While the platoon was commanded by a commissioned officer, usually a Second Lieutenant, the squad was led by a non-commissioned officer, usually, a Staff Sergeant serving as squad leader, assisted by a corporal. Infantryman must know how to receive and implement combat orders, direct deployment of personnel in a number of different operation types (offensive, defensive, retrograde, etc). II 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. It goes without saying that battle could claim a soldier's life and soldiers enlisted anywhere from 10 to 25 years, depending on their rank. It was more or less next man up . meaning what is the chance of me getting killed in combat. I loved it. Food: Allowance for the on-base dining hall and access to tax-free department and grocery stores. Interesting, I carried a Prick 25, for 2 months. I was shot down on my very first mission in July 1968. They were glad to see me as it had been a while for replacements with the unit. During times of combat, it is not uncommon to mobilize troops, vehicles, and weaponry. It was only in the direst of circumstances that an entire division was engaged in combat simultaneously, usually several units were held in reserve. Like you, I carried a PRC-25 for about 5 months and never got hit. The prestigious badge, offered only to infantry and Special Forces Soldiers . July 68 to July 69. Every mission, I had the same thought. Camp Standish was both a staging area for embarking troops and a prisoner of war camp. I was in the AF a Reo in a F4-C. Who had time to worry about the life Thus they were deployed without artillery of their own. EACH OF US CARRIES OUR OWN MEMORIES AND THEY RUN THE GAMUT. No high security clearance is required to become an Army Infantryman. Both my tours were in the Delta (IV Corps) where the only ground troops were regular ARVNs and RUFF/PUFFS. Stops on the march of more than a few minutes were to be used to grab any sleep they could. Bravo, 3/187th Inf, 101st Airborne Div, 2nd Plt, 2nd Sq, Hamburger Hill, May 69. The Americans who served in the Army in Europe were recruited and trained at various bases and camps in the United States before being sent to points of embarkation near major East Coast ports for transport to Europe. We walked the mountains and rice patties all thru Tu Thien Province. The infantrymen would have just enough time to wet down, lather up using GI soap, and rinse off. Fellow members soon learned the strengths and weaknesses of each other, who could be relied on and who would shirk his duties. EIB - A day in the life of an infantryman - United States Army Ground Combat | American Soldier in WWII Interesting but something is missing. Those determined to be too severely wounded to continue their recovery in theater were sent to either England or the United States on hospital ships, and then routed to recovery hospitals on specially equipped hospital trains. Copyright 2023 www.OperationMilitaryKids.org. I think those numbers are percentages of US KIA, not mortality times. He was not the type to hump a radio. HOOAH!!! life expectancy of an infantry soldier in vietnam Some unfortunately also came home with physical scars. The Army currently lists AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Kraft Foods Global, Sears Holdings Corporation, Time Customer Service, and Walgreens as partners of PaYS and great employers for Army Infantryman post-service. We then took all Trucks and equipment to the Port Of Saigon. I do remember when I got short I thought about it a lot more. The PaYS program is a recruitment option that guarantees a job interview with military-friendly employers following retirement. To cut the Ho Chi Minh Traila week after the mission endedthe trail was booming with business from the north.. Care of his feet was paramount to the infantrymen since they were his primary means of conveyance. Once they were on the continent in 1944, other than the initial days of the Battle of the Bulge, there were few withdrawals in the face of the enemy. Tapered at both ends, the bags were difficult to get into and even worse to get out of, and the men took to calling them mummy bags. Back in 1965, I was a door gunner on Medevac recovery operations. Got hit inside 15 minutes, first ambush we walked up too. Michael Doolittle..I was with 1/8 inf, 1st Brigade, and that day, March 22nd was also our darkest day. It is Honor in the Valley of Tears. A wounded American soldier is loaded into a halftrack converted to serve as an ambulance in Germany in early 1945. Many were damaged, and the Germans had left them behind as they withdrew because they considered them useless. When you think of the U.S. Army, probably the first job you think of within the branch is an Army Infantryman MOS 11B. An infantrymans link to the desires of the officers of the division was through his squad leader. They run into the fire to help the wounded and many get wounded or killed. Access to the field kitchens provided the men not engaged in combat with hot meals, though complaining about the food in all situations was a time-honored tradition, as in all armies. There were also wounded. So I guess I defied the odds. What is the life expectancy of an army infantry soldier? I personally believe and agree with previous posts that when its your time, not much you can do. Id had a premonition, and asked the LT to let me trade off to become the AG. Soldiers must meet a very heavy strength requirement and physical profile requirement of 111221. The training for Army Infantrymen 11B consists of Basic Combat Training (BCT) and Advanced Individual Training (AIT), for a total of 14 weeks. located on the South End of, the Post. An interesting comment I had. After heavy fighting across France and the Low Countries, it was believed by the Allied High Command that the Germans lacked the ability or the will to launch an assault in the Ardennes, and the troops were there to rest through Christmas. 30 Apr 2023 00:05:29 82nd 2/505th. It was up to the squad leaders to keep them fighting in brutal weather, without asking why. The one number that is really important is 56,220 and we all know what that number represents. I knew some of this, but certainly not all. Occasionally the men were transferred piecemeal. Photography by James Salzano. Like all military branches, the Army pays soldiers according to rank and time in service. The combat infantryman, and for the most part their immediate superiors at the front, had little information about the overall situation of the war. The lives of these soldiers are always at risk. waving then I realized they Werent shooting at him only at the Digging in was an exercise which added to sore backs blistered hands as the entrenching tool chipped away frozen ground. In our spare time we did medevacs and medcaps for the local communities and when required inserted SEALs . The basic unit for any infantryman in the United States Army was his squad. They were lazy, cowardly and of questionable loyalty, especially the RUFF/PUFFS, and they would steal your under ware if given half a chance. Units would send a thorough report of their KIA and WIA, battle action coordinates, estimated enemy troop strength, enemy unit KIA/captured and any known direction heading. An interesting essay, even more interesting are the comments. Les Scates U.S. Army (Ret.) 9 (September 1944) The American Soldier (1949), vol. Usually, these transfers led to the men being ordered to remove the insignia identifying their division from their uniforms, to deny the information to the Germans. Really? As they approached and entered the Alsace region this welcome became less enthusiastic. I was an RTO for 9-1/2 months for Hawk Recon 2/327 101AB from dec, 1969 to sept 70. The American army traveled to Europe by ship, and by a wide variety of ships including troop transports designed and built for the purpose, Liberty ships, converted freighters, and the great ocean liners of the Allies. US Army. 1 / 6 Show Caption + Hide Caption - Sgt. A typical United States infantry division contained about 15,000 officers and men, divided into three infantry regiments, with supporting companies and battalions. A lister bag was a large canvas bag with a shower head attached to the bottom. Thank You for your courageous service as an RTO with the legendary Hawk Recon Platoon. Good article. Units which were depleted from battle casualties received replacements both while they were on the line and during periods of rest and recreation. Soldier Life Expectancy in Ukraine 'Meat Grinder' Is 4 Hours: Marine Most of us have memories of these kind of experiences. What was the average life expectancy for soldiers during - Answers As an Infantryman, you may be listed as an MOS 11X. It was just north of Saigon. If you have other information let me know. Expenditures for a body in a combat zone? Thanks. At age 55, World War 2 Veterans were estimated to live 21.4 and 26.1 life-years, 1.4 and 0.3 more life-years for Korean Conflict Veterans, and 3 and 1.5 more life-years for Vietnam Era Veterans for male and female, respectively. Veterans of the 289th Infantry Regiment on the road to St. Vith during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. !We dont abuse prisoners Now, if he reaches for his weapon to continue the fight BLOW HIS ASS AWAY THIS AINT SUNDAY SCHOOL!!! Thanks for the reply. Color Vision discrimination for MOS 11B is red/green. Foxholes were dug by individuals, with each man responsible for his own hole, or in the case of weapons teams, dug together for joint occupancy. As mentioned, who kept track of that in the first place? When in close proximity to the enemy smoking at night was forbidden, as were cooking fires or open flames. BS but ia a way you are correct. I credit my longetivity to great training at Ft Benning. I think what is missing is the fact that the life expectancy of those firing at us was much shorter than those that they were firing at. I was with HHC and 1st Platoon C Company in 70-71. However, Infantrymen may be eligible for bonuses, including an enlistment incentive of up to $41,000. I was a medic on one for two yrs and the only weapon I was issue was a six-shot .38. The casualty rate for the American infantry was high. When men were transferred out of their unit to join another division they were placed under the command of a different squad leader. All infantrymen were issued gas masks, but by the time they reached the front-most had discarded them as being unnecessary since there had been no indication that the Germans were planning on using poisonous gas, as they had in the First World War. Life of the Civil War Soldier in the Army - American Battlefield Trust You will become a member of a fire team which could result in deployment to one or more dangerous settings involving direct combat. Ive always considered myself damn lucky to make it out alive. US Army. Men in the field soon learned to carry as many extras as they could, frequently stuffing them under their shirts and in empty pockets. 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. Life in the Infantry | The War | Ken Burns | PBS Great story!!! Each rifle squad had one man assigned to carry a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) while the rest of them carried rifles, usually the Garand M1 rifle. Since the shower and clothing issue often took place in the dead of winter and outdoors, it was an invigorating experience, but a not very frequent one. Assigned to HHC 1/77 Armor, 1st, BDE 5th Inf. Again it fell to the squad leaders to decide when enough hazing had been conducted by the veterans of combat on the new arrivals. Each company, usually commanded by a Captain, contained three rifle platoons, and each of those was comprised of three squads of twelve men each (a company also included a light weapons platoon). The incredibly important role in the U.S. Army is responsible for defending the country through real-life combat. The infantry rifleman during winter bore a load of over eighty pounds, the BAR man nearly one hundred. All of the next day, we could see SMOKE from the fire caused by the explosions of the AMMO at, the AMMO DUMP. 4ID Mortar Teams Persevere at the Best Mortar Competition 1: physical position (in the field / column) And us the living that served, who suffer from PTSD ,that figure or percent-aged would be about the greatest of all. The M1 was a semi-automatic rifle, allowing its operator to fire an entire eight-round clip simply by squeezing the trigger for each shot, without having to operate the bolt manually to chamber the next round. It didnt matter who you were or where you were. Squad leaders were given limited objectives, leaving them to speculate for the most part on aspects of an operation outside of those in which they and their men were participating. Your article was quite interesting. 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. Engineer OSUT is 14 weeks long. From Cam Rahn, we kept flying north to, a Landing Zone near QUANG TRI. I know this is a standard cliche, but it is so true, All gave some. Tired, footsore soldiers experienced difficulty keeping up with the rest of their unit, and traveling alone was far more dangerous than within the unit itself, for both the straggler and the rest of the unit. Of the American combat troops which served on the continent of Europe during the Second World War about 15% were frontline infantry. I think the number of Army and Hospital Corpsmen serving with the Marine Corp was very high, with the ratio of the number of them over there. Infantrymen serve in combat operations and reconnaissance missions. They used the callsign MEDIVAC and were armed. You have to earn it, so hard work during your education and training is extremely important. For the infantryman, the war was limited to how it affected his squad, and the need to protect and defend it. It was on the Job Training ! We were like sitting Ducks. We ambushed and got ambushed, firebase got attacked who carried what or did what had no bearing. US Army. As a member of a fire team, you can expect to test your skills handling day and night shooting with several Army stables including M4 rifles, M230 machine guns, and M249 automatic weapons. They endured faulty equipment, inadequate clothing, the errors of logistics and judgment which found them being delivered winter boots in summer and the opposite in cold weather. I did worry about the strength of my flax vest. 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. I was an FO back in the day. by Jeffrey J. Clarke, Center for Military History, February 26, 1992, Citizen Soldiers, by Stephen Ambrose, 1998, Ardennes-Alsace, by Roger Cirillo, Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 2003, online, American Battle Casualties and Non-Battle Deaths in World War II, by the Combined Arms Research Library, Department of the Army, June 25, 1953. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_losses_of There is a higher demand for MOS 11B, and reports indicate the position makes up 15-17% of the U.S. Army. The soldier spent a majority of his time in camp drilling, with . Life was seemingly grand for Napoleon's army, but reality told a far different story. If you would like to get a copy, and cant find it, let me know, and I will make sure you get one. Despite these encampments being located in secured areas, the army being the army demanded sentries around them, and sufficient make work was scheduled to give the men something to do. The fact that PDoggbiker cant find any decent calculation/explanation, tells us a lot. John Doever happened. means: 1 gets killed the 1st second, another one after 9 seconds avg. Rules may have changed, I was in the Delta region. To the men, it appeared they were fighting for useless hills. Altogether his burden was over eighty pounds. The rifle automatically ejected an exhausted clip, emitting an audible and distinctive ping. Soldiers that are assigned to Bradley or Stryker units also must learn how to drive and perform maintenance on their assigned vehicles. First thing we did was, Set up a complete circular perimeter. There are a number of civilian job opportunities for an Army Infantryman (11B) following discharge from the U.S. Military. Of all the gear he carried, other than his weapons and ammunition, none was more important to him than clean socks. They endured the monotonous rations, lack of hygiene, bombardment by the enemy, accidental bombardment by their own artillery, constant tension, and the constant loss of friends because they were there to protect themselves and their fellow squad members, finish the job and go home. Yes, I made E4 at graduation, that was considered a NCO then. But I made it back in one piece. After consolidating the division and its equipment infantrymen were moved to the front, which by December 1944 was nearing the Siegfried Line, defensive fortifications protecting Germany from invasion from the west. A Civil War soldier would find that modern axiom very familiar. In winter this included wearing underwear, long johns, woolen pants and shirt, one or two heavy sweaters, woolen socks, an overcoat, a rain poncho, a woolen cap, a helmet and a liner, gloves, boots, and galoshes. The Army continues to build upon its training for fire team members with more time in the field, including tactical training that focuses more on squad formations. Army Giving Robotic Combat Vehicles More Firepower I DISAGREETHE ENEMY WOULD SHOOT THE GUY NEXT TO THE RTO-KNOWING HE WAS THE COMMANDER. Cruz quite a lot. According to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) there are now officially 58, 318 names on the wall. If a battle ensued, a triumphant army would lose 5% of its men but a defeated army would usually lose around 15% of its force. It is an important role of MOS 11B and just one of their many responsibilities. It was also shipped to both the UK and the Soviets as part of a lend-lease. What Were The Actual Odds Of Dying In WW1? - Forces Network 10 1/2 months in the bush. Wow I was 31.8 Gun shot Carried model 1200 Winchester shot gun WIA May 68 Article was great. The shortfall, on the other hand, is over 7.9 and 3.3 life-years for male and female in U. S. population, respectively. Related Article Marine Corps Scout Sniper (MOS 0317): Career Details. I packed my own radio and got a Thank you from his Mom. Photo above is of Stanley Kober with RTO, John Scheur. The name came from the labels painted on the sides of the cars, which in French read 40 Hommes chevaux 8 meaning 40 men or 8 horses. LUCK pure LUCK. But it was my jobso I tried not to think about it much. They also learned to never forgo any opportunity to rest. I was one of the many others I rode river boats in the Mekong Jan 68 to 69. National Archives. As a result, Army Infantrymen 11B are trained to conduct mobilization in a variety of settings on land. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thank you for both articles: (1)Going up river to port and (2) the flight from Italy back to Nam. Infantry OSUT is 22 weeks. RIP KOOKIE forever young, Thank god you are still alive, I am age 77. Additionally, you must complete a Combat (CO) ASVAB score of 87. You can follow the pay table below to figure out what you can expect to make based on U.S. Army rank for Infantryman MOS 11B: The U.S. Army has several benefits included with a monthly salary: It is also worth noting that you could earn up to $41,000 in cash bonuses for enlisting under certain Military Occupational Specialties. 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.
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