Infantry+in+Vietnam



They could be called Grunts, Foot Soldiers, or Ground Forces, They mean the same thing, they are Infantry soldiers in Vietnam. Infantry are the first line of defense against Vietnamese attack. They were the valiant men who laid their lives on the line for freedom. The Infantry were shipped into Vietnam starting in 1965 and they were referred to as "advisors". They carried many things such as the standard issue M-16 assault rifle and a steel helmet. Probably the most famous Infantry Division was know as the Big Red One. They were the 1st infantry division. Often called grunts due to their low rank. Usually consisted of Private First Class (PFC). On a daily basis grunts had to "hump" or carry many things. Such as the M-16, smoke and fragmentation grenades, as well as a flack jacket used to help decrease shrapnel damage. Also being of the lowest rank they had to perform the most dangerous assignments. Grunts sometimes fell into a routine of patrol which was dangerous due to many ambushes. Many soldiers were very young. At the time the average age of a foot soldier was 19. This baby faced recruit (see above) was one of many soldiers fresh out of high school. Recruit came with nothing but Government Issue (GI) items. Infantry carried C Rations(aka MRE's),ammunition, water, and some personal trinkets. __**Infantry Daily Routine**__ Many Infantryman had daily duties such as patrol. They searched for hidden Viet Cong (V.C) forces in nearby villages or cities. There are many conflicting accounts of how the soldiers treated Vietnamese civilians. Often the infantry went on Search and Destroy missions used to seek out V.C members in nearby villages.

__**Grunt Lingo**__ (infantry language)
Infantry soldiers used many types of slang terms and/or abbreviations. Some may be quite obvious but others are relatively obscure.
 * ===SOP - Standard Operating Procedure===
 * ===V.C - Viet Cong Forces===
 * ===LZ - Landing Zone===
 * ===AWOL- absent without leave===
 * ===SNAFU - Situation Normal All F* Up===
 * ===V.C, Mr. Charlie, Chasing Charlie, Charlie - all terms for V.C Forces[[image:50cal.jpg width="150" height="150" align="right" caption="50 Caliber Anti-Aircraft Machine Gun"]]===
 * ===A.O - Area of Operations===
 * ===POW - Prisoners of War===
 * ===Bandoliers - Belts of Machine Gun Ammo===
 * ===C-4 - Putty like explosive used for door breaching===
 * ===Claymore - Antipersonnel mine carried by infantry===
 * ===FNG - F New Guy===
 * ===Hump - to carry===
 * ===C-Rations - combat rations[[image:kbar.jpg width="140" height="244" align="right" caption="USMC K-Bar knife" link="http://www.uswings.com/images/usmc_kabar2.jpg"]]===
 * ===MRE - Meals Ready to Eat===
 * ===Zippo Raid - Raids where soldiers lit fires in villages destroying them===
 * ===.50 Cal - 50 caliber machine gun===
 * ===AR- Army Regulation===
 * ===Bar - Browning Automatic Rifle===
 * ===Hot LZ - Landing Zone under heavy fire===
 * ===Chopper - Helicopter===
 * ===CP - Command Post===
 * ===det-cord - Detonation cord used in explosion===
 * ===HQ - Headquarters===
 * ===KIA - Killed in Action===
 * ===K-Bar - Combat knife===

[[image:grunt.jpg width="255" height="368" align="right" caption="U.S Soldier " link="http://www.diggerhistory.info/images/rar/grunt.jpg"]]

 * ===KBA - Killed by Artillery===
 * ===MG - Machine Gun===
 * ===LP - Listening PostM-16 - Standard U.S assault rifle===
 * ===FUBAR - Fd Up Beyond All Recognition===
 * ===WIA - Wounded in Action===
 * ===P-38 - Can openerPFC - Private First Class===
 * ===R&R - Rest and Recreation===
 * ===RPG - Rocket Propelled Grenade===
 * ===Rucksack - BackpackSAF - Small Arms Fire===
 * ===Zapped - Killed===
 * ===USMC - United States Marine Corps===
 * ===Agent Orange - Defoliant/herbicide containing 2,4,T Dioxin ===
 * ===APC - Armored Personnel Carrier, usually an M-113 ===
 * ===Band-Aid - Radio code for medic ===
 * ===BMFIC - Big Mother F*er In Charge ===
 * ===CIB - Combat Infantryman Badge ===
 * ===Friendlies - Other US or allied troops on the battlefield ===

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 * ===HE - High Explosive===
 * ===Napalm - Thickened gasoline. Resembles Jell-O in bombs, maple syrup in a Zippo-track ===
 * ===SAR - Search And Rescue mission ===
 * ===Gook- Negative slang term for Viet Cong.===
 * ===Hanoi Hilton Slang term for North Vietnam's Hoa Loa Prison which was notorious for being the place where American POWs were brought for interrogation and torture.===