Infantry in Vietnam was a Higher Percentage of Draftees

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Infantry in Vietnam was a Higher Percentage of Draftees

by Bryan Ketter

Bryan writes:

The Vietnam draft numbers are a little misleading, because 90% of the Army infantry consisted of draftees by '69.

Bryan,

Thank you for joining our conversation to help clear up some popular misconceptions about U.S. involvement in Vietnam, known in the U.S. as "the Vietnam war."

I wonder if you would share with us the source of your information?

We were able to find an LA Times - Washington Post Service article published in May of 1970 which indicated that, according to the most recent Pentagon statistics (at that time), roughly 40% of Army enlisted strength in Vietnam was made up of two-year draftees (as opposed to 36.4% of Army enlisted strength worldwide). It then went on to say that partly because those who volunteered for the Army got first choice of assignments and specialties, draftees did end up constituting a majority of men assigned to army infantry (although it did not give a percentage), and that as a result, draftees at that time accounted for roughly 52% of the Army's Vietnam casualties.

We also found several places that quoted the statistic that roughly 88% of infantry riflemen in Vietnam were draftees, but none cited the source of their information, so we have no way to know if those are reliable numbers.

Maybe some of our other readers who are Vietnam veterans could help us out with this?

Please click on the link below to add your comments.

Comments for
Infantry in Vietnam was a Higher Percentage of Draftees

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Draftee response...
by: Ken Delfino

According to the book "Whitewash/Blackwash-Myths of the Viet Nam War" by Bill Laurie and R.J.Del Vecchio, 2/3 of those who served were volunteers.

For a more detailed breakdown, I would recommend that you send an inquiry to the Viet Nam Studies Center at Texas Tech University. That 90% number seems very high and I'm going to research that myself. I know that Navy's River Patrol Force was an all-volunteer unit.

Ken Delfino
United States Navy (ret)
RivDiv 533, TF-116
10/66-7/68

Thanks, Ken. We'll look forward to your update.

Draftees
by: joel harvey C2/5 1st cavalry div. 1968-69

I was a draftee in an infantry unit as stated above.

About 7 out of ten in our squad were drafted and we got the bad jobs, such as walking point, m-60 machine gunner etc.

I see the twin tower guys got lots of money but we who were used as canon fodder at Khe Sahn are still screwed.

Navy dudes and Draftees
by: j

Kenny,

You were in the Navy? Hello, you volunteered.

Three years, huh? You liked that stuff?

Infantry NOT all draftees
by: Combat engineer sergeant

90% of the infantry in 1969 were draftees? Gimme a break! 30% I could believe, but probably less than that.

If you were drafted, it almost automatically meant a combat arms because you only had to do 2 years, not 3 or 4 as enlistees did. The Army and Marines weren't going to spend 10 months training you when you'd only have 14 months left.

But draftees were divided among the infantry, artillery, armor and combat engineers. (Combat engineers got the fewest.)

And if you didn't like your assigned MOS, you could simply "take a short" - sign on for another year of active service for your choice of occupation specialty. Serve one more year and you could have any job you wanted - electronics, clerical, mechanics, heavy equipment etc.

I get very angry at the morons who seem to think they know more about the war than the guys who were there - like me (from Feb 69 to Mar 70, 13 months plus a few days).

SGT, thank you for your service, and for taking the time to help educate the uneducated about the realities of our country's involvement in Vietnam.

infantry, recon, lrrp
by: Anonymous

I served as a draftee '68-'69. All my time in the bush - no incountry R&R, no standdown, no base camp, no breaks of any kind. Humped days and patrolled at night.

These draftees spent more hours in the Army than most four year guys. Lots of the draftees were college educated.

I can only speak for the 4th I.D. The only non-draftee I ever met were RA's without a guaranteed MOS.

So 90% is not an exaggeration, in my experience. Any one that slept in base camp or ate in a mess hall (combat or not) was considered a base camp commando. Like it or not, it was a draftee war.

I never met an RA in the field.
by: JNpaco@aol.com

If you were a draftee, your serial no. started with US; volunteers started with RA.

I was a draftee and infantry. I was with 11th Infantry Bde., '68-69 and never met a grunt that was RA (except officers).

80%-90% is my estimate of draftees that were infantry.

Perspective
by: Sam McGowan

Numbers regarding different services have to be put into perspective. Don't forget that of the 500,000 men (and a few women) in Vietnam at the height of the war, only about 10% were "ass in the grass" at any given time.

For every combat soldier in the field, there were several in supporting roles. They were in Vietnam, but weren't serving in a combat arm. As for draftees, considering that they were in for only two years, they would be among the lowest ranks and, yes, the majority of them were in the infantry.

In short, 90% is not an unrealistic number. Even the Marine Corps had large numbers of draftees.

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