9 Things Every Vietnam FNG Learned in His First 30 Days

Most people think a new man arrived in Vietnam trained and ready. The records say he came with little more than basic infantry training and learned the rest from veterans in his first weeks. These are nine things every Vietnam FNG learned in his first thirty days, and why number one is about the number in the title. Nine things, counted down: #9 the war began with a cup of pineapple juice; #8 a replacement battalion held a man until the Army decided where he belonged; #7 a short school did the teaching; #6 if you did not drop it, you did not pick it up; #5 the pack got heavier than the plan; #4 the first night in the bush had sounds nobody had explained; #3 the pills were part of the uniform; #2 the label stayed until somebody else took it - and number one is about the number thirty. The opening scene at Cam Ranh Bay, July 1968, is a composite, drawn from many accounts. Every other account is attributed. Your turn: If you were a new man in Vietnam, which of these nine did you learn first? Did you go through a school like Cherry School, or did your unit teach you on the job? If someone in your family served, what did they say about their first month? Chapters (estimated at 178 words a minute; check against the final cut): 0:00 The new man 0:22 A bus at Cam Ranh Bay 1:35 #9 The pineapple juice 3:43 #8 The replacement battalion 5:54 #7 Cherry School 7:47 #6 Do not pick it up 9:36 #5 The pack 10:19 Put yourself in that line 11:46 #4 The first night in the bush 13:57 #3 The pills 15:52 #2 The label 17:56 #1 The number thirty 20:30 Back to the bus at Cam Ranh Bay 21:21 Your turn Sources: R. J. (Raymond) Smith, "Arrival In-country," a tank commander's personal account of July 1968 - arrival at Cam Ranh Bay, 22nd Replacement Battalion, Camp Enari, Cherry School and its tips: http://rjsmith.com/mytour01.html Danny L. Mathers, "New Guys," B Company, 1st Battalion, 61st Infantry - first night in country, Quang Tri replacement detachment, the lizard, the FNG rule, return through Fort Lewis. A veteran's account, written afterward: one-six-one.com/161pg14a.htm "Images of My War," excerpt "A Brave New World" (a lieutenant's memoir; the excerpt does not show his name) - the 90th Replacement Battalion at Long Binh, July 1968: vietvet.org/vnbk02.htm Marlowe, RAND study, chapter 9 (unit and individual replacement) - individual replacement basis, fifteen weeks of initial entry training, jungle training, patrols within days of arrival: https://gulflink.health.mil/library/r... Medical Support of the U.S. Army in Vietnam 1965-1970, chapter XIV (lessons learned), AMEDD Center of History and Heritage - six-week acclimatization period, dapsone field tests: https://achh.army.mil/history/book-vi... General Medicine and Epidemiology in Vietnam, chapter 12 (malaria), AMEDD Center of History and Heritage - admission rates, deaths, incubation, infantry share of cases: https://achh.army.mil/history/book-vi... National Archives, "Stay Alert, Stay Alive" (Army Big Picture film) and its transcript - the Phan Rang replacement training program; only the first part of the transcript could be read: https://archive.org/details/gov.archi... and https://www.archives.gov/files/social... Major John Rickard, "Carrying heavy weight in combat," Canadian Army Line of Sight, 15 October 2021 (secondary source, quoting a 1983 book) - basic load of fifty to sixty pounds: https://www.canada.ca/en/army/service... Wikipedia, "FNG syndrome" - used only as a pointer to the term's origin in individual rotation; the 1972 paper it cites was not opened: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FNG_syn... Archive and image credit: [to be completed by the channel owner once the footage and photographs are chosen] #VietnamWar #VietnamVeteran #MilitaryHistory #FNG #NewGuy