Reply #3: While it's just fine for political rhetoric ... [View All]

[TahitiNut]

... the similarities "on the ground" are illusory. The 'average' infantryman in Viet Nam might saw 230-240 days of actual combat. Not so in Iraq. We faced a very large, conventional, uniformed military force from the north (NVA) as well as the organized and armed insurgency (VC). Not so in Iraq. Their armaments were a LOT more than small mortars and improvised roadside bombs and included armor and artillery.

What most don't appreciate is that Viet Nam was the most intense war in terms of combat than any in U.S. history. American troops had a 14% chance of being a casualty - 58,169 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.59 million who served - highest rate of any war, particularly high when one understands service wasn't "for the duration." (If the rate were figured in terms of man-years of service in the war zone, it surpasses all other wars.)