Vietnam War Question on Tours of Duty

[HardWorkingDem]

Can anyone tell me how tours of duty were done back then? It's my understanding a soldier would have a 12 month tour of duty and that would be it unless the soldier volunteered to go back. Is that correct? That there were none of this extension of tours practice.

Thanks

[Kerrytravelers]

1. As my dad and father-in-law have told it, you are correct.

They were in the Air Force and Army, didn't know each other then and weren't there at the same time. They both tell the same story.

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Correct.

12 months for Army and Air Force. I think, 13 months for Marines and Navy, IIRC (just a hair before my time - I joined up in '74). I never heard of any involuntary extensions.

[TahitiNut]

3. 12 months in the Army ... 13 months in the Marines

In the Army, lots of guys accepted bonuses to extend their tours. Some extended their tours to qualify for an "early out" (less than 150 days before ETS) on return. I got an early return and an early out ... making my 'tour' 10.5 months. My normal DEROS would have been January 3rd (iirc). Nixon promulgated an early return program for guys with DEROS' during or immediately after the holidays - a "home for the holidays" domestic pacification program. Thus, I got back on November 15th ... getting back with about 3.5 months left in my active duty obligation, thus qualifying for an early out as well.

"Voluntary" enlistments (RA serial numbers) had a 3-year active duty obligation. Draftees (US serial number) had a 2-year active duty obligation. Quite a few "voluntary" enlistments were attempts to get guaranteed training (other than infantryman) or attempts to manage the 'timing' of their service instead of being timed according to the draft. Some guys would get sent to Viet Nam right out of AIT (eleven-bravo) so they'd be looking at a full tour and another assignment before getting out. To avoid a post-RVN assignment, they'd often extend their tours (with permission) to get a 150-day early out.

Officers in the Army would do 12 months as a "six and six" with in-country reassignment. They'd serve 6 months in a combat unit and 6 months in a HQ/support unit. Usually, the support unit assignment would come first and they'd get accustomed to the climate/culture and SOP.


DEROS - Date Estimated for Return from Over Seas
ETS - Expiration of Term of Service

(This is all dredged from memory - no warranty either expressed or implied.)

[Bandit]

9. I also received early DEROS, left Christmas Day 1969

and arrived at Fort Lewis Washington on December 24th and actually made it home for Christmas.

[TahitiNut]

10. It was quite a "ride" ... no time to adjust mentally, really.

When I look back on that, it still horrifies me - like some surreal dream/nightmare. It sure did disabuse me of the notion that the military was always slow. I got 'home' before my postcards. It was only about 2 days (36 hours elapsed, iirc) between being told I was getting out and arriving at DTW at 1am ... and I only slept on the planes. I still had the smell of Nam in my nostils.

It was 1969 for me, too. :crazy:

[Bucky]

4. I've read the same thing, too. But also I've heard that criticized as too short a hitch

I read an article sometime back by a general who said the last six months of a tour of duty wasn't efficient because the draftees were more interested in not getting killed than in killing the enemy. He thought that he'd get better performance from 18 month tours.

But the point should be made that it wasn't just 12 months straight on the firing line. They had breaks; they had R&R. And there were lots of safe places where "down time" was possible, like the Philippines.

To find a restful welcoming vacation spot, I think most US troops would have to go as far as Europe. I don't think troops in Iraq get the same length of break time from their patrols. They can't exactly go to the local bazaar and relax over a nice cool beer.

[TahitiNut]

7. That sure doesn't match anything I experienced. Not at all.

First of all, LRRPS were notorious for "search and avoid" instead of "search and destroy." By and large, you'd have to be insane to want to run your platoon into an NVA unit, often company-sized. This is NOT unusual in combat. It's typical in all wars. The movie-time myth of Gung-Ho John Wayne wannabes was something that'd earn revulsion in Nam. Draftees got more than their share of awards for valor. Believe it.

The typical Army grunt in Viet Nam got far more enemy contact than in WW2 or Korea ... maybe 5-10 times as much or more. A typical 12-month tour of duty allowed ONE R&R ... mo more. If a guy extended his tour of duty or volunteered (with a bonus incentive) for another tour, he could get a month of leave stateside. Some did R&R instead, I think. As many as up to half of the guys did NO R&R. "Safe" places were nonexistent in-country. Even Vung Tau (the in-country R&R center) had casualties. Long Binh Post (HQ USARV) and nearby Bien Hoa Airbase was one of the largest contiguous installations and we got rocket/mortar attacks a couple of times a week. Ton Son Nhut in Saigon was a frequent target. Firebases got shelled regularly. "Safe" is a very relative thing. NONE of the places were as "safe" as Baghdad's Green Zone.

The favored R&R places were Hawaii (for married guys to meet wives), Bangkok, and Australia. R&R lasted a week. One of the reasons guys opted to pass on R&R was that it was difficult to come back ... and it cost money.


PS ... I strongly suggest that folks realize that general officers lived in another 'reality' - and we 'boots on the ground' knew it. I don't recall EVER hearing a general officer say much that bore any relationship to what the grunts were living. The only people I know who swallow what they say are people without military experience. Hint: Just consider the lunatic generals working for Cheney/Bush.

[Raven]

5. 12 month tour for Army and R&R after 6 months...for me and my

husband (he's my ex now) it was a week in Hawaii all expenses paid by the Army. The only thing I found strange at the time was that we had this wonderful week in Hawaii and then he got on a plane and went back to a war. There were not tour extensions, the Army kept its word in those days.

[TahitiNut]

8. Fort DeRussy ... best beachfront in Hawaii by far.

Sandy bottom and breakwaters courtesy of the Army Corps of Engineers and a large expanse of grassy lawnwith palm trees shade backing the beach ... and college girls as waitresses!! Stunning. Right next to the Reef Towers on Waikiki ... billions of dollars in real estate. It f*cking blew my mind.

[VP505]

6. That is correct,

as I remember it, when they started learning more about PTSD it was found that soldiers and Marines could just about endure anything as long as they had a definite start date and a definite date to rotate out. Very important to overall moral.

[paparush]

11. My father said he did a standard, 12 month tour - Army.

Door gunner for supply chopper.