What's the youngest a person can be and still have fought in the Vietnam war?

Question

Is it correct that one had to be at least 18 to be drafted? And also if the US troops were withdrawn in 1973 why were there US combat related deaths in 1975?

Answer 1

Yes, 18 was the draft age registration age, but they were not immediately inducted in to the service for a year or two. Some were deferred by attending college for a while. At 18 you could enlist and enter immedately in your branch of service. The reason for combat deaths two years after the withdrawl from Viet Nam is, some were wounded and didnt succumb till that time or of something directly related to serving in combat. Many more Viet Nam vets, died of PTSD in the years following the war they those who died from combat.( those deaths are not accounted for in those statistics) I was there and it was an extremely tough time for this country and it took 15 years for the country to finally welcome those who did serve, the war divided the theorists and pracitcalists, over the real cost of what and why we were there.

Answer 2

U.S. Troops were withdrawn in 1973, however it took almost two years for them to get out. (Let's not forget out POW - MIA)

A person in the US military would have to have been 18, in 1973 to be in the Vietnam war. So the youngest would be, 50 - 51 years old. There are people who falsified there age when signing up for active duty. If they did, it would be possible for a person to be 48 - 49.

However, the Vietnam war ended on April 30, 1975 and the Vietnamese, at times, literally had children touting machine guns. That is a mathematical calculation I refuse to do.

Answer 3

So if I read this right, this is the REAL answer. War ended April 30, 1975. Let say a 17 yr old can enlist back then. I guess I would argue that even enlisting before that date puts you in the "Vietnam War" era, even if you did not go to Vietnam. Then you would need to be born on April 30, 1958 or earlier. Anyone born after that date did NOT participate during the vietnam war in the service officially.

Answer 4

All troops were not withdrawn in 1973. Anyway yes you had to be at least 18 to get drafted.

Answer 5

yes 18...but....some kids falsely documented their birth records and got in at 16 and even 17. The occupation lasted until we retreated in 1975 from Saigon. Someone who is 47 years old would have Had to be in country at the age of 16 before the end of the war. 48yrs old- 17, 49-18 so the medium age of someone who served in the Vietnam Conflict would be 50-65 years of age now.

Answer 6

I joined the Army in 1976 at the age of 17 and am 47 now. So, one could have joined the service in 1975 at the age of 17 and possibly gone to Vietnam to guard the embassy (making them 48 now) but I tend to doubt it. Lets say one joined in 1974 at the age of 17-- that would give them time to go to Vietnam and come home in 1975, thereby making them roughly 49 today.

Answer 7

The last Marines evacuated the US Embassy in 1975. I think it was possible to join up if one was under 18 if your parents signed. But I doubt that the would have sent younger guys to guard the Embassy. So if you were 18 in 1975 you would be 49 today.

Answer 8

Assuming the war was over in 1973, then the answer would be about 40. The war was fought in peoples homes and villages, and if you believe that every 8 year old stood around and watched his parents, siblings, etc get slaughtered, you are crazy. I am positive that some of these youngsters would have taken the fight into their own hands.

Answer 9

You had to be atlist 18 to be drafted but so people where noted for getting in as young as 16 which would make them 65

Answer 10

US combat troops were involved from 1965 until their official withdrawal in 1973....however there were some soldiers who lied about there age. it is not known how many. some may have been 16-17. they would have had to have a parents consent is what i have heard not 100% on it. its kinda like ww2 they (soldiers younger than 18) had to have parental consent or something like that. hope that helps.

A large number of civilian casualties resulted from the war, which ended on April 30, 1975 with the capitulation of South Vietnam.
Nixon's main foreign policy goals had been the achievement of a "breakthrough" in U.S. relations with the two nations, in terms of creating a new spirit of cooperation, and treating the Vietnam War as simply another limited conflict forming part of a bigger tapestry of super-power relations. This gambit helped defuse some anti-war opposition at home and secured movement at the negotiation table but succeeded only partially as far as material conditions on the ground. China and the USSR had been the principal backers of the North Vietnamese army through large amounts of military and financial support. The two communist powers competed with one another to prove "fraternal socialist links" with the communist regime in the North. That support continued, enabling the North Vietnamese to mount a full-scale conventional war against the south, complete with tanks, upgraded jet fighters and a modern fuel pipeline snaking through parts of Laos and North Vietnam to the front, to feed the North Vietnamese invasions in 1972 and 1975. The fact that the NVA/PAVN was able to mount such attacks despite massive US bombing indicates that military assistance had increased. Nixon's "opening" to China helped pressure North Vietnam back to the bargaining table, allowing America a face saving exit, or "a decent interval" as Kissinger called it. Military writers such as David Palmer ("Summons of the Trumpet") and Harry Summers ("On Strategy") detail the massive influx of material to the NVA/PAVN even after Nixon's diplomatic moves, as well as the continued presence of personnel from other communist countries, including Chinese and Russian troops.
In December 1974, Congress completed passage of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1974, which cut off all military funding to the Saigon government and made unenforceable the peace terms negotiated by Nixon. Many in the US congress seemed to want the government of South Vietnam to fall and encouraged its collapse by cutting off aid.

By 1975, the South Vietnamese Army stood alone against the well-organized and highly determined North Vietnamese. In contrast to the US cutoff of economic and military aid, China and the Soviet Union stepped up all forms of assistance to North Vietnam. In South Vietnam, the cities were full of refugees and withdrawal of the US had collapsed the wartime economy that had existed due to the presence of large US forces since 1965. South Vietnam also suffered economically from oil price shocks and a global economic downturn. Early March, the North Vietnamese Army launched an invasion of the Central Highlands supported by tanks and heavy artillery, splitting the Republic of Vietnam in two. President Thieu was fearful that ARVN troops in the northern provinces would be isolated due to a PAVN encirclement. He decided on a redeployment of ARVN troops from the northern provinces to the Central Highlands. But the withdrawal of South Vietnamese forces soon turned into a bloody retreat as the North Vietnam launched its army south over the border. While South Vietnamese forces retreated from the northern provinces, splintered South Vietnamese forces in the Central Highlands fought desperately against the PAVN.

hope that answers the 2nd question.