Replies

There is a need for additional statistics from the Vietnam era.

These are based on the common misconception that was touted in the US, that if a young male lost his deferment, he “Would be drafted, go to Vietnam, and die!” Radicals and leftists, especially on college campuses, used this lie to foment radicalism and protest by otherwise ordinary students, generating a mood of fear and panic.

The statistics that need to be compiled include the following:

1) What percentage of service age males were drafted? How many volunteered?
2) Of those, what percentage went into combat arms, as opposed to combat support and combat service support branches?
3) Of those who graduated AIT, what percentage went to Vietnam?
4) Of those who went to Vietnam, how many were posted to units that at any point were involved in combat?
5) Of those in combat engaged units, how many reenlisted on condition that they stay with their unit? (Knowing that each of these would ‘bump’ a potential replacement.)

Realizing that this is a *cumulative* group of statistics, what were the odds of “being drafted, going to Vietnam, and dying?”

What I believe it will indicate is that there was a central core of personnel who did most of the combat over several enlistments and several years. Surrounding them was a flux of other soldiers who were less capable because of less experience. Only some of them got most of the combat as well.

This was the group that experienced most casualties, most KIA, and likely most PTSD. A small, elite band of brothers, compared to the vast numbers of scared young men back in the US.