Role of the United States in the Vietnam War in PAVN/NLF casualties after which a decisive (or at least political) victory would be possible. It is widely held that the average U.S. serviceman was nineteen years old, as evidenced by the casual reference in a pop song ("19" by Paul Hardcastle); the figure is cited by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman ret. of the Killology Research Group in his 1995 book "" (p. 265). However, it is disputed by the Vietnam Helicopter Flight Crew Network Website, which claims the average age of MOS 11B personnel was 22. This compares with 26 years of age for those who participated in World
1956 in the Vietnam War military advisers in South Vietnam. The first American killed in the Vietnam War died June 8 at the hand of another American soldier. In 1956 the term Viet Cong came into use and gradually replaced the older term Viet Minh. The government-controlled Saigon press first started using the term referring to communists in South Vietnam as "Viet Cong" a shortening of "Viet Nam Cong-San" which means "Vietnamese Communist." President Diem issued Ordinance Number 6 which permitted the imprisonment of communists and others "dangerous to national defense and common security." Diem's anti-communist repression reduced communist party membership in South Vietnam by