Agent Orange was sprayed on the Jungle areas, and Melathion (Insecticide) was sprayed on Base Camps. We all started getting heart attacks around the same time. i think the definition should not be restricted by whether you wore khakis or como. Some advisors embassy guards, but all combat units left. Phill Coleman, who surfaced in the very early days of the Internet, and has been profiting from veterans (first Vietnam, now all) for years. Nobody can bad-mouth Huey pilots and crews. As an analogy I will use familiar figure of that time. The number of Viet Nam veterans, those who served in combat and combat related services (such those flyboys from outside the territory/waters of Viet Nam is about 2.7 million. I do not believe we were counted as vets. How many Vietnam veterans are dying . Lost my Vet to Leukemia just after this count was done. How Many Vietnam Veterans Have Been Affected by Agent Orange? My husband was also a door gunner (191st AHC gunship) but he was there later than you (70-71). Very true One of those is my younger brother. Numbers can always be manipulated. Non combat Vets served elsewhere. These are numbers never heard before & I would not include those before the advisers were sent over in the early/mid 60s. A number 1/2 the peak, say 250,000 still seems high but would come closer to 3,000,000 number serving. Thanks for your responses. I spent 3 separate tours in Vietnam. Not sure where we were. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. I was in Vinh Long in 1965, Mekong delta area. Bien Hoa & Phu Bai, two badly polluted areas! Good for him! As Ive mentioned before, I dont think posing this question was intended to be divisive among veterans, but it has turned out to be. Though Thailand was not designated a combat zone. it was printed in the ny times and cherries writer. 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. ago. This is a reasonable number but you get very different notions of the death rate when you compare 800,000 to 2.7 million versus 800,000 out of 9.2 million. Once I was threatened with death if I mentioned NAM again. If you assumed that 500,000 new troops served there every year from 1962-1975, you still couldnt get to 9,000,000 serving there, so using the peak number is not realistic. Considering the kind of information available about the death rate of WWII and Korean War Veterans, publicized information indicates that in the last 14 years Vietnam veterans are dying at the rate of 390 deaths each day. Pop, POP POP. I would say anyone who has drawn Vietnam Hazard Duty pay, 30 dollars for every month or part of any month, in or over country, should qualify. Cheers, I to served two tours 67-68 and 69-70,first with 1st of 8th cav. Real combat veterans will share with other combat veterans as their stories have many similarities. Then there was peace. I remember lots of the names Evana, Eagle, Bastone, Granite, Ripcord, Maryanne. Our medic gave them out every Monday. 23 Div and finally MACV Tm 87, 43 RCAT 18th ARVN Div. what i am saying is that there were all kinds of service, and if you think the definition is being in country and being shot at, then i qualify and so did my shipmates. I made a mistake !!!!! I was the first male born to the Puccetti family after his death, so my parents received permission to name their son after Dante. Things that they did not tell you. i TO AM A VEITNAM VET. Considering the number of troops deployed at different times, the build up and the draw down, its inconceivable that there could have been 9m serving in country. If we arent able to determine WHO is a Vietnam Vet, then how can one determine how many of us are still alive today? As the Department of Veterans Affairs studies, each day over 20 veterans take their own lives. Florida Agricultural And Mechanical University, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (Mit), Missouri University Of Science And Technology, State University Of New York Health Science Center At Brooklyn, Suny College Of Environmental Science And Forestry, The University Of North Carolina At Charlotte, The University Of Texas Health Science Center At Houston, The University Of Texas Health Science Center At San Antonio, The University Of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, The University Of Texas Medical Branch At Galveston, The University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Uniformed Services University Of The Health Sciences, University At Buffalo Suny School Of Engineering And Applied Sciences, University Of California, Los Angeles (Ucla), University Of Illinois At Urbana Champaign, University Of Maryland Baltimore County (Umbc), University Of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester, University Of Tennessee Health Science Center, University Of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Combat was what we did. RVN. There are questions like this that are hard to answere as being true boots on ground. Agreed. We certainly were in close combat often during my tour in 69-70. Lol. i am not saying i was a hero, but i am saying that i did the job and i did not argue. if you slept in the same bed more than 4 nights a week you were a REMF doesnt make you a abad guy but you are a remf. Based on data through September 30, 2020, VetPop2020 provides a projection of the Veteran population at each fiscal year end from 2020 to 2050. 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. Quite a story. If you have any doubts, take a closer look at your DD-214. Id like to know what the 1 in 14 men figure is based on. Funny, none of them were called WWII Era Veterans. Videos, Film, Music, and Movies about VN War, Author interview War & Life: Discussions with a Veteran, A Chat Between Three Veterans [live video with author], Lest We Forget Meet the Authors & Book Signing April 4th: Cherries and Donut Dolly, Interview with author John Podlaski in Examiner Magazine, American Heroes Radio interviews author of Cherries A Vietnam War Novel, Cherries Author Interviewed on British Website, U.K. Blogspot posts interviews author, John Podlaski, More Book Reviews and author interviews about Cherries, https://news.va.gov/89450/vietnam-war-veterans-honoring-served-memorial-day-2021/, https://cherrieswriter.com/2015/11/13/lost-to-history-the-canadians-who-fought-in-vietnam/, Three maps remind us of the horror of the Vietnam War WebInvestigator.KK.org by F. Kaskais, Three maps remind us of the horror of the Vietnam War | Self Improvement Life Hacks, Three maps remind us of the horror of the Vietnam War | Top Pin Answers, A Day in the Life of an Infantry Point Man in Vietnam. 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. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. I left this Sunday, as other mornings, to make a supply run and a code book and frequency transfer to Headquarters and Headquarters Battery (HHB); to gather C-Rations, mail, and most importantly to acquire our new radio codes of the confidential frequencies for this period. The veterans are a very important asset to the country. I knew I had to stand up again, even though I made a better target; my staying in the open road would be a death sentence. Everyone did their assigned job; some just got better assignments. Estimating the number of suicides among Vietnam veterans Unconfirmed reports that 50,000 or more Vietnam veterans have committed suicide give the impression that these veterans are at exceedingly high risk of suicide compared with other veterans and nonveterans of the same age. guy next to me was shoot dead I think that counts. We were near AF ranch hand ops and many of my buds still alive from then have the cancers, diabetes, amputations and such. I am a Proud US Army Veteran retired in 1984. All others should not be accepted to have served either on land or at sea in Vietnam. (Mar 1969-Sep 70) 2/23, 196 LIB & 1/23 MP Co, 11 LIB, AMERICAL DIV. i spent three years to and fro, with about 2-3 months in vietnam on every trip. I have one, but I fought a ferocious battle at FSB Gold at the beginning of Operation Junction II March 21, 1967, the artillery guys in Vietnam were every bit an infantryman as well, they suffered mortar & rocket attacks, enemy probes and attacks They were lucky in some ways that they did not have to crawl through the shit every day. My body, accompanied by my mind, was pitched out the right-side door, sliding between the seat and under the dashboard to land on the shoulder of the dirt road alone. She is new to that post, having spent 20+ years as head of coding & analysis at NSA. Then I down shifted entered the worst section of massive ruts and the broken-up roadbed threw the truck all about its grooves. I was on a boat floating up and down rivers for 19 months. At 73 years, I plan on beating that date. I found out from a vet in 2017, filed in 2018. An overwhelming number are buried by family and friends. Or did you spend 24/7 365 days in the boat? 2500 to 3000 US Air Force troops stationed in Guam, Thailand, and other countries that were involved in the Vietnam War effort. How many soldiers died on their first day in Vietnam? If you want to learn more about the Vietnam War and its Warriors, then subscribe to this blog and get notified by email or your feed reader every time a new story, picture, video or changes occur on this website the button is located at the top right of this page. Does Ohio State University Allow Pets In Dorms? Navy ships were classified as Blue Water ships. Bob Kerrey. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. yep I wonder also. I was in 1st Battalion 26 th Infantry HMP 1st Infantry Division in 68 November 68 to January 69. I was a merchant marine officer on cargo ships, american export lines, for three years, back and forth to viet nam. Vince. Era vets are important but dont count. These numbers were not included since these service members were far removed from combat experience and did not spend any amount of time in harms way. I remember that the minute we came around the coast and headed up for Vung Tau, as merchantmen on American Export LInes ships, we got a sizeable war zone increase in our pay. My sister found enough info to get my brother in laws ship re-classified as a brown water ship and proved he was sent in country by the ships commander (Newport News). I dont remember the exact number but remember it was over 500,000 in country and the number was the most ever at one time as the article was about Nixon beginning troop withdrawals that would continue until 1975. it was one of the smaller airbus aircraft. Pleiku, Dak To, An Khe. Got a nice break the last 5 months, got to drive a bird colonel around Chu Lai as he delivered classified info all over the base !!!!! What was the life expectancy of a helicopter door gunner in Vietnam? the draft board made that very clear. How Did The Campus Shootings Demonstrate The Continued Divisions Within The Country? Where is this one in twelve figure from? Check out this post and see if you can figure this out. Thousands of sorties departed from Thailand, Guam, and from aircraft carriers at sea to kill MIGS, bomb factories and bridges, and generally create havoc. Aint this fun? Was I counted each time or once? Yes. 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. 15 of us REMFs were surrounded by the 33rd NVA June 13 1970. Im glad you made it back! If the ratio of approximately 10% remains the same about 314. Dr. Paul A. Scipione This cookie is used by the website's WordPress theme. I knew what my death would mean to my mother, my father, and the rest of my family and friends. I served until April 28, 1969 !!!!!!!!!!!! it eas a very loud high pitched, not human and the sound was fuck you. 4-39th, 9th Div. Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. Without a doubt Helicopter Crews are COMBAT VETS, to fly so low & slow over the most hidden turf below.. On landing at LZ Gold March 19, 1967 we lost 6 Hueys and 7 pilots. I heard them offen. Then we went back to the Boonies. that conversation has stayed with me. No, Wildaboro was gone, and AK-47s and B-40 rockets were sapper armaments Later, I read in a letter that Sp.4 Donnon F. Porier grabbed the M-60 machinegun, risking his life, and ran down the hillside rushing to the ambush site. I served a second tour and know quite a few Marines that did also. Fact: Everyone who served during the Vietnam War are classified as Vietnam Era Vets. I know what I did while there in 1975, protecting USAF resources and aiding in the support of many end of the war mission. My new Iraq War novel, Three Wise Men should ne out sometime next year, I was at Camp Eagle, and worked in Production Control. Lets ask somebody on Facebook where we can get all the correct true data and facts. Thats what we did in Vietnam we left and am glad we did. According to the American War Library, as of February 28, 2019, it is estimated that approximately 610,000 Americans who served in land forces during the Vietnam War or in air missions over Vietnam between 1954 and 1975 are still alive to this day. I knew what life in-store for me in my recovery had- years of pain and disabilities while I waited for my next adventure. There is no definitive answer to this question as it depends on the specific situation and the individual's age, health, and military experience. Serving during the TET offensive and time after. He now has a 100% disability as unemployable. after spending 1968 with 3/25 0f 2nd field forces and 1970 with the 1/12 cav. They are paying on Melathion settlements (Watch TV, and it as on 2 to 3% purity, used inside US) There are no living Veterans that I know of.