unkown1961
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This is an interesting article. I never even think that there are people going AWOL.
Number of Navy Deserters More Than Doubles
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Small Team Bacsi
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The Vietnam War Deserters Who Sought Asylum in Sweden
The tumultuous events of 1968, the so-called “year that rocked the world,” have been very much in the news in 2018, their 50th anniversary. Though overlooked in many histories of the pe…
Not to downplay in any way this issue today. It’s a serious issue. Over 500,000 deserters during my war. That number was way more than I thought it might be.
USMCGrunt
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Draft versus volunteers could account for a lot of the order of magnitude difference between the eras. The current number has doubled over three years but seems remarkably low to me. I would appreciate knowing where the number stands for a longer date range. I am not dismissing the facts just looking for perspective. It is interesting to note the other branches have seen decreases over the same time frame.
There have always been reasons why people want out. Homesickness, "Dear John" situations, boredom, operational intensity, perceived dead-end careers, bullying, etc. I personally had Marines desert, shoot themselves in the foot, and one who decided to eat his way out (refused to lose weight and meet USMC standards). From higher HQ to lowest command I think that looking into these situations is important.
There have always been reasons why people want out. Homesickness, "Dear John" situations, boredom, operational intensity, perceived dead-end careers, bullying, etc. I personally had Marines desert, shoot themselves in the foot, and one who decided to eat his way out (refused to lose weight and meet USMC standards). From higher HQ to lowest command I think that looking into these situations is important.
unkown1961
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When we were at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa we heard the rumors of Vietnam guys slipping into Gate 2 street and disappearing. Some people said you don't ask too many questions of older Americans you meetThe Vietnam War Deserters Who Sought Asylum in Sweden
The tumultuous events of 1968, the so-called “year that rocked the world,” have been very much in the news in 2018, their 50th anniversary. Though overlooked in many histories of the pe…lithub.com
Not to downplay in any way this issue today. It’s a serious issue. Over 500,000 deserters during my war. That number was way more than I thought it might be.
(this was in 1998).
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Navy did a much more stringent COVID lockdown than the other services and that is partially due to location of major bases near population centers. Add to that the fact that many nations refused port access/port calls to the fleet so sailors were stuck aboard ship for all or at least significant parts of their deployments. Added to that were the quarantine rules that basically kept single sailors aboard ships in homeport since base facilities were closed and they could not even leave and go to a bar or restaurant out in town as the Navy did not allow it so even inport, the single sailors were effectively restricted for months at a time.
Small Team Bacsi
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The speculation is the same as far as VN itself. Some just walked off base and disappeared . Some allegedly lived with locals and started families. Others got involved with less healthy pursuits.When we were at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa we heard the rumors of Vietnam guys slipping into Gate 2 street and disappearing. Some people said you don't ask too many questions of older Americans you meet
We had one Marine in 1966 that must have tried deserting 2 maybe 3 times. He was out of love with the Corps and very much in love with a girl he had met..
One US deserter might have been the armed Caucasian walking point for a VC patrol we literally ran into in 1965 or 1966.
unkown1961
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I've heard of guys disappearing into Thailand. I've also heard about some Americans fighting for the VC, they would be interesting to hear form today, if they made it out alive. What happened with with Caucasian guy you ran into?
Small Team Bacsi
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I have wondered that myself for decades.
I am in no way suggesting I think it was him but this was about the same time Garwood went missing. Most likely a few to several months after he was last seen back in danang.
Normally when two small teams from different sides run into each other in the jungle both sides normally if they can run in the opposite direction.
So no pursuit by us as I can remember.
.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_R._Garwood
Small Team Bacsi
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When a Marine Recon patrol got into a firefight with an American Viet Cong
Corporal Charles House led his Marine Recon patrol through thick undergrowth under the jungle canopy forty feet above. The country was Vietnam and the
sofrep.com
1st Recon Bn maybe 3 years after our run with the allegedly US VC. They claimed to have killed theirs.
Interesting, a quick search brings up a number of possible sitings of Caucasians working with the VC or NVA. Does not seem to be any proof as to who they were.
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Small Team Bacsi
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Before going FMF the Navy put me on an ortho ward at Lejuene Hospital for a couple of months.
I remember seriously injured Marines on that ward and more than a few really unhappy I hate the Marine Corps Marines with allegedly bad backs.
A few of those boys with allegedly bad backs could not wait to be civilians. I had never realized anyone could hate the Corps like some of those marines did..
I was so new so green so little experience——I was wondering——why would anyone want to leave why would anyone hate the Corps
NJROTC-CC
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You can’t compare this to wartime, particularly Viet Nam, an unpopular war, and a draft.
The current conditions many enlistees are subjected to are deplorable for a peacetime job. In the case of the CVN-73 refit, sailors were being used for nothing more than menial labor and forced to live in inhumane conditions. That’s not ok in my book for a volunteer force during peacetime. It is being addressed.
Let’s remember, these are peacetime volunteers. Perhaps the defense budget should be increased so that adequate civilian labor can be hired to perform certain maintenance work.
The current conditions many enlistees are subjected to are deplorable for a peacetime job. In the case of the CVN-73 refit, sailors were being used for nothing more than menial labor and forced to live in inhumane conditions. That’s not ok in my book for a volunteer force during peacetime. It is being addressed.
Let’s remember, these are peacetime volunteers. Perhaps the defense budget should be increased so that adequate civilian labor can be hired to perform certain maintenance work.