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Famous Quotes

"There is little that will sober an enemy more surely than the knowledge that somewhere, just over the horizon, lies a force of well-trained, well equipped Marines in competently manned ships capable of delivering a stunning amphibious blow at a point and time of their own choosing."

Lieutenant General Victor Krulak,

United States Marine Corps

"All militaries harden their recruits. But the Marine Corps provides its members with a secret weapon. It gives them the unique pride that makes the Marines the world's premier warrior force. They call this culture 'esprit de corps.'"

General William Thornson

U.S. Army

You Could Have

Heard A Pin Drop

When in England recently, at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for the Afgan war were just an example of U.S. empire building.
He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'

The Vietnam War:
Fact Vs. Myth

Myth: Kim Phuc, the little nine year old Vietnamese girl running naked from the napalm strike near Trang Bang on 8 June 1972, was burned by Americans bombing Trang Bang.

Fact: No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. The planes doing the bombing near the village were VNAF (Vietnam Air Force) and were being flown by Vietnamese pilots in support of South Vietnamese troops on the ground. The Vietnamese pilot who dropped the napalm in error is currently living in the United States. Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture was Vietnamese. The incident in the photo took place on the second day of a three day battle between the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) who occupied the village of Trang Bang and the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) who were trying to force the NVA out of the village. Reports in the news media that an American commander ordered the air strike that burned Kim Phuc are incorrect. There were no Americans involved in any capacity. "We (Americans) had nothing to do with controlling VNAF," according to Lieutenant General (Ret) James F. Hollingsworth, the Commanding General of TRAC at that time. Also, it has been incorrectly reported that two of Kim Phuc's brothers were killed in this incident. They were Kim's cousins not her brothers.

Now head of the Kim Foundation, which helps children who are victims of war, she now lives in London with her husband and 2 children.

Kim Phuc - A Victim of War CBSNews

From The Top

In Viet Nam the Marines were taking two hundred casualties a week and the major rainy season and Operation Meade River had not even begun. Yet Drill Instructors had no qualms about winnowing out almost a quarter of their 112 recruits, graduating an average of 81. Note that this was post-enlistment attrition. Every one of those 31 who were dropped had been passed by the recruiters as fit for service. But they failed the test of Boot Camp! Not necessarily for physical reasons. The cause of their failure was not in the biceps nor the legs, but in the spirit. They had lacked the will to endure the mental and emotional strain so they would not be Marines. Heavy commitments and high casualties not withstanding, the Corps reserves the right to pick and choose it's own.

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"Ready for Anything
Counting on Nothing"

01 October 2009

Malaria In The Vietnam War

During the Vietnam War Malaria felled more combatants than bullets and reduced the combat strength of some units by half.

During the Vietnam War, Malaria reduced the combat strength of many combat units by over half. Over 40,000 cases of Malaria were reported in US troops alone between 1965 and 1970 with 78 deaths. The U.S. Army established a malaria drug research program when U.S. troops first encountered a drug resistant malaria during the war. In 1967, the Chinese scientists set up Project 523 - a secret military project - to help the North Vietnamese military defeat malaria by developing artemisinin based anti malarial formulations.

Malaria is the general name of a tropical disease spread by mosquitoes. Its onset is indicated by a high fever, anemia and severe flulike symptoms, such as shivering, joint pain and headaches. If not properly treated, it can lead to organ failure and death.

There are four kinds of malaria that affect humans, each characterized by a different species of the Plasmodium parasite.

When a person is bitten by a mosquito bearing Plasmodium, the parasite is injected into the bloodstream, where it lives out its life cycle in red blood cells and concentrates in the vital organs, principally the liver. Plasmodium falciparum malaria is the predominant type of malaria that accounted for 90 percent of malaria illnesses reported during the Vietnam War. It is also the most feared, because it primarily affects the brain.

It was said by North Vietnamese soldiers traveling the Ho Chi Minh Trail that "If American bombers don't get you, malaria will". At least 10 percent of the casualties along the trail were from malaria. At regular intervals along the route, the National Liberation Front (NLF) built base camps. As well as providing a place for them to rest, the base camps provided medical treatment for those who had fallen ill on the journey. Most of the base camps were underground.

History of Malaria During Wars

SURVEY

Were Vietnam malaria pills responsible for Vietnam vet illnesses?

In-Country Meds

Water Purification Tablets

Iodine water purification tablets were issued in bottles of 50 in Vietnam. One tablet per quart was dropped into a canteen and made the water safe to drink within a few minutes. The bottles could be carried in the pocket on a canteen cover and were also part of numerous survival kits. They made bad tasting water taste worse.

Salt Tablets

As with all the sciences, ideas change because of the research, but when we served in Vietnam we took salt tablets all the time. We're talking about the big yellow ones. There were dispensers all around the base camp spaces to include the mess hall. The corpsmen passed them out when we were away from the base camp. It is true if you take them on an empty stomach, there is a good chance of throwing up. Also if you get dehydrated, it is painful, aching all over. Marines had to be Med Evaced who were dehydrated.

Malaria Pills

These were given once weekly in a dosage of 250 mg, starting one-to-two weeks before arrival in-country and continuing through the tour and for four weeks after departure.

Due to the high malaria rate among the troops many a time an entire squad was ordered to line up as a corpsman would issue your malaria pill and have to watch you swallow it.

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