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The Most Doomed Soldiers in Vietnam | Unbelievable true stories | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: The Most Doomed Soldiers in Vietnam
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This content highlights lesser-known, extremely dangerous roles undertaken by soldiers during the Vietnam War, emphasizing those with the shortest life expectancies due to their high-risk duties and direct exposure to enemy fire or hazardous substances.
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although there were no truly safe
positions during the Vietnam war some
were far more dangerous and terrifying
than others while you've all heard of
tunnel rats and other well-known roles
today we're talking about lesser known
duties where soldiers had the shortest
life expectancy some of these may
surprise you but the last one is
outright horrifying you'll see why let's
begin number one RTO let's start with
something not so common the radio
telephone operator maybe at first glance
it doesn't sound extremely frightening
but on the ground during Patrol RS
ambushes or any engagements they were
often among the first to go the US
relied heavily on artillery and air
support and the radio was how ground
troops brought that Firepower down on
the enemy the enemy was well aware that
cutting out a unit's communication made
it significantly more vulnerable without
it they couldn't call in strikes request
reinforcements or medevacs or relay
Intel on enemy movements every platoon
or company sized unit had at least one
RTO carrying a 25lb backpack radio
alongside spare batteries and standard
combat gear so besides being one of the
top priority targets and carrying one of
the heaviest loads he also had a big
antenna sticking out making him easier
to spot they tried bending or shortening
the antenna but that weakened the signal
he had to closely follow the unit's
Commander to relay orders and
information back and forth but some
commanders didn't want their radio men
right beside them as they were a magnet
for fire and to make sure the most
important people in the unit wouldn't be
taken out by a single burst or grenade
this also applied to M60 machine Gunners
who were told not to move too close to
the commander and the radio operator
Ator because they were also juicy
targets the RTO had to stay calm Under
Fire transferring messages clearly
quickly and accurately despite the chaos
around them since in a way he was
responsible for the survival of the
entire unit during the Vietnam war there
were several so-called ghost calls over
the radio usually requesting an
artillery strike on a certain position
or some information they were in plain
English following standard procedure
however after further inspection the
coordinates seemed odd and there were no
units operating in that area no one
could be found who had made the call was
it a captured RTO forced to call an
artillery strike on his own troops
position or an enemy infiltrator we'll
never know number two the point man what
is the worst position to be in during a
patrol through enemy Territory full of
booby traps and the constant threat of
Ambush well at the front obviously but
someone had to be there the pointman was
the one who walked first leading his
squad or platoon through dense jungle
narrow Trails rice Patties or even Urban
streets he was the first to spot the
enemy or to be spotted by the enemy and
of course the first to trigger any traps
or mines he wasn't as important to the
enemy as machine Gunners commanders or
radio operators but he had the greatest
chance of encountering something bad
first and a lot of times he did the
Vietnam War was Notorious for its
massive number of booby traps designed
to cause severe pain and damage he had
to be hyper aware of trip wires mines or
pungy pit traps but there was no way to
spot every well- hidden trap in the
thick jungle he was also responsible for
watching for signs of an ambush up ahead
and many were sprung when the point man
stepped on a trap if he was wounded or
fell into a trap no one could help him
if the unit was pinned down some point
men developed what they called a sick
sense for danger simply feeling when
something was off but a lot of them
didn't last very long and it was
definitely the least desirable position
to be in during a Patrol number three
lurs what is worse than being the first
man walking in front of your unit well
being the first in front of your entire
Army miles ahead for days or even weeks
deep in enemy territory with only five
or less people with you these were lrrp
longrange reconnaissance patrols or
simply called lurs they were elite
soldiers who went on extremely risky and
dangerous missions deep Behind Enemy
Lines the US Army in Vietnam quickly
learned that large scale patrols were
ineffective against a well-concealed
enemy who set traps behind them so they
tried a different approach small teams
of up to six men highly trained and
crazy brave enough to volunteer for such
missions would be inserted deep in enemy
territory for days to gather
intelligence observe the enemy snatch a
prisoner set traps or ambushes and
spread Terror among the enemy a standard
Recon team was made up of a team leader
an assistant team leader two radio
operators a scout and rear security or a
slack rear security had to walk backward
and watched the back of the team while
making sure there was absolutely no
evidence of their presence left behind
there could be no litter on the ground
no bent over grass no broken twigs and
if possible not even Footprints the team
would usually have at least one but
usually two loyal and reliable
Vietnamese with them to provide
expertise on the region however it was
an extremely dangerous job because if
anything went wrong you were alone with
just a few people surrounded by the much
stronger enemy force on their own ground
and once you were compromised it was
hard to get extracted before being
surrounded and overrun They carried on
them everything from weapons ammunition
and equipment to food and water and they
could spend days without saying a single
word if it was not absolutely necessary
they were Prime targets since they
discovered enemy camps and called in air
strikes once compromised they had to
fight their way to a possible Landing
Zone and hope that someone could get
them out in time number four night
Ambush teams slightly similar to lurs a
small team of around 10 soldiers would
leave their base at night and set up
ambushes but their specialty was
fighting in darkness and their missions
lasted one night the team would go out
into the jungle set up an ambush near
suspected enemy Trails or supply routes
and in complete silence wait for the
unsuspecting enemy to enter their Kill
Zone however the North Vietnamese were
masters of the Jungle in the night
because they knew the terrain much
better there was also the risk of
engaging a force far larger than your
10-man team and you would be the first
to know if an attack on your base was
coming complete silence had to be
maintained soldiers lay for hours in
total darkness without making a sound
just waiting and listening as mosquitoes
spiders snakes centipedes and other
frightening creatures crawled over them
a water buffalo could blow your cover if
it walked down the trail and was
mistaken for the enemy making the whole
team open fire on the the poor animal
sometimes teams were equipped with an
early model of night vision called The
Starlight scope and there was also
experimental technology with different
sensors for detecting human movement
they would place a sensor ahead and
listen through headphones to hear if it
picked up the sound of enemy movement
usually the team would set up Claymore
mines and a trip flare then when it was
activated the rule was to unleash as
much Firepower as possible within the
first 15 seconds of the Ambush and then
inspect what happened on a signal the
M60 machine gunner would fire a 100
round belt into the Kill Zone while
Claymores were activated hand grenades
were thrown and rifle fire began this
was usually enough to take out anything
in the Kill Zone but then they had to go
check and that was the scariest part
because they never knew if someone was
still alive afterward they had to find
their way back to base without getting
lost or separated in the darkness the
rearm man would usually carry a bag of
grenades and throw them behind the team
to discourage anyone trying to follow
them number five agent orange sprayers
one of the most devastating and
controversial aspects of the Vietnam War
was the use of Agent Orange a powerful
defoliant intended to destroy the jungle
cover used by the Viet Kong and the
North Vietnamese Army however besides
causing outright horror to 3 million
people for decades after the war it also
poisoned The Men Who had to work with
this toxic substance at the time air
Crews and troops on the ground were told
the chemical was not dangerous to people
because it was a herbicide soldiers
walked through contaminated areas while
Airmen handled the toxic liquid with no
protective gear unaware that they were
exposing themselves to a highly
dangerous and poisonous substance more
than 19 million gallons of Agent Orange
were sprayed over Vietnam LA and
Cambodia mostly using c123 provider
aircraft to be effective it had to be
highly concentrated and sprayed from
about 200 ft above the trees because C1
123s were unarmed Transport Aircraft
they were at extreme risk of being shot
down by anti-aircraft fire and had to be
protected by F4 Phantoms against enemy
Interceptor Fighters the pilots crewman
and and even the ground Personnel who
loaded the chemicals were constantly
exposed to agent orange unaware of the
horrific effects it would have at the
time the military downplayed the risks
until long after the war when the
effects became undeniable agent orange
contained dioxin a highly toxic
carcinogen that led to countless
diseases soldiers who handled agent
orange or were in areas that had been
sprayed started suffering from cancers
nerve disorders and other mysterious
illnesses despite growing evidence the
US government denied responsibility for
a long time and it was not until decades
later that veterans received any kind of
recognition or compensation usually by
the time it was too late in Vietnam and
the surrounding region the environment
was devastated leaving multiple
generations of people suffering from
long-term effects even today agent
orange contamination lingers in The Soil
and Water affecting current and future
Generations what began as a military
tactic to deny cover to the enemy ended
up poisoning thousands of American
soldiers along with millions of innocent
civilians if you want to learn more
about these or other roles check out our
Channel where we have 19 more videos on
the most terrifying jobs events and
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