SHORT!

For most soldiers, sailors and marines who were assigned to Vietnam our tour of duty was one year or 365 days. In some cases it was longer than that but for most of us that anniversary of our arrival in Vietnam was also the anniversary of our departure one year later.

Some basic facts about those who served in Vietnam:

9.1 million men and women served in the military during the Vietnam era

2.7 million or 30% of those in the military actually served in Vietnam

Over 5000 women served in Vietnam, mostly as nurses and medical personnel but there were also WACs who served in headquarters in Saigon and other locations. There were also about 650 women who served in Vietnam with the American Red Cross; we lovingly referred to them as our “Donut Dollies”

Contrary to a lot of the myths about the Vietnam War, nearly 75% of those who served in Vietnam were volunteers with less than 1/4 of those who served in Vietnam being draftees.

In a recent survey 74% of those who served in Vietnam said that if called upon they would do it again.

Again, contrary to a lot of the media myths, 87% of all Vietnam veterans received an honorable discharge.

If you were a soldier in World War II, you averaged 40 days of combat in the four years of overseas service

In Vietnam the average soldier was there for one year and during that one year was subject to 240 days of combat time. There were no rear areas or front lines in Vietnam. To go to, or be assigned to, the big cities of Saigon and Da Nang didn’t guarantee your safety.

The most dreadful day in my experiences in Vietnam was my first day of arrival. For most of us that involved going into one of the base camp areas where we were given our assignments and then sent out the replacement units. In my case as a young officer, I was initially signed to Camp Alpha at Tôn Sơn Nhựt and from there I was sent to my team at the provincial capital of Moc Hoa in Kien Tuong province. (now Tan An) I was a replacement and as such I had no idea where I was going or what my job was going to be, who I would be serving with are what conditions were really like. I was very apprehensive, excited but still scared. Knowing that I was going to serve up along the Cambodian border did not help either. For all of us there was the great unknown.

Some additional facts about those first and last days in Vietnam:

According to the Department of Defense 997 soldiers’ sailors and marines died on their first day in Vietnam.

Again, according to the Department of Defense 1,448 died on their last day in Vietnam.

While the first day in Vietnam might have been the most ‘exciting’ day, based upon our arrival and stepping off that airplane into the unknown, the day that we looked forward to was DEROS, or our Date Eligible for Return from Overseas.

For most of this that was a very well-established date. Many of the soldiers that I knew kept a calendar and every day that they served in Vietnam they would cross it out knowing that they were one day closer to going home. We had all kinds of ‘short timer’ calendars. Some of them were quite obscene which is probably to be expected from a bunch of young men. Others were standard calendars with that final date circled in red or highlighted somehow.

Usually a few weeks before DEROS, You would find yourself back in the base camp awaiting orders. While the date you circled on your calendar might be very specific that date could be off by as many as 10 days. There was usually an amount of travel time that was involved especially for those of us that might be reporting to another military base someplace stateside.

For many soldiers they could count on their DEROS date as being one of their last days in the military. For many returning soldiers from Vietnam they were allowed to get an early out or a discharge from active service if they were within less than 18 months of the end of their military commitment. I knew a lot of young soldiers who actually went to Vietnam to take advantage of the early out. So, for some of them that was a wonderful day not only were they going home but they were going to be out of the military as well.

In my case I never got to experience a DEROS date. I extended my first tour for an additional six months. As I’ve mentioned in my books, I did this because of the fact that:

Number one, I did not have anyone to go home to. I was single and did not have a wife or girlfriend waiting for me at home. I know my parents would have loved to have had me home and out of harm’s way in Vietnam, but I actually enjoyed my assignment over there working with the Vietnamese people. Those of us who served as advisers have a different aspect of looking at Vietnam in some cases. Many of us did not experience the day-to-day combat that our infantry brothers and sisters went through over there. We generally lived in buildings, we had access to daily meals and designated mess halls, I don’t want to say life was good for us but it was not like the troops living in the jungles 24/7.

Secondly, in my case as a junior officer being offered the position of Province Senior Intelligence Advisor was a career enhancing assignment. If I was going to stay in the military things like that would look really good on my record. So, it was worth my time to extend my assignment for an additional six months. So, I missed my first DEROS window.

I actually had a new DEROS at the end of that extension, but I had once again extended for an additional six months which would have given me a new DEROS date. However shortly into that second six-month extension and after three attempts on my life to collect a five million piastre price that the North Vietnamese commander had placed on my head I was basically kicked out of Vietnam. I came in from the field after surviving an ambush and the Colonel basically told me to pack my bags I was going home. He told me he was either sending me home walking or in an aluminum box and he preferred that I go home walking. The next morning, I had all my things packed they flew me out of Moc Hoa and back to Saigon. From there I was sent home. I didn’t have the luxury of keeping a ‘short-timer’ calendar but many did.

So now you’ll understand, I hope, what a wonderful day that that DEROS date was for all of us who served in Vietnam and for those who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and other places in the world.

So when you hear some old veteran yelling ‘SHORT’, in a joking manner, you’ll know what they’re referring to:

 they’re referring to that wonderful day or that period of time before that wonderful day when they knew that they were going home.

I hope that you’ve been enjoying these blogs that I’ve been posting throughout 2025. I hope everyone has a wonderful new year and I will continue posting as long as I can. If you have any additional questions that I might answer or things you would like to know about my books, please use the comment section of the website and ask me; I’ll be glad to talk with you.

Regards

“Hardcharger”

If you’re enjoying these blogs please drop me a comment or if you have any questions that I might answer, again submit a comment on the comment pages. I’m always glad to hear from you.

Again, please take a look at all of my books that I have listed. They can be purchased from Amazon.com with the click of a button directly from my website, www.ptaylorvietnamadvisor.com.  Until next Friday, Have a good one.

The Advisor Series:

• “The Advisor, Kien Bing, South Vietnam, 1969-1970. A Novel” (Available on Amazon ASIN: B09L4X5NQ3)
• “The Province Senior Intelligence Advisor, Kien Song Province 1970-1971; A Novel” (Available on Amazon ASIN: B0BHL2XCX5)
• “The Hardchargers,” Vietnam 1972-1973; A Novel” (Available on Amazon ASIN: B0C7SPR1JY)
• “The Tuscarora Trail” (Available on Amazon ASIN: B0D3QY2GM6)

Check out my website for other books that I’ve written or edited.

Website: ptaylorvietnamadvisor.com