9-inch man was 3 inches under the Army's height requirement. Retrieved February 22, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/american-soldier-vietnam. The final third enlisted because they expected to be drafted soon. [1996 Information Please Almanac] 1995 Information Please Almanac Atlas & Yearbook 49th edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston & New York 1996, pages 117, 161 and 292. Other times they would be dropped off by helicopters in remote and potentially hostile locations. Drug use was especially common on military bases and in support units. Of the 58,256 Americans listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the The fertile river valleys tended to be flat and fairly open, but also extremely wet. But experts suspect that many other incidents went unreported or were made to look like accidents. "Here's a woman of twenty-two or twenty-three. WebThe average age of a soldier in Vietnam was 19, and he was likely to be unmarrieda significant difference from a soldier in World War II. He had passed a test few others could. "Vietnam was a place where the elite went as reporters, not as soldiers," reporter David Halberstam noted. 86% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasians, 12.5% were black, 1.2% were other races. Free shipping for many products! http://www.air-america.org. Myth: Most Vietnam veterans were drafted. For example, many of these men inherited strong family traditions of military service and felt it was their duty to join the armed forces. In the following excerpt from a New York Times Magazine article, Tim O'Brien recalls the deep love he felt during the war: Vietnam was more than terror. increased from 2 percent of American soldiers to 22 percent. Flaherty then called for a 90 millimeter recoilless rifle a shoulder-mounted explosive projectile launcher initially designed to destroy tanks to be brought to his position, and from there, led its two-man crew on an assault of the North Vietnamese bunker. "Among the infantrymen, the 'grunts,' this was known as 'humping the boonies. . ." The picture of a Huey helicopter evacuating people from the top of what was billed as being the U.S. Embassy in Saigon during the last week of April 1975 during the fall of Saigon helped to establish this myth. Viet Cong Vietnamese Communist guerilla fighters who worked with the North Vietnamese Army to conquer South Vietnam. I loved the guy, he loved me. Only two percent of officers in the U.S. armed forces were black, even though blacks made up about fourteen percent of all military personnel during the Vietnam War. The hard drugs American soldiers used in Vietnam were much more powerful and addictive than the versions available in the United States. "If the war was so important, why didn't our leaders put everyone's son in there, why only us?". MacPherson, Myra. Instead, they usually fought small skirmishes following Viet Cong or NVA ambushes. See answer (1) Best Answer. I don't believe the averages I saw here about US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. However, I can tell you that depending on your job, size matter One type of plant, known as elephant grass, had razor-sharp leaves that painfully cut into their skin. When a man's name was drawn, he was required to report to his local draft board for evaluation. During the height of the U.S. involvement, 1965-69, blacks, who formed 11 percent of the American population, made up 12.6 percent of the soldiers in Vietnam. But during the Vietnam War, individual combat soldiers were rotated into and out of the country on a one-year schedule. ", One reason that many U.S. soldiers suspected that the South Vietnamese villagers cooperated with the Viet Cong was that the villagers never seemed to trip land mines. 19 NVA The North Vietnamese Army, which assisted the Viet Cong guerilla fighters in trying to conquer South Vietnam. killed or wounded by a booby trap. Flaherty enlisted late that year. Flaherty returned to the U.S. later that year, and graduated from the Armys Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, becoming a member of the elite Green Berets. Others grew frustrated with the U.S. military strategy, which seemed to risk their lives on endless patrols without any clear purpose. Since the draft officially ended in 1973, many people have studied the role it played in determining the racial, ethnic, and social class makeup of the American troops in Vietnam. Caputo, Philip. Thousands of villages were destroyed by U.S. bombing missions or American combat patrols. South Vietnamese military and political leader; president of the Republic of Vietnam, 196775 Specifically, as it relates to western troops vs. Japan/North Korea/North Vietnamese forces. Chance of rain 100%.. The voting age in the United Vietnam: A History. Some of these animals were pets that were donated to the armed forces by American owners. Indian army is 57 to 59 and some are 6ft but not all Official U.S. military policy prevented them from being brought back to America out of fears that they might carry diseases. When he graduated from high school, Flaherty was 4 feet, 9 inches tall three inches too short to meet the Armys height requirement at the time. He returned to Southeast Asia in 1969 and remained there until 1971 when he left the Army. Many other U.S. soldiers came from small rural towns or farming communities. Helmer, John. from their family doctors. Myth: The war was fought largely by the poor and uneducated. Much of his early life is unknown but his mother died when he Item Height: 14.5 cm. He'd received two Bronze Stars for bravery and two Purple Hearts for combat wounds during that time. Ground troops typically did not enter a sprayed area until four to six weeks after being sprayed. Web1. Joe Treen, People.com, 21 April 2000. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. "But she watches your men walk down a trail and get More than 2.5 million American men served in Vietnam during the war. He used to spend all day at a movie theater. Nguyen Van Thieu You secure a village, you search it, and you leave, and the village reverts [goes back] to the enemy. Evening headlines from the Charleston Gazette-Mail, The latest in travel and recreation around West Virginia, The daily opinion newsletter from the Charleston Gazette-Mail. 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) [Westmoreland], Approximately 12,000 helicopters saw action in Vietnam (all services). They also disliked overly aggressive officers who did not seem to understand what they went through on a daily basis. Since then, the contribution of American military dogs has been recognized in several books and documentary films. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. As a result, as many as 500,000 U.S. soldiers became addicted to drugs. [The Wall Street Journal] The Wall Street Journal, 1 June 1996 page A15. Flaherty, who had to obtain a waiver to join the Army during the Vietnam War because of his size, was a paratrooper and platoon leader with the 101st and received a Silver Star for leading his platoon on a flanking assault of an enemy bunker. After all, every spot where they stepped or sat might lead to injury or death. Maclear, Michael. Capt. Vietnam War Reference Library. New York: Charterhouse, 1974. time than any other aircraft in the history of warfare assuming you count actual The average time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one hour. "I hailed from a steel community and we handed out 29,000 boys from my county alone. Asian countries had the highest share of overseas troops (38%), while around a third were deployed to Europe (32%). As the overall morale of American troops in Vietnam declined, so did race relations within the U.S. military. It was led by a U.S.-supported government. Since 1973, when U.S. troops withdrew from Vietnam, Americans who have served in the U.S. military have done so voluntarily. As military dogs, they were trained to sniff out booby traps, land mines, tunnels, snipers, and hidden stashes of weapons and other supplies. ", in which he states that the average age of the American combat soldier in Vietnam was 19.. But nothing could be further from the truth. "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. Long Time Passing: Vietnam and the Haunted Generation. Item Width: Average for the last 12 In this way, many young men ended up serving in Vietnam whether they wanted to or not. In his new life as a civilian, Flaherty studied at the University of Miami in Florida, but entered a period of despondency after a girlfriend died in a car wreck in 1975. THE UNITED STATES DID NOT LOSE THE WAR IN VIETNAM, THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE A government agency called the Selective Service collected the names of all American men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six. 1967: LBJ increases U.S. troops to 485,600. [Nixon], The Vietnam War has been the subject of thousands of newspaper and magazine articles, hundreds of books, and scores of movies and television documentaries. Many American troops felt that they could not trust anyone Vietnameseincluding peasants, farmers, bar girls, old women, and childrenbecause they might be agents of the Viet Cong. It was called "shell shock" and other names in previous wars. "Pogo" Hunter who died in 1995. You love the miracle of your own enduring capacity for love. In May of 1969, Chip was blown high into a hedge of bamboo. 1966: U.S. troops in Vietnam increases to 385,300. The average age of those men that died in Vietnam of all causes was 23.1; the most common age at death was 20, That special task began to take shape in September 1966, when Flaherty received a letter from Rep. Donald J. Irwin, D-Conn., informing him that the Armys Surgeon General had recommended granting a waiver to the height requirement. "In all the years we've been working on this we have found that's not the case." The 1990 unsuccessful movie "Air America" helped to establish the myth of a connection between Air America, the CIA, and the Laotian drug trade. An old story, I guess. Myth: The fighting in Vietnam was not as intense as in World War II. New York: Avon Books, 1981. The average height of more than i million United States soldiers in 1917- 1918 was 67.5 inches. WebOf the 2.6 million, between 1 and 1.6 million (40-60%) either fought in combat, provided close combat support or were at least fairly regularly exposed to enemy attack. What's the average height and weight of soldiers in different branches of the military? Across different countries? US Marines: Average is 64 tal The Indonesians threw the Soviets out in 1966 because of America's commitment in Vietnam. They would march for days or weeks at a time, carrying heavy packs full of food, clothing, weapons, and ammunition. Rev. You have permission to edit this article. . The Discarded Army. Only a third of Vietnam vets were draftees. The planes doing the bombing near the village were VNAF (Vietnam Air Force) and were being flown by Vietnamese pilots in support of South Vietnamese troops on the ground. Click here to stay informed and subscribe to the Mountain States Trusted News Source. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. who is now retired in Arizona. Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam. designed as a helipad. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993. As a result, the morale of American troops was fairly highat first. 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. on 29 April 1975 from UPI's offices on the top floor of the Saigon Hotel which For example, black soldiers often found themselves passed over for promotions. William C. Westmoreland At first, many U.S. soldiers felt sympathy for the South Vietnamese people. . He was a tough, determined guy, said David Yuzuk, who befriended Flaherty more than two decades after the war ended, when both were living in Aventura, Florida, a planned community in the suburbs north of Miami. American combat soldiers had to remain alert at all times, even when they were exhausted from many hours of patrolling. Soldiers who resented or distrusted their officers sometimes refused to follow orders or even resorted to violence. Marijuana use peaked at 58 percent of U.S. forces during this period, while heroin use About 100,000 U.S. soldiers were discharged from the military for such offenses. It was NOT the U.S. Embassy. Sometimes it would take an entire day to move two miles. Chance of rain 100%. The building is the Pittman Apartments, a 10 Others grew angry that the South Vietnamese did not seem to appreciate American efforts to save their country from a Communist takeover. The final Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in. https://www.vhpa.org. "The American Soldier in Vietnam No Victory Parades: The Return of the Vietnam Veteran. Despite this, a wounded US soldier in Vietnam could expect to be evacuated within an hour of sustaining their injuries. [People]. Many of the men who served in Vietnam were minorities from the nation's inner cities. Some soldiers reacted to their fear, anger, and frustration by treating the villagers very harshly. And I would have died right there with him if he wouldn't have found that wire.". Ng, PRONUNCIATION: vee-et-nuh-MEEZ From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. "Where were the sons of all the big shots who supported the war? In the jungles, they often had to hack their way through dense vegetation. Richard was my friend and I promised him I would finish the project, Yuzuk said. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. [VHPA 1993] Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association 1993 Membership Directory page 130. A free weekly newsletter with expert sports betting insight and analysis. General Vo Nguyen Giap was the leader of the North Vietna, Nguyen Van Thieu 7,484 women served in Vietnam, of whom 6,250 or 83.5% were nurses. We fought to an agreed stalemate. 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." Recent reports in the news media that an American commander ordered the air strike that burned Kim Phuc are incorrect. There were some legal ways to avoid or delay military service. The fall of Saigon happened 30 April 1975, two years AFTER the American military left Vietnam. Not in my platoon," veteran Steve Harper noted in No Victory Parades. In some cases, African American soldiers intentionally segregated themselves from the rest of their unit. In the following passage from his book A Rumor of War, former Marine Philip Caputo describes the emotional toll these hidden explosive devices took on the troops: The foot soldier has a special feeling for the ground. 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