Vietnam Era Question

quixote100104 said:

Greetings ,

If a character were born in January of 1950 and was hell bent on getting to Vietnam as an infantryman, what is the earliest he could have reasonably gotten there? Also, assuming he chose not to re-up and was not injured, what is the earliest he could have been on the street again as a civilian having completed his service?

Thanks !

Click to expand...

Google is your friend. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War You have to do the math. Assume 4 yrs active service.

Stan

Hey, Mark -

The age of enlistment during Vietnam was 18, so he couldn't enlist before 1968. Assuming, like Stan said, a four year enlistment--after all, a guy who's hell bent on getting to Vietnam probably isn't going to sign up for less than four years even if he's offered a shorter hitch--he could do one or two combat tours between 1969 and 1971 and get out in '72.

One possibility to bring it earlier: today, a candidate can enlist with his or her parents' permission at 17, but can't be deployed to a combat theater of operations until he turns 18. That could shift your dates left by a year if you can verify that policy was in place in 1967.

Hope it helps!
HN

I agree with these guys...except I know that during WW2 it was fairly easy to lie about your age and get in earlier (as per grandpa). I'm not sure about during Vietnam, but anything's possible...

Also, theoretically, if you wanted/needed him on the street sooner, he could have gone National Guard. I was National Guard/infantry and went civilian-war-civilian without much of a hiccup. Not sure that your character would do that, unless he was promised by a recruiter that the local guard unit was shipping out within the month, and convinced him that if he went active duty he might have to wait up to a year for his rotation. That's definitely possible.

Also, once there, it really wouldn't be a problem to link up with an active duty unit for a second tour, if that's what you want from your Joe.

During that period one could enlist at 17 with parental permission, so the soonest he could be discharged after a tour in Vietnam and everything lse would probably have been some time in 1969, but 1970 would be more likely. There are lots of factors, so take our pick, and the 1972 answer is also a possibility.

The big question is WHY does he want to go there? The US had a presence in Vietnam since 1955. They had quite a number of troops there as "advisers", in other words, a lot of special forces and such, since the early 60's. If you want your character there earlier, it's pretty easy to do and stay within the bounds of real history (assuming he's born prior to 1950).

Also, 2 year enlistments were pretty common back then, and 3 years was also very common. My first hitch was a 3 year stint. A relatively minor injury or wound could also get him out early if you're so inclined.