Word: men
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...week, few G.I.s even paused in their tasks to listen to it. Rumors of troop withdrawals had been making the rounds in the war zone since peace talks got under way in Paris a year ago; when nothing happened, the results were skepticism and indifference. Then word reached the men of the U.S. 9th Infantry and 3rd Marine Divisions that some of them would be among the first 25,000 to be replaced by Vietnamese troops. Green second lieutenants and combat-toughened veterans ran through their unit areas, shouting and weeping for joy at the realization that, for them...
...itself, the subtraction by August of 25,000 men from the 537,500 Americans now in South Viet Nam hardly represents an overwhelming change in the arithmetic of U.S. commitment. Yet it is a tangible and substantive measure that is part of a larger strategy. For the first time since the initial contingent of 35 American military advisers arrived in Indo-China in 1950?it was the French-Viet Minh war then?the level of U.S. participation in the conflict is going down, not up. So is the draft call, which is dropping more than 3,000 in July...
...individual fighting men, like soldiers in all wars, are relatively unconcerned with the big picture. In the 9th Division, which will part with its 1st and 2nd Brigades, and in the 3rd Marines, which will detach its 9th regimental landing team, some men began packing their bags. Many were already nearing the end of their tour; others still had several months to serve. Fighting in a war of attrition, in which kill ratios are more important than territorial objectives, they have come to believe that their one-year tour of duty is something to be endured. For most, personal survival...
...men who will remain behind when the first chosen units depart Viet Nam for other stations in the Pacific, or in the case of 8,000 men, for the U.S., the war goes on. To the majority, the withdrawals remain little more than a gesture. Those just beginning tours in the combat zone might hope for future troop cuts. But few look beyond the next patrol. "Man, it doesn't mean nothing," said a member of a 25th Division weapons platoon on hearing the news, and his remarks were echoed by most of the men in his unit. Some servicemen...
...military and civilian Defense Department experts, who gathered in a movie theater, reviewed the already prepared top-secret folders and quickly made the decision on which troops to start pulling out of Viet Nam. The two 9th Infantry brigades and the Marine regimental combat team include roughly 17,000 men. They will be joined by about another 8,000 rear-echelon and naval personnel. The total number of American servicemen in the country will go down by less that 5%?but U.S. ground combat strength will be reduced by nearly...