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What Training for Vietnam War Was Like

Weird History | November 11, 2025



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During America’s long involvement in the Vietnam conflict, from 1965 to 1973, tens of thousands of young men and women were recruited and drafted into the ranks of the US armed forces. They were sent overseas to fight on the battlefield or help in various support capacities. However, whether you were conscripted involuntarily or joined up to dictate your own career path, you had to undergo training, and that was one painfully unforgettable experience.

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Comments

This post currently has 47 comments.

  1. @aday1637

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    We never ran before breakfast. Our drill sgt (DI Dill aka Bill Dill) was overweight and would argue with the other platoon DI's to get some duce and halfs to haul us out to the range. Rarely would we run anywhere.
    Drafted in 69 sent to Ft Bragg for basic, then Ft Dix for AIT, then Oakland where they pulled me out and sent me to Ft Ord for some experiments they were running at Hunter Liggett. Got out in 71 and never looked back

  8. @felixmadison5736

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    I had basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey in 1968, and had my share of pots and pans and KP duty. I know I had RVN training before heading to Vietnam, but I don't remember any part of it. The only reason I know I had it was because it was mandatory, so I must have gone through it.

  9. @prestoni

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    Basic Training at Fort Bragg NC in 1967 and AIT in Fort Leonard Wood MO. Prior to Vietnam I attended a 3-4 days training at Fort Lewis WA. When I arrived in Vietnam and assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade. We had a one week in-country Jungle School which was pretty good.

  12. @DavidGagne-c4v

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    If the drill sergeants learn your name early on…Not good. I guess i did ok. It was 2 weeks from graduation and they didn't know who I was. "You in my outfit, son?". Lol. I ended up retiring after 20 years.

  14. @jimgraham9450

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    1964, Basic at Fort Jackson and Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Polk. What you called the low crawl, was the Infiltration Course. The gas chamber, went in with the mask on our hip, put the mask on, cleared it, and stayed there for a period of time to see if you did it right. All training was with M-14, M-79, 1911, and M-60.

  16. @anthonylovavto3228

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    I had basic training at Ft. Ord, YOU NEVER SLOWED WHEN ON DOUBLE TIME BECAUSE WE REACH CO AREA AND KEPT RUNNING ANOTHER 15 MINUTES. The drill sargeantd were absolute fkn A holes…one time when the entire companywas seated in bleachers. A pfc ran up to the cadre and gave them a message! The drill sargeant read to us trainees and said WW3 had just broken out! Describin how China had invaded s Vietnam and the Russians have crossed the Berlin Wall! He continued " you will continue with basic and sent to a front" then he said this an example of SHOCK, THE TOPIC OF YOUR NEXT DISCUSSION! ( most of us trainees were shaking in our boots while the drill instutors were laughin in there boots!

  21. @knothead5

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    Fall 1969, basic training was really basic. Eight weeks of MICKEY MOUSE. Fortunately, I missed AIT for 11B40. Remember Band of Brothers, Easy Company 506th 101st, trained for two years before Normandy.

  22. @tomtroy3792

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    My step brother gave me his field jacket and I wore that everyday as a kid and then somebody stole it when I was about 21 years old last week I just scored a field jacket at a second hand store for $9 with a liner! The one I got for my step brother didn't have a liner and it was cold in the winter! But I wore it religiously! Now this one has a liner and I tell you it makes a world of difference! I have it taken it off since I bought it! I'm so stoked! When spring comes I'll take the liner out LOL

  23. @DudleySchmedlap-s6i

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    Training? Maybe in the first years of the war, but by the time I was drafted in 1967, the height of the troop deployment (500,000 boots on the ground!) It was Basic Training (8 weeks), Advanced Individual Training (8 weeks) and then off to Vietnam. The whole war was a bad joke.

  24. @wadeolson7177

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    Dodged the draft while in high school by joining the US Navy. Entered boot camp in September 1967 in San Diego. Went to Vietnam to River Division 574 to spend a year on river patrol boats in the Mekong delta. PBRs were 31 feet long and fast. Became very familiar with 50 caliber machine gun.

  29. @reb1050

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    Spent New Year's Eve 1970 on the "yellow footprints" at San Diego MCRD. The training was had, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Although it helped considerably, no amount of training could prepare one for what they would face in actual combat in Vietnam. (USMC 70-76)

  35. @JimGuido-sq4vg

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    I experienced basic training starting in January 1967 at Fort Ord California. Then off to Fort Eustis, Virginia for training on driving LCM's that were used extensively in Vietnam to move cargo and troops around. Exited in January 1969. 1968 was a crazy year with not only the Ted offensive but the assassination of Martin Luther King and the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. The world was nuts then, but I think it might be more nuts now than it ever was before.

  38. @jamesmack3314

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    I walked into a recruitment office in Times Square in 1985 and signed up for the Air Force went to basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. It wasn’t that difficult but had its challenges and it certainly got me in shape and ended up being the best part of the whole enlistment

  39. @moreycleveland2472

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    M14 TO M16 TO M4 SHORTER BUTT STOCK ON M4 IT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE A MUSKET RIFLE MEANING A LONG ASS WEAPON TO CARRY & SHOOT M4 A JUSTABLE BUTT STOCK MEANING YOU CAN ADJUST & RE-ADJUST EXTEND OR RE EXTEND THE BUTT STOCK FOR SHORTER OR LONGER AT THE REAR END OF THE WEAPON ON THE M4 YOU COULD NOT DO THAT ON M14 & M16

  40. @JamesPetersen-f4d

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    Volunteered for the draft in the spring of 1970, was smart enough to go thru basic at Fort Campbell during the summer….hot but better than crawling around in the mud during a cold and wet winter. I was number 3 in that years lottery. The only lottery I almost won!

  41. @tomfilipiak3511

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    About the M 16,we used the M 14, then given the M16, we laughed,it reminded us of a 1950 s toy,gun,by Mattey Matell!Any way never really taught us about the little flaws in the M16!Two months into my duty in Viet Nam,taking fire,respond accordingly,semi auto,three rounds down range,weapon stops firing !One round went off,the spent cartridge would not eject,next round jammed into the spent cartridge ,took two of us to get the bolt open!Fact,if a round had a burr on it,or any debris,in the chamber,with the tight tolerances of the M16,compared to the M14, the M 16 would jam!We were Guinea pigs,with this new weapon,there is a book out that brings to light how many guys were killed with a jammed M16!Fact!Thomas A.Filipiak Viet Nam 1967 1968! 1st Cavalry!

  42. @brianpederson2709

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    I was a Navy Corpsman from 1967-1993. My only preparation for war was a 4 week school called FMSS (Field Medical Service School) at Camp Pendelton CA. My drill sergeant was Sgt Slaughter (no lie).We didn't run anywhere. We had one military problem and oine medical problem complete with medevac helos and fake wounds. No PT either. Then we all went to Navy hospitals for a minimum of 6 months so we would know how to care for battle casualties.I did 10 months and then off to Vietnam I went. Nobody under my care died so I WON MY WAR IN VIETNAM!

  45. @alsever3544

    November 11, 2025 at 7:45 am

    Training did not matter. Out of our class of helicopter mechanics/crew chiefs , only 2 of us actually got to be on helicopters—everyone else went to Artillery Batteries. Our best Crew chief had trained as a Medic; 2nd best trained to be an MP. Fought in RVN; Cambodia, Laos–68-69-7-71-72. Easy way to tell a fake vet–He says he was in "NAM"!!

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