life expectancy of an infantry soldier in combat

Out of the 3,000,000 men and women in our armed forces and reserves, we have lost 4,500 in this 9 year war. Two of my classmates were killed within 2 weeks incountry and three wounded I know of. A Co, 1/5 Cav, 1 Cav Division. As a Huey door gunner, when we left the ground on a mission, I always thought that this mission would be my last! 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. The rule of thumb was , any new guys would get the radio and keep it until another new guy came in. Men of the 47th Infantry Regiment pass through Remagen on their way to the Ludendorf Bridge, March 1945. The ASVAB is short for Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery which is a series of tests that help you better understand your strengths in the U.S. Military. Had multiple Ks and Ws. The job title is the epitome of the U.S. Army as you are the primary means of attack and defense on land for the military. Interesting but something is missing. Some were in action later the same day. HOOAH!!! I applaud your courage as I know an RTOs job is essential, difficult (carrying the weight of his radio transmitter, his rifle, his ammo, and his rucksack), and dangerous as the enemy surely wanted to knock out any communications for support. Alsace had for more than a century been a region disputed between the French and the Germans, and many of the residents there were more supportive of the latter than the former. Found NVA bunker complex. Cameron Rogers from 1st Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, plots points on a map during the fire . AS LEADERS IN AMERICAS SERVICES WE MUST BE PROFICIENT AND READY TO ACCOMPLISH OUR MISSIONS- Thats why they called us GRUNTS ! Cleaning tools and oil were kept in the buttstock. For example, life expectancy of male and female Veterans with household incomes less than $20,000, at age 25, are estimated to be 3.9 and 2.2 less life-years than those of $50,000+ income, respectively. Living in the ground led them to be filthy, and staying alive drove them to tolerate it, of themselves and their squadmates. We ambushed and got ambushed, firebase got attacked who carried what or did what had no bearing. At times in Italy and later in France, infantrymen learned to sleep as they marched, stumbling forward as if they were sleepwalking, which in a way they were. The Bronze Star was awarded to ALL that were awarded the CIB in WWII because the Infantry accounted for over 70% of the casualties in WWLL BUT NOT 70% )F ALL THE INFANTRY !!! Helicopters, F4 fighters. They were also in a circular formation. we were getting it with machine gun and mortars. Ron. Some of these men were discharged following recovery, while others remained in the service performing administrative or training duties. Belton Cooper, a soldier who supported an armored unit, recalled that the high number of tanker casualties forced the Army to hastily retrain infantry replacements as tankers. The lives of these soldiers are always at risk. As a result, Army Infantrymen 11B are trained to conduct mobilization in a variety of settings on land. We took fire all the time and responded. EACH OF US CARRIES OUR OWN MEMORIES AND THEY RUN THE GAMUT. Their experience as front-line combat infantry was invaluable in training new recruits in what they could expect when it became their turn at the front. In his work The 1865 Customs of Service for Non-Commissioned Officers and Soldiers, August V. Kautz writes that a soldier "should learn to wait: a soldier's life is made up in waiting for the critical moments.". said to me. Thanks for the reply. See you in the next life!!!!! I saw killed and wounded everywhere in our combat operations. US Army. I was a medic on one for two yrs and the only weapon I was issue was a six-shot .38. It was also shipped to both the UK and the Soviets as part of a lend-lease. American infantry from the 28th Infantry division march on the Champs Elysees in Paris. With these loads, they trudged through mud or snow during the winter of 1944-45, the coldest and snowiest in Europe in over fifty years. 2 tour Nam Vet, Free Sample first six chapters of Cherries both Written and Audiobook, Author interview War & Life: Discussions with a Veteran. I was a grunt with c co. 4/31 196th it inf bade. 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. (and yes, you cant ask them, so it would have to be derived from the AA-reports and survivors). According to General George S. Patton, the M1 was, the greatest battle implement ever devised. The .30 caliber M1 was designed to be easily disassembled for cleaning in the field. I carried the PRC-25 for most of a year. Those who were killed in combat were identified by their dog tags, and buried by special details for the most part, although it was not uncommon for infantrymen to bury the dead of their units while on patrol, marking the location with a dog tag. For the most part, when they went home after the war they regathered themselves and used their GI Bill rights to get educations, buy houses, and create the baby boom and the suburbs. U.S. Army Infantryman overwhelming have positive things to say about the military career choice. It began just as, it was getting dark. I was lucky too but VN never left me. Two points: 1) at least in Army units, Medevacs (dust offs) flew unarmed aircraft. His entrenching tool could be used as a pick and a spade, but the often frozen ground encountered in late 1944 resisted his efforts stubbornly. Sept 69 to Sept 70. The infantrymen of World War 2 slogged across Europe from the spring of 1944 through the early spring of 1945. I was never formally trained as an RTO. How they got there depended on the condition of the roads and railroads between their consolidation point and where they were needed. We can all hold our heads high and be proud of our service. 30 Apr 2023 00:05:29 You have to earn it, so hard work during your education and training is extremely important. They didnt know it, but they were about 60 miles from the Rhine River, which lay to the North, and less than one hundred miles east of Stuttgart, Germany. Lt lost a finger, same time. When elements of the 276th Infantry Division were moved from their consolidation camp to the front it took a journey of four days, in freezing conditions, with many unplanned stops due to conditions on the railroad and at the front. I was a helicopter pilot Cluster F, SNAFU and FUBAR fer sur. Ernest, Im glad that your first tour with the VN airborne was rewarding. Sanitation facilities were a box filled with sand in each car. Welcome Home Roger. The 276th was not going into combat as a division, but as a task force, meaning that it was used to plug gaps in the line in response to fluid conditions during the German attack in Belgium. I had a 20% death rate in my Hospital Corpsman Class. It was just north of Saigon. A Civil War soldier would find that modern axiom very familiar. The rifle companies of the 276th Infantry Division arrived in the French town of Brumath on the day after Christmas, 1944. Boot camp for an Army Infantryman consists of two sections: Basic Combat Training (BCT) and Advanced Individual Training. American troops disembarked in ports in England and Scotland, Iceland, and North Africa, and as the war went on, directly on the continent in Marseille and Toulon in the Mediterranean, and Cherbourg and other Channel ports. There is a demand to know how to operate in an NBC contaminated area as well as construct field expedient firing aids. 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. Yes, I made E4 at graduation, that was considered a NCO then. They were great patriots fighting for their families and their homeland. One result of combat is dealing with prisoners of war, with Army Infantrymen being the first means to process POWs. Again it fell to the squad leaders to decide when enough hazing had been conducted by the veterans of combat on the new arrivals. The other group of aeromedical evacuation were divisional, i.e. Welcome Home Brothers ! 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. That was the reason for two dog tags. They accomplished the task with little knowledge of the tactical situation which drove them to take and abandon positions, engage and disengage the enemy, sleep in the open in driving rain, sleet, snow, or the hot humid summer of 1944. The soldier spent a majority of his time in camp drilling, with . Thus they were deployed without artillery of their own. I felt the same way jumping off the chopper with my m-60, 300. rounds of ammo,grenades,sandbags and six canteens of water. Our patrols were typically about 14 hours 24/7 We operated of old LSTs and large barges. Because if only 1 RTO fought for say only 10 or 15 minutes before being killed, that would up the AVG for the total war! It was mostly used by specialty units rather than infantry. It didnt matter who you were or where you were. An infantryman was trained to fire a full eight-round clip in battle before reloading the weapon. You will become a member of a fire team which could result in deployment to one or more dangerous settings involving direct combat. As we were, steadily building up, our area for protection. Veterans of the 289th Infantry Regiment on the road to St. Vith during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. Your email address will not be published. 1ST MAW 66-68. I am one lucky SOB. No high security clearance is required to become an Army Infantryman. What was the average life expectancy for soldiers during World War 2? If you have other information let me know. If my memory is correct, only the 1st Cab flew wiith doorgunners. May they rest in peace. Really? means: 1 gets killed the 1st second, another one after 9 seconds avg. 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? Officers and sergeants frequently carried the M1 carbine, which used the same ammunition as the M1 rifle but was lighter and easier to handle in the field. There are a number of civilian job opportunities for an Army Infantryman (11B) following discharge from the U.S. Military. 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. Troops were moved to the front to prepare for another offensive in the autumn of 1944, and then redeployed in response to the surprise German counteroffensive. Some reported not having the ability to shower for as long as several weeks. It is still an impressive statistic but utterly meaningless. The key may be the word initial since we became more savvy with successive combats and had improved survivability. The infantryman often reached a designated point and had to dig in for the night. Great reading. Education: Army members can earn full-tuition, merit-based scholarships, allowances for books and fees, plus annual stipend for living expenses. Also, Infantry like the culture of the military job as well as management opportunities. Engineer OSUT is 14 weeks long. I was told my life expectancy was about 45 secs during a fire fight because of the weapons and demo I carried. Comfortable with the results of his inspection, the soldier sits on a nearby log, powders his feet and inserts them into his damp boots, making sure to tuck his fatigue pants into the tops before tying the laces - a preventive measure to keep leeches and ticks from crawling up the legs. The overwhelming majority of the combat infantrymen deployed during the Second World War carried as their primary weapon the Garand M1 rifle. Pararescue U.S. Air Force pararescuemen and a simulated 'survivor' watch as an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter comes in for a landing. The course is intended to provide an intermediate step between the buddy aid -style basic life support taught to every soldier and the advanced life support skills that are taught to US Army Combat Medics and to US Army . 11 c mos , meaning I was also cross trained for mortars . Nor was treating wounded their only duty, they were responsible for the overall health of the men in their company, treating them for dysentery, routine illnesses such as colds and flu, blisters, sprains and broken bones, and other miseries encountered by the men. The higher the score on the ASVAB, the better your odds at becoming MOS 11B. Fellow members soon learned the strengths and weaknesses of each other, who could be relied on and who would shirk his duties. I packed my own radio and got a Thank you from his Mom. I was a 2LT on Hamburger Hill and had 4 RTOs over a 7 day period (excluding the times I ended up carrying my own radio). 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. Photo above is of Stanley Kober with RTO, John Scheur. We walked the mountains and rice patties all thru Tu Thien Province. I agree with all of the comments, however I would add Tunnel Rats to the group I was one and saw many of my friends die in those tunnels I was very fortunate or very lucky and was never a lead but was at the tail end. 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. I was an RTO for 9-1/2 months for Hawk Recon 2/327 101AB from dec, 1969 to sept 70. 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. I am 81 now and survived the encounter by terminated the sniper. We then took all Trucks and equipment to the Port Of Saigon. The average age of the 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. 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. 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! Infantry soldiers are trained at Fort Benning, Georgia. An interesting essay, even more interesting are the comments. 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. If you would like to get a copy, and cant find it, let me know, and I will make sure you get one. During combat, soldiers need to request, observe, and adjust direct supporting fire. The lowest rated category on Indeed for Army Infantryman is work-life balance which makes sense as having a family while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces is far from easy. The blasts from the AMMO, really lit up the whole area. The 11X program challenges new recruits with the option of becoming MOS 11B or MOS 11C. Second Lieutenant was the most junior commissioned rank in the Army and experienced squad leaders often had to make up for their commanders lack of experience in the field, and with the Army overall. Related Article Marine Corps Infantry Assault (MOS 0351): Career Details. Infantrymen were trained to keep the rifle cleaned and well-oiled at all times, and since their lives depended on their weapon most were diligent about following this directive. He was killed in an ambush along with three others. Just published my book The Last Goodbye by John Fratangelo, available on line on Barnes and Noble and Amazon Prime Books, Getting great reviews. We all have opinions, this is mine. I will always think/say, we had absolutely no reason for being in that place. RIP KOOKIE forever young, Thank god you are still alive, I am age 77. During the Second World War in all theaters, it was the infantry which bore the brunt of combat, be it ground units of the US Army or the Marines. Hats off to them. The infantrymen of World War 2 slogged across Europe from the spring of 1944 through the early spring of 1945. The 1809 Battle of Landshut in Bavaria, Germany resulted in a victory for Napoleon Bonaparte. Ed, I was in a Grunt Platoon in Vietnam 70-71. 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. Nobody attacked, where we were. 1 / 6 Show Caption + Hide Caption - Sgt. To cut the Ho Chi Minh Traila week after the mission endedthe trail was booming with business from the north.. I was an Artillery Forward Observer with the Infantry. For some reason, the written word of this article was somehow deleted and lost. Over 600 Navy FMF Hospital Corpsmen were killed in Vietnam. It is an important role of MOS 11B and just one of their many responsibilities. The basics for every soldier, shown here, including hard tack. I assisted Vessey and Capt Cartwright by helping prepare the Bee Hive Rounds (first time they were ever used), firing 4 rounds at proximity 0 range into a human wave attack on or weak side after 5 hours of relentless attacks on the opposite side of the perimeter Those 4 rounds killed @ 400 enemy soldiers, of the 881 total enemy losss John Vessey later became a 4 Star general and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs appointed by Reagan 1983, and at retirement became Chair of the POW MIA Commission for 14 years, Passing away in August 2016 just 6 months before our 50th Reunion. These men were first loaded onto railcars from the French rolling stock which was called 40 and 8s. Fifteen percent of all American beer production was set aside for the American military, and it was brought near to the front for resting troops to consume. See my calculation below in the comments bogus indeed. RTO, John Scheur. While remaining at the camp, soldiers were told that they would be allowed to leave the facility and visit Boston, or Providence and other locations. Although the men were usually informed of such a move, their immediate officers and non-coms remained in place, as seldom was a transfer of less than company strength. Occasionally the men were transferred piecemeal. I always found life expectancy numbers interesting in that I could never find any supporting information that could be validated. An American infantryman inspects the body of a dead German in July 1944, near St. . He decided to stay even though he had a deep feeling he wasnt going to make it. I do remember when I got short I thought about it a lot more. On the march, they saw first-hand the horrors of the war they were fighting, dead and maimed bodies of Allies and the enemy, many of them scarcely recognizable as human. I did worry about the strength of my flax vest. Many were killed or wounded ! Sorry,I was one of your Brothers in Arms that helped talk you out of enlisting for another year in Vietnam. Required fields are marked *. I was once told a story by a World War II veteran who . C Co, 1st-12th 66-67. Sore feet and sore backs were part of life. Army Infantrymen are experts in both weaponry and machinery, so there is a need to maintain and store combat weapons of all types. We were very, lucky. Care of his feet was paramount to the infantrymen since they were his primary means of conveyance. Hi, the whole thing is going nicely here and ofcourse every one No trees or anything on the ground. He also carried an equipment bag, ammunition bandolier, backpack, entrenching tool, grenades, rations, canteen, spare socks, a blanket, a half shelter (to sleep under), and whatever personal items he wished. Was a door gunner and crew chief for just shy of 18 months (I extended to get out early). Many were damaged, and the Germans had left them behind as they withdrew because they considered them useless. I personally believe and agree with previous posts that when its your time, not much you can do. Was I lucky ? Walking wounded were usually treated at aid stations manned by the medical personnel of their own unit. Dap, Hope this helps. On Sun, Mar 8, 2020 at 4:00 PM CherriesWriter Vietnam War website wrote: > pdoggbiker posted: A friend recently sent me the link to an article > claiming that the life expectancy of a radio operator in the Vietnam War > was only 5 seconds. Les Scates U.S. Army (Ret.) The US Army needs to get this correct for the soldiers and Marines. In my humble opiniona maneven leaders should often recalculate their adversaries capabilities and limitations and his own limitations as wellwhen 10,000 miles from home against a determined worthy foein a strange landThe objective of Lam Son 719? 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). never happened,we lost two sweep team members and some
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