What was the lifestyle of a Vietnam Soldier?

Answer 1

== == * It was a jungle war and they battled snakes, leaches, mosquitoes, etc. There were booby traps everywhere (nasty ones) and they were not prepared for how smart the Vietcong were. There was dysentery, fevers, snake bites, "jungle rot" on various parts of the body, especially the feet. The Vietcong traveled light and quiet and snipers were hard to spot and difficult to destroy by the Americans. A Vietnam vet told me that it took them some time to figure out how some of the Vietcong could track them and it was because of what the American rations were made out of and of course when they had to have bowel movements the Vietcong traced them this way. Americans began to change their diet to rice, fish, etc. One would never think of such a thing. Fighting any war on the enemies turf is always more difficult. Many of the Vietcong lived underground in tunnels that went for miles. Often the American soldiers would have to try to smoke them out and then go after them and this was an extremely dangerous practice. The Vietcong hid behind innocent villagers and therefore the Americans had no choice but to kill innocent women, children and the elderly. American soldiers fought in mud, tropical rains, blazing heat. They had to battle the "red rain" (Agent Orange) and there was also Agent White. They had some entertainment, but not as much as one would think. Drinking and drugs became a way of life for them to survive the horrors of the war and to try and forget. Many soldiers were highly addicted to morphine because they had been wounded and were not weaned off morphine properly (doctors had terrible conditions to work in as they called it "butcher shop surgery.") * The sad thing about this war is the fact the United States should never have entered into it (Most Vietnam Vets will be the first to agree) and while the American troops were over there fighting for their country (their government lying to them) not to mention the soldiers knowing nothing about the "movement" anti war protesters. American casualties were higher than the U.S. government would have the public believe. Also, when the war ended soldiers not only came back crippled, but were spat at and called baby killers. It was difficult for them to find jobs and to adjust to civilian life again. It was a shock to them and that coupled with the horrors of what they had to endure caused an influx of a high suicide rate among the Vietnam vets. They not only came back without limbs and broken bodies, but broken minds. To this day they still struggle to survive and some are still seeking counseling to try to wipe out the horrors of this useless war. * I visited Oregon and was shocked when I went to a war museum that all wars previously were shown with the exception of the Vietnam War. I talked to the Curator of the museum and they were embarrassed. I was furious and as far as I am concerned these men and women went over to a war they were told was necessary and they fought and lost their lives bravely. They deserved better!

Answer 2

This is a wide-open question! Our everyday lives varied depending on what we did, and where we were. Soldiers in the major areas of Saigon, Long Binh, Nha Trang, Cam Ranh Bay, Pleiku, and DaNang lived in wooden temporary one-story barracks and slept on bunk beds. Combat soldiers usually slept on the ground, or in 'bunkers' dug into the ground and covered with wood, metal, and sand bags. We had no running water, so bathrooms were 'outhouses' with 55-gallon drums cut in half with a mixture of gas and diesel in the bottom. Each morning, some poor soldier would have to pull the barrels out and light them on fire to burn away the 'waste.' We would construct frames with water barrels on top filled in the morning. The water would warm up in the sun all day, and in the evening we could take a warm shower. We sometimes got warm cooked food, but usually ate 'C-Rations.' These were canned meals stuffed into cardboard boxes. Weiners and beans was our favorite - ham and lima beans was the most unpopular. Wartime itself is usually many hours of boredom, punctuated with moments of sheer terror and confusion. This was my personal experiences as a combat medic with the First Cavalry Division as a combat medic 1967-68 in Vietnam.

Answer 3

In the Vietnam War, US Soldiers performed daily routine duties on their assigned weapons/equipment; for a M-48 Patton tank crewman, he might be helping the loader drop the 90MM gun's breech block for a mal-function or cleaning. The loader might be helping the driver clean out the diesel engine's opened area within the tank's hull, after the engine (power pack) has been pulled (for replacing). It must be relatively clean before the new engine is dropped in. An Armored Cavalryman might be replacing track blocks on his M-551 Sheridan tank (breaking track, an 8 hour job, if done by hand in rough terrain). A mechanized infantryman might be adjusting the .50 caliber machingun's head space and timing on his track mounted M-113 Armored Personnel Carrier. The grunt will be walking around bare foot airing out his feet, and cleaning his M-14 rifle, or in the later days, his M-16 rifle.

US Sailors, of the US Navy's "Brown Water Navy", will be cleaning weapons and performing maintenance to the engines of their of their Swift Boats (Patrol Craft Fast-PCR), or PBR's (Patrol Boat River), or Alpha Boat (Assault Support Patrol Boat), or his Monitor (River Battleship).

US Airmen during the Vietnam War, will be repairing, cleaning, re-arming, and re-fuelling the F-100 Supersabre Jet Fighter Bombers, F-101 Voodoo Jets, F-102 Delta Dagger Jets, F-104 Starfighters, F-105 Thunderchief's, A-7 Corsair's, B-57 Canberra Bombers, and B-52 Bombers. US Sailors aboard the carriers will be preparing to launch their A-7 Corsair II's, A-1 Skyraiders, A-6 Intruders, A-4 Skyhawks, F-8 Crusaders, and F-4 Phantoms.

In between those duties, EVERY MAN will be living for only eating and sleeping.

For the men in the field (Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen), life consisted of eating, sleeping, and pulling duty (patrols, searching for the enemy), performing maintenance on ther equipment (tanks, machinguns, armored personnel carriers, swift boats, helicopters, jet aircraft, etc.).

While in the field we had NO: Movies, DVD, music (once in awhile a man might have a transitor radio (a portable radio), TV, night clubs, CD's, computers, lap tops, cell phones, showers, toilets, running water to brush our teeth, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, pets (unless we adopted one, a mascot), no privacy, and no female campanship.

Just eat, sleep, keep our weapons and equipment operational, search for the enemy and try to destroy him, for 365 days. Then we could go home.

Vietnam Vets - Thank you .. and PLEASE .. feel free to correct me.. like I state.. I am only a history buff. Strictly from a historian's viewpoint ~ more horrible and intense than anyone not experiencing combat can imagine. The enemy was underground or hidden in heavy vegetation shooting at them til there was no one left or they chose to leave. The enemy was man, woman, elder and child. The bombings took place in the bush, on the base and in the markets in town. And IF they survived their tour, they returned to a country that alternated from supporting them to hating them. Reports of the Mai Lai massacre and various other accidents or bad choices were televised and the actions of few were automatically attached to all who participated whether they behaved honorably or not. Rotten food, feces, and insults were hurled at them as the disembarked from their trips in airports. The horror of the battles followed them home, the disgraceful behavior of the public shamed those that did their duty and served. Now they STILL live in the shadow of those experiences and we have a long way to go to prove we truly appreciate their service. Some will never understand that we behaved poorly and that they are appreciated.

The life of a serviceman can be very boring. Compared to a civilian who can go and do things after work. When a serviceman was done with his work; he could read a book, perform hygiene, improve his fox hole/bunker/fighting position, eat, sleep, tell jokes, then read some more, eat some more, drink some canteen water mixed with some "C" ration cool aid or coco.

For the US Soldier or US Marine, in addition to the above, if he's an armor crewman (tank crewman) he could "pull" maintenance on his M-48 Patton tank, if assigned to the Armored Cavalry he'd be pulling some maintenance on his M-551 Sheridan tank. If he's with a mechanized infantry outfit, he might be pumping grease into the road wheels of his M-113 APC/ACAV (Armored Personnel Carrier/Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle). If he's a "straight leg" (infantryman/grunt) then he's cooling off his feet in a nearby creek, and pulling maintenance on his M-14/M-16 rifle, or M-60 machingun, or M-79 40MM grenade launcher, or M-203 over and under (combination rifle/grenade launcher). If he's an artilleryman, then he's pulling maintenance on his "field gun" (105mm, 155mm, 175mm cannons).

For the US Sailor (Brown Water Navy-Riverine Forces): He's pulling maintenance on his Swift Boat and it's attached weapons (50 foot long all aluminum, 6 crewmen), or his PBR, a 32' fiberglass Patrol Boat River (as seen in the film, "Apocalypse Now"), or his Alpha Boat (ASPB-Assault Support Patrol Boat), or his Monitor (River Battleship).

For the US Airman: He's rearming his pilot's F-100 Supersaber jet fighter bomber, or re-fuelling his assigned F-104 Starfighter jet attack aircraft; other airmen are re-loading one hundred and eight 750LB high explosive bombs onto their assigned B-52 Stratofortress Bombers.

And when they're finished working, they'll settle down to a good book, or maybe someone's showing a 8MM movie in the chow hall (mess hall). Then they can settle down to some beer & pizza. (That'll be about all that's in that place).

Well, besides dealing with enemy forces there was a list of other things we Marines and soldiers had to deal with as follows:

• Leeches
• Mosquitoes
• Fire ants
• Rats
• Bush Snakes
• Poisonous Spiders
• Piousness centipedes
• One of my favorites, Scorpions
• Booby-traps of all types
• Miliaria
• Dehydration
• Heat Exhaustion
• Sun Stroke
• Sun Burn
• Red Dust
• And my all time favorite, Jungle Rot
• Monsoon
• Loss of Buddies
• Take the hill, then take it again, then take it again, then take it again, etc. etc.
• Not concerned about the bullet with my name on it as much as the ones that said, "to whom it may concern."
• Missing family, home, friends.
• Dealing with anger.
• Dealing with emotions of various types.
• Dealing with the illogical

For many it was pure hell! They thought they were doing their duty as soldiers for their country and had no idea (because most had never served in a war) or what they were up against. Jungle, snakes, spiders, booby traps, heat, humidity, torrents of rain, foot rot, scabs on their body from cuts that got infected from moisture and dirt. The horrors of this war also led many soldiers into a fog of drugs just to cope. Smoking Marijuana was like smoking a cigarette. They had no idea what type of enemy they were up against and the American Government had underestimated their enemy. Americans didn't have snipers (at first) and it was the Vietcong that had them. They were picking off American soldiers right and left until they in turn relied on their own snipers. The highest casualties actually (although not as many as far as body count) where the helicopters that flew in to get the wounded. There was racism as well. Often the blacks felt the whites were sending them out on the most dangerous of patrols (and, in some cases and some units they did just that.) When Martin Luther King was assassinated this also aroused the Black Americans to rebel to a point. It was difficult for American soldiers to tell the Vietcong from the villagers, and yes, the soldiers had no options but to kills civilians because often the Vietcong would hide behind them or hide their weapons in the villages. Fear was the factor in this case for the villagers (they were caught between the Vietcong and the American soldiers.) Mothers would hand a soldier their baby or a little boy would walk up to a soldier (how was a soldier to know these were not the innocent like in his own country) and the baby would have a grenade attached to it or the little boy would throw a grenade at the soldier. Hard to believe, but it happened. Unfortunately, this is where good old America back home heard the term "baby killers!" You can thank SOME of the reporters for this misleading bits of news. Only a very few reporters actually bothered to care enough to get the real story from the American soldiers. Reports were more into sensationalizing their reporting for a step up the old ladder. Not all were like this, and many lost their lives reporting the Vietnam War. Luckily the truth did leak out back to the U.S.

There were tunnels everywhere in some villages where the Vietcong hid out as well as tunnels throughout the jungle. Booby traps were everywhere. Pits were built and bamboo shanks were pushed into the pit, then the hole was covered and often American soldiers would plunge to their deaths.

JFK was well aware that it was a mistake that the Americans had entered the war and he wanted to bring back the American soldiers, etc. Unfortunately, JFK was assassinated then his brother Bobby (that in itself is yet another story) and Lyndon B. Johnson took over. Johnson still waited until the people started putting pressure on him and there were sit-ins, riots, etc. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated which also fueled the fire. It is said to this day that Johnson still can't get a full nights sleep because of the nightmares he suffers over the Vietnam War and his lack of decision making.

College students rebelled against the war and some were injured and killed. The American people were split in half. Some believed in the war (just like now) while others didn't (just like now.) For the first time the American people didn't believe in "America and Apple Pie." They ACTUALLY started to question their government! Few of the youth of that era had little knowledge of what the war was about and the damage they were doing to the fighting men over there. The soldiers didn't even know what was going on back home for a long while, but eventually word did leak out to them and they were caught in hell! They had been mutilated, lost limbs, blinded, watched their buddies blown to pieces and now they were told that they should have never been in this war in the first place and it was all a bad mistake. The troops, to some degree, began to fragment because it was difficult to believe their own government had lied to them and fed them full of Propaganda while fighting (to keep their spirits up.) Let us not forget the lie the American government told their own fighting men about Agent Orange and Agent White.

The end of the story is the end of the Vietnam War (American did lose) and the casualties were higher than the public was told. The men were brought home, but there were rumors that stated there were still POWs still left behind. The Vietnam government denied this (it couldn't be proved) but it is certainly highly probable. Some said the Vietcong hid the prisoners working them in rice patties and moving the POWs on a weekly basis from one rice field to another. The soldiers that came home were not only broken in body, but mind and spirit. They came back to the call of "baby killers" and were spat on. No one took the time to hear their side of the story. Not all American citizens treated the Vietnam vets in a shabby way, but it was difficult for them to find jobs and many were ravaged by nightmares, drugs until eventually some formed a group of their own. No one could possibly understand the hell that they went through.

Answer 4

The lifestyle of the US Draftee mirrored his civilian image before he was conscripted into the US Military. He wore long side burns, long muctaches, and fairly long hair (for the service) and listened to the same music. Only difference was, he wore OD (Olive Drab/Olive Green colored uniform).

Answer 5

Vietcong soldiers Ranged from very young ages to very old ages. Usually from around 12 to 87. though senior citizens did not clasify as foot soldiers they still considered themselves Vietcong/NVA and would give there lives trying to kill American soldiers. Most Vietcong foot soldiers were young the maximum age being around mid to late fifties. And unlike the U.S the Vietcong were forced to train everyday, even in training situations were they would pit two Vietcong soldiers together in a potentially fatal battle. Since the Vietcong where not an official part of the North Vietnamise millitary they didn't have nearly as nice of camps. They usually lived in huts made from thir natural surroundings or they would simply force villagers out of their homes and occupy them. When they did this the villagers were usually killed and the women rapped then murdered. If an officer in the Vietcong doubted the faith and loyalty of one of his soldiers he could ask them to complete a tast to prove his loyalty. This could be anything from starving him/herself for a few days to cutting off ones own finger. If the Soldier was not able to complete the task he was executed. A frequent activity amoung the Vietcong was pitting civilan prisoners against eachother to a fight to the death and bet on the winner just for entertainment. Another more well known activity was making two captured POW play russian roulete with each other where the Vietcong would also bet for fun. A fact that is not so well known is that Vietcong soldiers trained themselves to survive on a bowl of rice a day so literaly a vietcong soldier could survive months on rice alone. And most the time thats how life was, food was a precious resource so it was rarely if ever that the soldiers got more then a meal a day.

Answer 6

Men in the field (Sailors on Swift Boats & PBR's, Marines, Soldiers, etc.) only did three things: Eat, Sleep, and pull duty. Eating was the best part of the day. To this day, many years later, veterans still love to eat, especially when memories arise from those days. The average food was C-rations, canned food. Twelve meals to a case. The whole meal box was the approximate size of half a shoe box, and contained a new pack of cigarettes containing four or five cigarettes. This was one of the most important parts of a "C" ration meal. They could be eaten cold or heated. At night, they normally had to be eaten cold, "light discipline", cigarettes had to be "cupped" in your hand. If any communist soldier saw your light you could end up "drawing fire" which would highly anger your buddies. Sleep was blis, and happened anytime, anywhere. Upon returning home, some men couldn't sleep in a bed, they had to sleep on the floor. They were used to hard ground or the steel back deck of an M-48 Patton tank. And they could only sleep during the daytime, because night time is when "incoming came" or the assault. Pulling duty, was long endless walks in the sun. Or the rain and the mud. For a month at time a man could go with no bath, and NO CHANGE OF CLOTHES. And always that good ol' can of cold "C" rats! Then if gunfire was heard anywhere, or an explosion, everyone was on his belly. Then we'd watch and listen to see who's shooting. If the gunfire started at the head of the column then everyman would begin shooting down the line both left and right of him until someone told him different. Yelling wasn't too effective, words could not be distinguished. Hand movements were understandable, that coupled with the tone of the yelling man's voice told us it was either go this way or that way, quit shooting here and start shooting over there, etc. Generally you knew it was safe when men started standing up, lighting up a cigarette, or taking off their helmet to wipe the sweat away. Those were some of the signs of the fight being over, and time to take a break. If a man was hit, there would be a few men around him, if there was no moaning or talking, then he was probably KIA, then we'd wonder who he was that got it. If we heard some talking, things might be OK, if we heard some laughter, then it was just a little ol' firefight, and no body got hurt. Just a another day. A VERY GOOD DAY!

Answer 7

To me the enemy was just a nuisance. I think God in His infinite wisdom took every nasty creature He could find on the face of this earth, and placed them into this beautiful little country. So, most of us had to deal with the following:

Leaches

Mosquitoes

Fire Ants

Rats

Bush snakes

Poisonous centipedes

Spiders of all types

My all-time favorite, Scorpions

Red dust

Heat exhaustion

Heat stroke

Sun burn

Dehydration

malaria

I'm sure I have left out some other things. Still, on the serious side, there was so much that even the average soldier, Marine, Navy, Air Force personnel had to deal with each having their own set of circumstances based on mission objectives. For me, one of the biggest jobs was getting my men to detach. In other words, to be able to step out of the mission mode after the mission was completed. For example, there is a time to fight, and a time for peace, wisdom is knowing the difference. Many of my fellow Marines, never learned to step out of the mission mode, and as such, ruined the lives while in-country, or back home in the world. Many suffer to today. I am sure (or at least hopeful) others will add to this small contribution.

Answer 8

It was brutal. The Vietcongs mainly hide in Laos or underground during the day. At night they would ambush American troops, which really messed with their mental stability. The Americans were frustrated they could not find them and kill them but also they were scared for their life. Mainly the American POW's were attacked mentally. They were beaten and tortured. That is why if you try to interview a Vietnam veteran, they most likely can't. It was the worst experience in their entire life, going back to it is too difficult and upsetting.

Answer 9

The South Vietnamese were a peasant people, largely engaged in agriculture lively hoods.

Answer 10

It was difficult to know who the enemy was.