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It was an incredibly tumultuous time in US hi >, It poses more confusion about what constitutes a Vietnam Vet! Unless they kept track by service or SSN, how many Vietnam Veterans are there ? At this rate there will be only a few of us alive in 2015. when we carried peaches and beer, no problem. If you prefer to differentiate who served in country and who did not, then the arithmetic must divide the groups into two lists accordingly. I flew several hundred sorties in a gunship. I have always rounded up to 3,000,000 served in Vietnam..and I read someplace where of that number, only 10% were actually in combat. Whether you were sprayed or not makes no difference, and YOU ARE NOT required to prove anything other than being present in Vietnam. A few people were killed. If you have any doubts, take a closer look at your DD-214. Only military remaining were Marines at the Embassy. I and other merchant marine did. I was drafted in Sep 1966, went to Vietnam Aug 67-Aug 68, and Im 75 until Oct. Mean 69 maybe? I dont know why we have to make this simple arithmetic drill so difficult. The disparity seems to be In Theatre veterans between the years 1954-1975, and veterans in the Military at that time that were not deployed, or NOT In Theatre! First and most important who is a Vietnam veteran? Everything slowed down, and I was alone, above my body that was thrown into the dashboard hitting with my left side. NO, some who got to sleep in the same bed night after night, yet were low slow flying targets by day are NOT REMF. The average number of Vietnam War veterans who die each day is 390 deaths. go to the top of this article and choose the magnifying glass and search for Canadians in Vietnam to read an article on this website about them. How old is the oldest living Vietnam veteran? I managed to stand again, stepped, and hurled myself into the jungle. Enlisted 7/70. All others should not be accepted to have served either on land or at sea in Vietnam. My squad leaderSteve Cook wrote, Dont Cry for Us Saigon. He gives stats. I began to think that was the excuse for NOT being in combat. I was C 3/17 air cav. This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. Id like to know what the 1 in 14 men figure is based on. I appreciate the fact that I Sam in the combat group that won the war against the communist rabble during their Tet Offensive in 1968. Steve I struck a tree and rebounded into the open again still a sitting duck. The truth is that until Vietnam veterans can agree amongst themselves what constitutes a real Vietnam vet, the debate may continue. March 29, 1973Part of what was called Operation Homecoming, the first 20 POWs arrived to a heros welcome at Travis Air Force Base in California on February 14. no , i could not quit. If you served in country on a ship in the gulf or dropped 2000 pound bombs you are a vietnam vet. Our service was diminished while there and continues being disrespected by those who lump all Vietnam-Era vets with those whose lives were on the line. With the Americal after I got back I had maps. Ive never seen so many people so full of shit trying to answer a question like how many Vietnam veterans are still alive today. David, please do not compare this to Merchant Seaman in WWII who braved the many packs of Submarines etc as that is how so many died in WWII. She has worked in schools all over the world, and has developed groundbreaking curricula that have helped countless students excel. I was driving the OPs 3/4-ton, 4X4 truck down the main dirt highway from Camp Enari entering the Ville and Mark Stanley was a passenger in the cab. 7,484 women served in Vietnam, 83.5% being nurses. as far as who is a vietnam vet is simple. What report or reference confirms it? RVN. The funny thing,(not so funny) is that when we carried peaches and beer, no problem. My name is Ananda. She is new to that post, having spent 20+ years as head of coding & analysis at NSA. We all figured it was a Combat death. Bob ONeal, Lt.Col. We certainly were in close combat often during my tour in 69-70. Why the Shame? I had a Swedish citizen in AIT, with orders to go to Vietnam. I believe we were all there doing our duty and deserve to be called a Vietnam Veteran. I will have to disagree with the CIB being the only combat veterans The Battle of Soui Tre 3-21-1967 at Fire Support Base Gold Operation Junction City, the 2/77 Artillery 18 105s and the 3/22 Infantry A & B Cos the enemy lost 881 KIA and UNK WIAs, we lost counting the landing in the 19th 55 KIA & 287 WIA, within an hours Westmorland and other Stars were there claiming this Victory (14 Stars on the battlefield) The Artillery are every bit combat veterans with the infantry and many other FSB battles as well I have a CIB and did 22 months in country late including TET. Sobering Statistics Concerning Vietnam Vets As of April 2016 . Still, the American War Library continues to verify their accounts and come to more concrete conclusions. I was there in 1964-1965 then 1967-1968 then my last tour was 1971-1972. may we all be the last man standing. Then I down shifted entered the worst section of massive ruts and the broken-up roadbed threw the truck all about its grooves. I entered an L shaped ambush. Separately I am working on an article that analyzes how many States are over or under represented in terms of their number of KIAs during and right after the war., Dr. Paul Scipione https://www.americanwarlibrary.com/personnel/vietvet.htm Should be simple enough but not, Not all ships are blue water ships. Various percentages of actual Vietnam Veterans is bothersome. Vietnam War veterans can suffer from a variety of physical and mental health conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), drug and/or alcohol problems, and hearing loss. I do not believe that the question of who is a Vietnam Veteran is that difficult Assignment to a unit stationed in country is 1 criterion, another is the number of days assigned and served in country Combat at sea of pilots from carriers and rescue crews that flew over the country and those downed I think that there are really 2 classes of Vietnam Veterans, combat and non-combat that is a more difficult designation to separate As a combat platoon Sgt engaged in several large battles and many smaller fire fights, nights being mortared with shells exploding in the trees above The VA needs to add one more medical anomaly, Chronic Butt Pucker for all combat veterans. I certainly dont agree on the 9 million in country. I am an Era vet, and the closest I got was R&R in Thailand. The group in my AIT Class were all happy about this. Defining Combat Veterans, tell us what number you give yourself, we have a controversy here with a candidate for Governor, he claims now that he is a combat veteran, but he told me in his campaign for the House seat he presently holds, that he was NOT a combat veteran. I was all over in 7 years. What is left of them is in Davis Monthan AFB, Tucson, and they still smell today. Active Duty: 473,000 We all served in our assigned duties, some bled, and some died. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 530 Vietnam veterans die every day. Im now 74. i am not better, but i am not worse. We had it good compared to grunts..tdy pay, flight pay, combat pay plus side gigs. Each averaged 2500-3000 personnel on a yearly rotating bases, groaning and shrinking based on the missions being conducted. I understand that they only got about 300,000 of us, but that is a huge, decent number, considering how cynical we Nam vets can be about studies. Last I heard the database indicated that the Median Age of Death of Nam vets was reached at least three or four years ago. OUR COMPANY STARTED LONG BINH COMPOUND IN SEPT OF 1965, DALLAS WATERFILL EMAIL dallaswaterfill@yahoo.com, Was in Vietnam Dec. 1968 to Dec. 1969, Phan Rang AFB, RVN. We dont respect the combat Vets and they shouldnt disrespect us. On this Memorial Day 2021, VA honors their service and recommits itself to . Melathion was 96% pure. I served 2 tours late 1966 to late July 1968, TET and the rest as an infantry platoon sgt Also served in Korea 1963 and considered a Korean war vet as that war has never ended. 58,184 died in the combat zone or from combat wounds. 31 sets of brothers are on the Wall. Should you have a question or comment about this article, then scroll down to the comment section below to leave your response. So, with the lower estimate of 610,000, over 2.1 million VN vets have died since 1975 thats an average of 44,000/year. My son, James, is 16 and has autism. I know the difference, do you ? Merchant Marine officers or crew are not wearing the uniform of the USAs Armed Forces. There were an estimated 58,318 U.S. soldier casualties alone. Hunter killer division. three years on and off in vietnam . Do I count as one or three Vietnam Veterans? https://news.va.gov/89450/vietnam-war-veterans-honoring-served-memorial-day-2021/. Sorry for your loss of your loved one. i do not denigrate their service or define them as inferior. I did 7 years 66-72 HHC 4/9 Inf and LRRP 25th div, / C 1/327 INF 101st Inf (only 6 mo. 1968, 69. guy next to me was shoot dead I think that counts. The thing is the question/topic here is not how many Vietnam combat veterans are there, or how many Vietnam Era veterans are there; its how many Vietnam veterans are there. As soon as I was wounded, I was thrown into a world that I was alone! He was shot nine times, while I received the tenth bullet from the ten holes in the windshield. Now 69 years/old. Hometown: New York City. It has a life of its own. I dont have a CIB to show for it, but I most certainly was in combat. This could be a simple semantics issue, but what about the Air Force guys who flew over Vietnam. why not compare them?. He received every military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. Age: 77. i am not saying i was a hero, but i am saying that i did the job and i did not argue. this exclusiveness does no one any credit. as we end our lives we should never forget that each served, in some way. They're generally in their 90s and about 245 die each day according to the VA. At 95 Army veteran Lincoln "Linc" Harner still remembers the war. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". War is Heck!!! And your comment about Agent Orange shows that you have no understanding of how the chemical poisoned everyone who set foot in Vietnam. CIB. Kenneth, your definition of combat veteran is so wrong on so many levels that it would be funny if it did not besmirch the service of so many good men, alive and dead. drafted in 1966, Vietnam 1967-68 with the 1st infantry Division.now 75!!!! The insistence to include Vietnam-ErA vets with those who served in-country results in a ridiculous skew to any meaningful stats. For US Vietnam Veterans it's about 66 years vs just about 78 years for non vets. This part of Pleiku Province is a combination of mountains, triple to single canopy jungle and/or open valleys. I was shot up more than a dozen times and shot down once. Current Status of Unaccounted-for Americans Lost in the Vietnam War. Please do all you can to inform our fellow vets that the VA presumes Agent Orange exposure if you were in-country. Arne Fuller, Tucson AZ. If my math is correct, are you going on 68 years old ? I saw the edge of the dirt, the jungle growth, the nearby trees, while I heard the world explode. I was with 4th Med Bn. The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. But having spent a little time thinking about it, I go with the 2m figure. Since Sept. 11, 2001, just over 30,000 veterans have died by suicide four times more than the number of U.S. military personnel who died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Good for him! It was a free-fire zone, and a nearby flight of gunships was engaged in shooting up the western valley. Educate your self and search the web for the last battle of the Vietnam war. All others should not be accepted to have served either on land or at sea in Vietnam. 100,000 or more to suicide and most of those occurred after the men came home. So he goes to Camp Wolter Texas for his 11 month school (they pay them E-5 during training) then just few weeks before graduation he declines to sign the extension for his Warrant Officer Status, they send him to Vietnam as a private to Phan Rang to ride security on fuel convoys (safe Gig) he never had to fire a weapon. two weeksOver 10% of Vietnam casualties were helicopter crew members, and most of those were the door gunners that protected the helicopter, its crew, and its transports, from their exposed position. I was hoping for more accurate numbers. Im still here after all the BS of AO has really messed up my life with illnesses, surgeries ect since 1975, noting problems while I was in Vietnam in 69, and confirmed. 2.4 million man who served in Nam approx. Aint this fun? so if you wore chinos instead of camo you are not a veteran?