Interesting Facts about Vietnam Vets.
from Nick Bacon, USA 1SGT (RET.) Medal of Honor Recipient:

   After my retirement in 1984 from the U.S. Army, I worked for the VA Regional Office in Phoenix, AZ as a contract representative and as an adjudicator of claims. After a short period with VARO, I resigned and helped John Mc Cain in his race for the U.S. Senate. Of course, John won and I went on to become a City Manager in Surprise, AZ for 3 years.
   When I moved to Arkansas in 1990, I returned to assisting veterans with their claims. In 1993 I was appointed to the position of state Director of Veterans Affairs where I spent the next 12 years helping veterans and their families.
   I was always surprised at the number of people claiming to have been Military Veterans, especially Vietnam Veterans. After opening the Arkansas State Veteran Cemetary several years ago, I was shocked to see so many of my VN brothers being buried. Then I recievedthe following fact sheet from my good friend Major General ( ret ) David R Bockel, Director of Army Affairs, Reserve Officers Association.
   After the shock wears off, please send this information to everyone you know. After so many years of misleading reports and unpleasant media comments; let's disseminate to this country the real truth, as painful as it may be.
   My son, my younger brother, my nephews are still serving in harm's way in the war on terrorism. Let's not let them be treated like we were so many years ago - Fight Now, Fight Strong and Fight as we have to.
  God Blass America and God Bless Our Veterans.
  Nick Bacon
*************************************************************************************************************************************************SUBJECT: VIETNAM FACTS VS FICTION
For over 30 years i ....like many Vietnam veterans... seldom spoke of Vietnam, except with other veterans, when training soldiers, and in public speeches.  These past five years I have joined the hundreds of thousands who believe it is high time the truth be told about the Vietnam War and the people learn that the United States military did not lose the War, and that a surprisingly high number of people who claim to have served there, in fact DID NOT.
   As Americans, support the men and women involved in the WAR on Terrorism, the mainstream media are once again working tirelessly to undermine their efforts and force a psychological loss or stalemate for the United States. We cannot stand by and let the media do to todays warriors what they did to us 35 years ago.
Below are some assembled facts most readers will find interesting. It isn't a long read, but it will... I quarantee.. teach you some things you did not know about the Vietnam War and those who served, fought, or died there. Please share it with those with whom you communicate.
Vietnam War facts: facts, statistics, fake Warrior Numbers, and Myth Dispelled
9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975.
2,709.918 Americans served in uniform in Vietnam - Vietnam Veterans represented 9.7% of their generation.
240 men were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.
The first man to die in Vietnam was james Davis, in 1958. He was with the 509th Radio research Station. Davis station in Saigon was named for him.
58,148 were killed in Vietnam
75,000 were severely disabled
23,214 were 100% disabled
5,283 lost limbs
1,081 sustained multiple amputations
Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21
11,465 of those killled were younger than 20 years old
Of those killed 17, 539 were married
Average age of men killed: 23.1 years
Five men killled in Vietnam were only 16 years old
As of january 15, 2004 there are 1,875 Americans still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War
97% of Vietnam Veterans were honorably discharged
91% of Vietnam Veterans say they are glad they served
74% say they would serve again, even knowing the outcome.
Vietnam vetrans have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups.
Vietnam veterans' personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent.
87% of Americans hold Vietnam Veterans In high esteem.
There is no difference in drug usage between Vietnam Veterns and non - Vietnam Veterans of the same age group ( source : Veterans Administration study)
Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be in prison - only one half of one percent of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes.
85% of Vietnam veterans made successful transitions to civilian life.
Interesting Census Stats and been there Wanabees:
1,713,823 of those who served in Vietnam were still alive as of August, 1995 ( census fiqures )
~During that same Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in country was 9, 492,958.
~As of the current census taken during August 2000, the surviving U.S. Vietnam Veteran population estimate is: 1,002,511
This is hard to believe, losing nearly 711,000 between '95 an '00. Thats 390 per day.
During this Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in country is 13,853,027. By this census, FOUR OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE Vietnam vets are not.
The Department of Defence Vietnam War Service Index officially provided by the War Library originally reported with errors that 2, 709,918 U.S. military personnel as having served in country.
Corrections and confirmations to this errored index resulted in the addition of 358 U.S. military personnel confirmed to have served in Vietnam but not originally listed by the Department of Defence. ( All names are currently on file and accessible 24/7/365
   Isolated atrocities committed by American Soldiers produced torrents of outrage from anti-war critics and the news media while Communist atrocities were so common that they recieved hardly any media mention at all. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. Americans who deliberately killed civilians recieved prison sentences while Communist who did so recieved commendations.
   From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation front assassinated 36,725 Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. The death squads focused on leaders at the village level and on anyone who improved the lives of the peasants such as medical personnel, social workers, and school teachers. - Nixon Presidential papers.
Common Myths dispelled:
Myth: Common belief is that most Vietnam veterans were drafted.
fact 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. Approximately 70% of those killed in Vietnam were volunteers.
Myth: The media have reported that suicides among Vietnam veterans range from 50,000 to 100,000 ~ 6 to  11 times the non Vietnam veteration population.
Fact: Mortality studies show that 9,000 is a better estimate. "The CDC Vietnam Experience. Study Mortality Assessment showed that during the first 5  years after discharge, death from suicede were 1.7 times more likely among Vietnam veterans than non-vietnam veterans. were no more likely to die from suicide than non- vietnam veterans. In fact, after the 5 year post service period, the rate of suicide is less in the Vietnam veterans' group."
Myth: Common belief is that a disproportionate number of blacks were killed in the Vietnam War.
Fact: 86% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasians, 12.5% were black, 1.2% were other races. Sociologist Charles c. Moskos and John Sibley Butler, in their recently published book " All that we Can be" said they analyzed the claim that blacks were used as cannon fodder durinf the Vietnam "and can report definitely that this charge is untrue. Black fatalities amounted to 12 percent of all Americans killed in Southeast Asia, a figure proportional to the number of blacks in the U.S. population at the time and slightly lower than the proportion of blacks in the Army at the close of the war"
Myth: Common belief is that the war was fought largely by the poor and uneducated.
Fact: Serviceman who went to Vietanm from well to do areas had a slightly elevated risk of dying because they were more likely to be pilots or infantry officers. Vietnam veterans were the best educated forces our nation had ever sent into combat. 79% had a high school education or better.
Here are statistics from the Combat area casualtry file ( CACF) as of November 1993. The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ( The Wall ) : AVERAGE AGE OF 58,148 KILLED IN vIETNAM WAS 23.11 YEARS. (ALTHOUGH 58,169 NAMES ARE IN THE NOV 93 DATABASE, Only 58,148 have both event date and birth date, Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some of those who were listed as missing in action)
Deaths Average Age:
Total 58,148  23.11 years
Enlisted: 50,274 22.37 years
Officers: 6,598 28.43 years
Warrants 1,276 24.73 years
E1 525 20.34 years
11B MOS 18,465 22.55 years
Myth: The common belief is the average age of an Infantryman fighting in Vietnam was 19.
Fact: assuming KIAs accurately represented age groups serving in Vietna, the average age of an infantryman (MOS 11B ) serving in Vietnam to be 19 years old is a myth, it is actually 22. None of the enlisted grades have an average of less than 20. The average man who fought in World War II was  26 years of age.
Myth: The Common belief is that the domino theory was proved false.
Fact: The domino theory was accurate. The ASEAN ( Association of Southeast Asia Nations) countries, phillipines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and thailand, stayed free of Communism because of the U.S. commitment to Vietnam. Without that commitment, Communism would have swept all the way to the Mallaca Staraights that is south Singapore and of great strategic importance to the free world. If you asl people who live in these countries that won the war in Vietnam, they have a different opinion from the American news media. The Vietnam War was the turning point for Communism.
Myth: The common belief is that the fighting in Vietnam was not as intense as in World war II.
Fact: The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II  saw about 40 days of combat in four years. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. One out every 10 Americans
who served in Vietnam was a casualty. 58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who served. Although the percent that died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in Worl War II 
....75,000 Vietnam Veterans are severly disabled. MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. Over 900,000 patients were airlifted ( nearly half were American ). The average time lapse between wounding to hospitalazation was less than one hour. as a result less than one percent of all Americans wounded,  who survived the first 24 hours, died. The helicopter provided unprecedented mobility. Without the helicopter it would have taken three times as many troops to secure the 800 mile border with Cambodia and laos ( the politicians thought the Geneva Conventions of 1954 and the Geneva Accords of 1962  would secure the border).
Myth: Kim Phuc, the little nine year old Vietnamese girl running naked from the napalm strike near trang Bang.
Fact: No american had involement in this incident near trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. The planes doing the bombing near the village were VNAF(Vietnam airforce)and were being flown by Vietnamese pilots in support of South Vietnamese troops on the ground. The Vietnamese  Pilot who dropped the napalm in error is currently living in the United States. even the AP photographer, nick Ut, who took the picture, was Vietnamese. The incident in the photo took place on the second day of a three day battle between the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) who occupied the village. Recent reports in the news media that an American commmander ordered the air strike that burned Kim Phuc are incorrect. There were no Americans involved in any capacity. " We (Americans) had nothing to do with  controlling VNAF," according to Lieutenant General (Ret) James F Hollingsworth, the Commanding General of TRAC at that time. Also, it has been incorrectly reported that two of Kim Phuc's brothers were killed in this incident. They were kim's cousins not her brothers.
Myth: The United States Lost the war in Vietnam.
Fact: The Americam military was not defeated in Vietnam. The American Military did not lose a battle of any consequence. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. General Westmoreland quoting Douglas Pike, a professor at the University of California, Berkley a major military defeat for the VC and the NVA. THE UNITED STATES DID NOT LOSE  THE WAR IN VIETNAM, THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE DID. READ ON ..... 
The fall of Saigon happened 30 April 1975, two years AFTER the American military left Vietnam. The last American troops departed in thier entirety 29 March 1973. How could we lose a war we had already stopped fighting? We fought to an agreed stalemate. The peace settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. It called for release of all U.S. prisoners, withdrawl of U.S. forces, Limitation of both sides'forces inside South Vietnam and a commitment to peaceful reunification. The 140,000 evacuees in April 1975 during the Fall of Saigon consisted almost entirely of civilians and Vietnamese military,  NOT American military running for thier lives. there were almost twice as many casualties in Southeast Asia ( primarily Cambodia)  the first two years after the fall of Saigon in 1975 then there were during the ten years  the US was involved in Vietnam. Thanks for the percieved loss and the countless assasinations and torture visited upon Vietnamese, laotians, and Cambodians goes mainly to the American media and thier undying support-by-misrepresentation of the anti - war movement in the United States.
  As with much of the Vietnam War, the news media misreported and misinterpeted the 1968 Tet Offensive. It was reported as an overwhelming success for the Communist forces and a decided defeat for the U.S. forces. Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite the initial victories by the communist forces, the Tet Offensive resulted in a major defaet of those forces. General Vo Nquyen Giap, the designer of the Tet offensive, is considered by some as a great commander, Still, militarily, the Tet offensive was a total defeat of the Communist forces on all fronts. It resulted in the death of the Viet Cong elements in south Vietnam. The organization of the Viet Cong units in the South never recovered. The tet Offensive succedeed on only one front and that was the news front and the political arena.This was another example in the Vietnam War of an inaccuracy becoming the percieved truth. However, inaccurately reported, the news Media made the tet offensive Famous.
Please give all credit
and research to:
Capt. Marshal Hanson,
U.S.N.R(ret)
Capt. scott beaton, statistical source