| The vast majority of swift boat crews consisted of: | 1 - Lieutenant/Lieutenant junior grade/Ensign (boat commander) |
| 1 - Quartermaster | |
| 1 - Radarman------------------- (the enlisted personnel ranged from | |
| 1 - Gunners' Mate--------- E3 seaman, to E6 Petty Officer First class) | |
| 1 - Engineman | |
| 1 - Boatswains' Mate |
Although this was the normal rating configuration for a swift boat crew, many of the early crews had an RM - Radioman instead of a Radarman.
A few other ratings were also represented in the swift boat crews, they included:
| FTG | - Firecontrolman |
| HM | - Hospital Corpsman |
| MN | - Mineman |
| MR | - Machinery Repairman |
| SM | - Signalman |
| STG | - Sonarman |
| TM | - Torpedoman |
| YN | - Yeoman |
| The enlisted personnel were all extensively cross-trained in the other ratings so that an injured persons job could be done by another crewman. |
The officer and either the quartermaster or radarman were also given intensive Vietnamese language training at a defense language school. |
| Also of note was the fact that the VAST majority of these swift boat crewmen volunteered for this duty. The normal tour of duty for a swift crewman was one year, in country, however numerous people volunteered for a second tour and a few even served three tours. |
The most interesting part of the history of these
personnel, that served as swiftboat crewmen and staff,
is their success after they left swiftboat duty and Vietnam as shown in the
following statistics.
These people made the U.S. Military a career and were eminently successful, retiring as:
| Officers in Vietnam | % of approx 600 | ||
| Retirees | Selected | who served | |
| Admiral (4 Star) | 1 | 1 | 0.167% |
| Vice Admiral (3 Star) | 6 | 7 | 1.167% |
| Rear Amiral - Upper (2 Star) | 7 | 14 | 2.333% |
| Rear Admiral - Lower (1 Star) | 2 | 16 | 2.667% |
| Captain (O6) | 93 | 109 | 18.167% |
| Commander (O5) | 73 | 182 | 30.333% |
| Lieutenant Commander (O4) | 34 | 216 | 36.000% |
| Enlisted in Vietnam | % of approx 3,000 | ||
| Retirees | Selected | who served | |
| Flag (O7) | 1 | 1 | 0.0003% |
| Captain (O6) | 0 | 1 | 0.0003% |
| Commander (O5) | 4 | 6 | 0.200% |
| Lieutenant Commander (O4) | 8 | 14 | 0.466% |
| Lieutenant (O3) | 4 | 18 | 0.600% |
| Lieutenant Junior Grade (O2) | 1 | 19 | 0.633% |
| Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CWO4) | 7 | 7 | 0.234% |
| Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CWO3) | 1 | 8 | 0.267% |
| Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CWO2) | 6 | 14 | 0.467% |
| Master Chief (E9) | 14 | 14 | 0.466% |
| Senior Chief (E8) | 23 | 37 | 1.233% |
| Chief (E7) | 46 | 83 | 2.766% |
| Note: The enlistee numbers for CWO2-4 and above are lower than actual counts as many of these officers were also selected for Chief, Senior Chief and Master Chief before accepting a Warrant Officer's commission. Also many of the O2-7 and above served as CWOs and/or as Chief, Senior Chief and Master Chief before accepting either regular line commissions or LDO commissions. | |||
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This page was last updated on: June 13, 2008 at 13:42