MovieChat Forums > Platoon (1987) Discussion > Could anyone give me a rough estimate

Could anyone give me a rough estimate

posted 4 years ago by MovieChatUser497 (18943)
1 reply | jump to latest

About how often on average would a US soldier see action in Vietnam and by action I mean encountering the enemy to the point where shots were fired? Once a week? Month? 3 months? I know it all depends on where the soldier was stationed and what their job was but any ballpark estimate would be helpful.

At least according to the movie Taylor encountered action 4 times during his 7 or so months in Vietnam.

[–] ebhaynz (3528) 4 years ago

well the vast majority didn't see much, if any, action. Maybe 40,000 were in the field at the height of the war, with more than 400,000 in the rear supporting them. The guys in the field maybe saw action 2-3 times a month at the most. Boredom and loneliness were huge morale problems for infantry in Vietnam.