How Terrifying Was Combat In Vietnam?

Phillip White spent five months in Vietnam as a combat medic with the 23rd Americal Division before being wounded in combat by an NVA grenade. White was discharge in 1970 but would spend the next ten years recovering from his injuries.

[rburrows]

I remember my first firefight like it was yesterday. I was in country two weeks, a FNG. I was lucky, my squad leader and I were from the same area back home, he’d been there 6 months already. Sgt Barnett. I can honestly say if it weren’t for him I probably wouldn’t have made it. I payed attention to everything he said and the other guys who’d been in country for a while. He told me if we get contact, get down and return fire. We were out on patrol. The area we were in was thick, you couldn’t see 10 meters in front of you, and a heavy canopy so it was dark. All of a sudden I hear crack and then zip zip zip. My heart was pounding outta my chest. Everyone started firing into the jungle, the 60 opened up (M60 is a machine gun for those never in the military). The noise. The noise was unreal. The weapons going off, the yelling. I looked to see where everyone was shooting and I opened up my M16 on full auto spraying and praying into the bush. It lasted 3-4 minutes, but it felt like 3-4 hours. Two men were hit but not bad. I can remember thinking, how do we know it’s clear? I watched the guys who’d been in country and Sgt Barnett, I just followed their lead. It took me about 2-3 more firefights before I really knew what the hell I was doing. How to figure out where enemy fire was coming from, etc..The first month or so I was petrified. Then it’s funny, after a few months you get into the groove and it’s hard to explain, but you stop worrying about being hit so much, you just want to kill the bastards. Then when I got about a month short, I started worrying again. Every day I’d say god, I got 22 days and a wake up. Made it this far, so close, don’t let me get killed this close to Deros. I ended up doing three extra months because all our squad leaders were killed, and they needed guys with experience. 11 months ago I was green as hell, now there I was one of the veterans. Truly I wanted to go home, but I didn’t want to leave my guys. It’s hard to explain. You want to get out of there in the worst way, but you didn’t want to leave your friends. Especially when they were looking to you for leadership. How do you walk away from that? I left Vietnam on a Sunday, I was home the next Friday, five days. I can remember I got to my mom’s house Friday at 11-12 pm, midnight. For the past 15 months I was on Vietnam time, 12 hours ahead, so to me it was noontime. Talk about a complete mind fk. It took me about 2 weeks to finally adjust and realize I didn’t need to be on alert all the time. That’s another story in itself, the adjustment to civilian life. Seems like another life ago. 1st Cav C company 2/7 Reg, 2nd platoon 68-70.
NOTE: I want to add this comment because of some questions I’ve gotten about how it was an unjust war, we were the bad guys, so on and so forth. It was a different time. As a kid growing up in the 50/60s, the biggest threat we faced and were told was communism. People were digging bomb shelters in their yards, we had nuclear attack drills in school. The Cuban missile crisis. So when the NVA went into SV, we were told that’s how it starts, it’s a domino affect. So we looked at it like that was our duty to stop the spread no matter what. I volunteered my last year of HS in January 68 at 17. My mom signed the waiver. Then in February the TET offensive happened and that’s when the demonstrators started. We believed we were fighting for our country and way of life. It’s no different than after 9-11 how guys signed up to go fight, we did what we thought was right. Years later we have hindsight and know more facts. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m proud of having served, and I’d do it all over again. Contrary to popular belief, about 80% of the guys who served in Vietnam were volunteers, only 17-19% were drafted. I fought for my country, but mostly I fought for my brothers to the left and right of me. Even now to this day, I’ve never felt the bond to another man like I did then. They were closer than brothers. And I would have laid my life down for any one of them. For me, I’ve never made another friend like I had with my brothers. We could tell what each other was feeling just by looking at each other. We were family, closer than family. I’d give anything to be able to see them again. For anyone who wants to see real footage of what many of the firefights were like, there’s a video on YouTube: Vietnam 1970 CBS camera rolls. Not my platoon! Just an example of how thick some of it was

[firefly]

Makes me sad to know my dad went through that when he was 18 years old. He was a Purple Heart recipient. He passed on December 6 2016. Best man I ever knew

[Highlinetowerman]

My Dad was an Army combat medic '67-69, 20 months in country. Thank you all for your service!!

[ChasingRainbows]

God Bless you Sir and THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!!! ❤️🇺🇸

[donaldlynch]

I was in a heavy artillery unit with around 105 men. During the first early morning of the Tet offensive in January of 1968 we got hit with a frontal attack of a battalion size NVA unit of about 400 men. I was awakened first by mortars coming in and almost immediately there after the sound of NVA officers yelling out orders to a contingent of about 30 men who were already in the wire and the staccato sound of their AK-47s along with explosions from RPGs. To say I was in shock would be an understatement. All four of our 50 caliber machine gun bunkers were spitting out rounds into this human horde coming straight at us. I was thinking this is the night I’m not going to make it. You would be surprised how effective you can be even though you are afraid of dying. I know one thing though, I was not going to be taken prisoner as long as I could still fight. To my surprise and as things worked out we were able to fight off and repel the attack. 56 years later I can still remember that night like it was yesterday.As hard as I try not to think of the visions and smells, I still think of it often.

[c.galindo]

Thank you for your service and we’re grateful you can retell your testimony of your wartime experiences

[elijahs]

Fire fights in a jungle must be on another level

[eddiebaker]

That last line really hits. We glorify war in movies, but it isn’t romantic or John Wayne. It’s awful and it destroys much of what makes us human.

[NavarroSteve]

My father was a tank operator in WW2 (European Theater) he didn't let me watch war movies as a kid..he said they glorified war..and it pissed him off because it was scary..dirty..horrible..

[Mokimanify]

My dad was Marine Combat Infantry from 68 to 69 5th Marine Division. He was around DaNang the whole time. He talks about it little. He spoke of the pure confusion of being ambushed.

[Penny-zk]

Thank you sir . God bless you. My daddy was an army officer he fought in world war II and Korea. Thank you sir for what you did Vietnam should have never been but I thank you for stepping up God bless you

[jjball]

Best description I ever heard of combat. Thank you for everything you did and WELCOME HOME!

[glendaharris]

Thank you sir for this life stiry...real! I was just younger than you. I remember our beighbors sons going to Vietnam. 2 from 1 family.
To this day I have most special, eternal respect for you.
A friend at church went....i always wondered what his bright blue eyes saw there...
THANK YOU. God be with you.

[peepers]

I am a veteran, but peacetime, Early 1980’s. Myself and every other veteran owe you and your generation a debt of gratitude that cannot be repaid. Thank you all

[kkodor]

I was fine my first firefight. It only lasted 5-10 minutes. It was the second firefight that was bad. I was scared for the first minute or so, but then a calm came over me. At the end I found out I had 4 friends KIA, and 8-15 WIA! That’s when it hit me, and I couldn’t process losing so many great guys from my platoon.

[anthonyvespia]

Thank you for your service, and everyone you've helped. My grandmother had 2 girls, and 4 boys. Two of my uncles served in Vietnam. My uncle who was in the army, in combat, just passed 2 yrs ago, and had Agent Orange. My other uncle served on a battleship, in the navy. My dad was denied by the air force, because of flat feet. Although he bought his own plane, and flew all his life. My uncle's who served were taken very good care of by the VA. God Bless all of our veterans..

[susanferretti]

The older i get in life, the more horrible i realize war is. Hopefully human kind can really get it right someday where we have no more. Until that moment however, I am truly grateful for your service.

[garybeaver]

Thank you for your service, courage and commitment to serve our country for our democracy and freedom we have. Welcome home bro!

[haveaday]

2 tours in combat gave me a true heart of gold. I’m so thankful everyday to be alive that it’s off putting for most people how I can be so happy and entertained by the simplest things in life. I have a saying I learned I the infantry: any day above ground is a good day.

[brandonlalande-muzx]

I was a medic in the Iraq war. Got sent there with just a Beretta and 3 magazines. It wasn't long before I approached 1st Sergeant Grinston and asked the man for an M16. I got a rickety A2 with a 20 inch barrel from the unit and I felt much better afterwards and carried that rifle for the rest of the deployment it never jammed and worked well with accuracy. I am bonded with the Armalite system for life. Much like a Soviet attached to his Kalashnikov rifle i suppose.