Last Vietnam Era draftee retires

Ha ha!

I well remember when our serial numbers were prefaced by RA, US or NG meaning Regular Army, draftee (Reserves) and National Guard. I'm facing manditory retirement in just another year or so. I was going to retire years ago, but 911 changed things and gave us old guys more work to do.

There's been lots of change in the military since VN, not all for the better, but it's still good enough. In the combat arms, that change has been less noticable than in the support branches.

The VN generation of soldiers has not fared well longevity wise and if you are a VN vet, the following may be of interest to you:

According to the "VFW magazine", the "Public Information Office" and the "Forward Observer", Vietnam vets are facing a much higher mortality rate than their predecessors. Some of the sobering statistics are:

Only one third (1/3) of the 2,709,918 Americans that served in VN from about 1962 to 1975 can be accounted for. That's less than 850,000 VN vets. The youngest of the VN vets is now about 55 or 56 years old and they are now dying at about 390 a day. If you do the math, the last VN vet will depart for his final formation and roll call in 2016 or so.

Our member Devildog is also a VN vet and due to age and what not, he may very well be the last VN vet to retire from the Army in a couple of years.

At any rate, I wish the retiring SGM well. He's certainly done his duty and then some.

 
I figured they were all gone. The Navy's High Year Tenure limits enlisted personnel to a maximum of 30 years of service before mandatory retirement.

I joined the Navy without finishing high school at 17 in '74. Did 6 and then got out for 3 years before going back in for the career.

Jagd, my first set of orders out of bootcamp were to a river boat (PBR) unit that had been active in VN, but they were changed to basic diesel school before I graduated boot. Sure made me happy.
 
I'm glad the Army let the Sergeant Major stay on active duty for that long. He sounds like a good leader. The Navy started to get rid of us Vietnam-era dinosaurs in 1992 when they instituted High-Year Tenure (per Willy's post). HYT for Chief Petty Officers (E-7) was set at 24 years and I was already over 26 so I picked my retirement date before they forced me to. Would've been happy to stay on for 30-plus if they had let me.
 
Tarps, I retired at 20 as I figured that sticking around wouldn't increase my retired pay that much and the chances of me making Senior Chief were slim to none.
 
Willy, I suspect there aren't too many folks sticking around much past 20 these days, what with never-ending war, quick turn-arounds between deployments, manning shortfalls, PC crap, etc. etc.
 
WELL, I'm not retired or even close to retiring as most of you here indicate - I did my 3 (RA) and got out! I actually got drafted (I was the 2nd birthday ole Teddy pulled out of the bin) but I turned around and enlisted because I didn't want to do the "Guard" thing or the 2 weeks in the summer routine!!

However I am a VN vet (71/72)..

I look back over things now and wished I would have stayed in!! Because of my civilian flight experience, the closest I could get to aviation was being a mechanic (which is what I did most of the time) however the odds where pretty decent I could have converted and ended up flying eventually.. BUT, at that time I decided I could do better in the civilian world!!!!!!!!!!! ha ha

My 'hats' of to ALL of you!!

Bill
 
Jagdflieger said:
Ha ha!

I well remember when our serial numbers were prefaced by RA, US or NG meaning Regular Army, draftee (Reserves) and National Guard.
Click to expand...

I was very disappointed when the "old system" was abandoned to use one's SSN instead. I was pretty damned proud of being RA11937707! :ernae:
 
I'd be hitting my 20 yr mark on the 11th of August. A few of my buddies from boot camp have started terminal leave. I was planning on being a "career Marine" but at about the 8 yr mark I decided that I wanted to be an officer and got accepted into a commissioning program. Well with about a week and half to go at OCS I tore my knee up pretty bad. Needed 3 surgeries and almost 2 yrs of physical therapy just be able to run again. Needless to say my career ended there...3 months shy of my 12 yr anniversary.
 
Willy said:
I figured they were all gone. The Navy's High Year Tenure limits enlisted personnel to a maximum of 30 years of service before mandatory retirement.

I joined the Navy without finishing high school at 17 in '74. Did 6 and then got out for 3 years before going back in for the career.

Jagd, my first set of orders out of bootcamp were to a river boat (PBR) unit that had been active in VN, but they were changed to basic diesel school before I graduated boot. Sure made me happy.
Click to expand...

I joined in 73, which makes me a VN Vet eventhough I never set foot in VN. Was in Thailand in 74 though. As I switched from enlisted to warrant officer in the reserves, as an officer, I could have stayed until I turned 60. That would be another 4 years from now. If I were a glutton for punishment, and had been able to live through the deployments, I could have retired with 41 years, but jumped ship at 23 years, and will live to tell my grand kids about it. :)

Dave
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top