Watching 120 History Channel, Homage to Military -

KenK/84Bravo

Started with WWI, then WWII, now on to Vietnam.

Interesting fact presented :

"In WWII the average Infantry Soldier experienced 10 days of Combat in one year.

In Vietnam, the average Infantry Soldier experienced 240 days of Combat in one year."


That is a sobering statistic. Hats off to you all. Crisp salute.





Vietnam started with Carl Moore and Landing Zone X-Ray. ("Broken Arrow.")

Now have progressed to the taking of Hill 875, (Hamburger Hill) after the battle of Dak To. (Primarily 173rd ABN.) One of my Dads units, in one of his two tours in Vietnam.



Brave Men All.

Don McManus

'Brave Men All'

Yes sir.

An important thing to note regarding Vietnam vs. WWII is the number of draftees.

On average, there were significantly fewer draftees (by percentage) serving in the military and in country in Vietnam than during the bulk of WWII.

The greatest generation was drafted at a higher rate to fight totalitarianism than their children, most of whom were volunteers in the fight against communism.

Without denigrating the memory of those brave men who landed at Normandy and who battled through hell that was the Pacific campaign, we need to recognize that the next generation was no less honorable, and served at a greater rate by choice than did their parents.

KenK/84Bravo

Don McManus wrote:

'Brave Men All'

Yes sir.

An important thing to note regarding Vietnam vs. WWII is the number of draftees.

On average, there were significantly fewer draftees (by percentage) serving in the military and in country in Vietnam than during the bulk of WWII.

The greatest generation was drafted at a higher rate to fight totalitarianism than their children, most of whom were volunteers in the fight against communism.

Without denigrating the memory of those brave men who landed at Normandy and who battled through hell that was the Pacific campaign, we need to recognize that the next generation was no less honorable, and served at a greater rate by choice than did their parents.

I appreciate your comments Don.


It was pointed out that 1/3 of those ultimately serving in Vietnam were Volunteers.




It was not an easy War. Unlike WWII Where Uniformed troops were engaged. In Vietnam, the NVA strived to hide amongst the populace. You never knew who your enemy was.





Back to Dak To and the subsequent battle of hill 875, (Hamburger Hill.) The 173rd lost 1/5th of its Men in a two week period. Very sobering.




The Vietnam War was very prominent in my formative years. My Dad was an ABN SM/CSM stationed at Ft. Bliss, (El Paso, TX.) at that juncture. As well as being deployed twice in that time frame, He would bring troops home to spend the weekend with us, cookout, throw the football, etc. We got to know these guys.

We would be told, "remember Gus, Todd, etc. Well he got killed last week."

We would eat dinner with a small B&W TV on the edge of the table, watching nightly what was going on. "90% of Nightly News was dedicated to the Vietnam War." Over 50 million Viewers tuned in nightly.

Vietnam ended in 1975. I enlisted in 1979.

While I did not Serve there, it is very foremative in my memory of those years.

hillbille

I allways watch the WWII documenteries with the outside hope of seeing my dad in one of them, or uncles in the pacific theater. Haven't seen them yet but it gives me a better understanding of what they went through.....