Was just talking about that with LT. in mechanize infantry there was supposed to be a two man crew on an APC with an 11 man squad. We never had more than 6 men per line vehicle. The company usually had a little over 120 men in the field (not 260), during Feb. of '68 we started one fight with 78 men.
Larry it would be nice to know. But not only 11B &C's were in combat, as you know. It would be more interesting to know the number of men in the field. You know, forget the MOS, some 11B's never stepped outside the wire of a base camp, some engineers, mechanics, signal, certainly tanks and arty, most never stepped Inside the wire. Of course those sort of numbers are probably impossible to get.
I always think of the guy I went to high school with who was an MP. That could be quite dangerous (convoys, the 716th MPS in Saigon and Tan Son Nuht during Tet, etc.). This guy's been disabled since they flew him home in '68. He was assigned to work as a life guard at Cam Ran and broke his shoulder diving into the pool
.
I'd bet 50% of Lightening were house cats. But for the most part they did their job. Besides, can you imagine being assigned to graves registration? I'd rather be on point going on a night ambush.
Stay healthy,
Andy