Sad Statistics

[oscars]

997 troops were killed on their first day in Vietnam while 1447 were killed on their last day in Vietnam.

[Johnny P]

Had a cousin that joined and went to Vietnam as a helicopter mechanic. He got bored with doing maintenance on helicopters and requested flight. They made him a door gunner on a Huey and almost immediately got shot down but made a controlled landing and was rescued. A few weeks later he took a round through the bottom of the Huey in his heel that went half way up his leg, and after being sent to Japan was sent home. A few years later developed mesothelioma and lasted another couple of years.

He and a friend joined on the "Buddy Plan" where you went through basic with your buddy. They rode the bus together to the town they were to depart from for basic, and cousin was sent to Fort Polk, Louisiana, and his buddy to Fort Hood, Texas. So much for the buddy plan.

[blackhawknj]

Only guarantee in this life is that you're going to leave it. We had 3 deaths in the 12th Engineer Battalion in Germany 1970-1971.

[Allen]

Only guarantee in this life is that you're going to leave it.

+1

We're only on loan here.

[pcox]

A member of my basic training company at Ft Leonard Wood was one of the 997. None of the 10 men on the huey got the purple heart because although the ship was under fire at the time of the crash, the Army determined it was mechanical failure.