History of the Vietnam War 101

Chuck Gutzman [75.167.178.54]

>>"Of the 2,709,918 Americans who served in Vietnam, Less than 850,000 are estimated to be alive today, with the youngest American
>>Vietnam veteran's age approximated to be 54 years old."

>[snip]

>I did a little unscientific scribbling based on the assumption that the average age of troops was 23 years for the duration of the war.  Therefore, the average age today of troops who served in 1965 is 67 and the average age of those who served in 1973 is 60 (?).

>I just don't see how 2/3rd's of a group of people that should be somewhere between 60 and 67 today could have passed away already.  I don't know, perhaps there's a flaw my thinking?  I concede that there were WWII and Korean War veterans over there, but I don't remember them as a big segment of the ranks.

>On a personal experience level, all of my buddies that I've kept in touch with since we got home are still living.  I guess we have really beat the odds  :-)

>-dave

Hi Dave: I don't know either. I think the Col got the material from a VFW membership study as it says in the stuff I copied and put in the post.

Chuck