Anyone confirm these figures, re VN?
 

"Of the estimated 2.7 to 3.1 million Americans who served in Vietnam,
approximately 1/3 (fewer than 1 million) are alive today. (The number of
Americans who falsely claim to have served in-country Vietnam numbers
approximately 6 million (down from 9 million in 1985.)"

These facts are from a mailing from Yahoo Groups Paratrooper. Has anyone else heard similar or know if this is accurate?


Terry

Age
 

As a lot of people on this board know somebody who was 18 in 1968 would be about 55 today but VN had the whole range of ages. The "Young" Korean War vets who served in VN would be pushing 70 by now.

Even though life appears to have taken a hard toll on VN vets I find 2/3s a bit high in my opinion. But not for long. As with the WW II and Korean vets the number per year will quickly start to jump upwards as the main age group passes 60.

I wonder if there is a "by age group" study of VN vets death rates vs their civilian age groups.

Vietnam-era veterans: 8,744,000
Southeast Asia veterans: 3,403,000
Vietnam veterans: 2,594,000
Vietnam WIA (non-mortal): 153,303


http://web1.whs.osd.mil/mmid/CASUALTY/vietnam.pdf

unable to confirm, But
 

Did a quick google search(might be able to find it if i searched more)came across a few studies on this subject.

The CDC did a study and found a 7% increase in the death rate in just the first five years after discharge of in-country Vets VS. other vets of the time.
the Aussie did a study as well so you can look to compare the findings.

http://thewall-usa.com/stats/

Interesting stat's if accurate.





"(The number of
Americans who falsely claim to have served in-country Vietnam numbers
approximately 6 million (down from 9 million in 1985.)"


I guess these f@cking posers are dying off too!

Terry

No
 

No Terry;

The Gulf wars are hip these days for posers. The posers are just migrating to become Gulf War vets. But the old geezers that do that stick out like a sore thumb.

Pete

Gotta be some kind of disease.

Terry

The OSD's numbers above differ somewhat from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA has Vietnam-era veterans as 9,200,000, not 8,744,000. The number of those deployed to Southeast Asia is the same - 3,403,000. The VA doesn't have a separate number for those deployed to Vietnam.

The current estimate for the number of living Vietnam-era veterans is 8,122,000.

http://www1.va.gov/opa/fact/amwars.html

Terry, the item you quoted claims "Of the estimated 2.7 to 3.1 million Americans who served in Vietnam, approximately 1/3 (fewer than 1 million) are alive today...." As the numbers above note, about one million Vietnam-era veterans have died (9.2 million minus 8.1 million). Even if every one of those was an in-theater veteran (which of course is not the case), the claim wouldn't be true.

Contrary to that claim, far more than "1/3" of Vietnam veterans are alive. 88% of Vietnam-era veterans are alive. Even if those who were in-country were dying at 2-3 times the rate as all veterans, more than two-thirds, not one-third, are still alive.

A L:

Thanks for clarifying.

Terry

Pete,
I think that is a part of it. The other part is the internet. Many units now have online rosters. Also the total Veteran community is wiser too. To many people are checking up on posers and have the ability to do it.

I am happy to report that (upon reading these statistics) there is now irrefutable evidence that I am still alive! :D