Reporters wrong on Vietnam-Afghanistan length

Today there was news Afghanistan has now replaced the Vietnam War as being the longest. That is news to Vietnam Veterans since they started to die in 1956 and did not stop dying there until 1975. Last time I used my math skills that would mean Vietnam lasted 19 years and Afghanistan has not even begun it's tenth year. That would take place in October when the first troops were sent. There is one distinction that Afghanistan has in fact earned and that is the most underreported on in recent times. Especially when you consider there are now 24 hour news stations ignoring it.

THE FIRST KNOWN CASUALTY


Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth, Mass. is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956.
His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who has a casualty date of Sept. 7, 1965.
http://thewall-usa.com/information.asp

The Vietnam War, which lasted longer than any other military conflict in American history, grew out of the U.S. government’s Cold War-era policy to prevent the spread of communism at home and abroad. The United States began sending financial aid and military advisors to South Vietnam in the 1950s, hoping to thwart a takeover by the communist North Vietnamese, led by Ho Chi Minh. As troop levels and casualties escalated throughout the 1960s, the war became increasingly unpopular at home, inciting large-scale protests, profoundly affecting popular culture and fomenting mutual distrust between the public and its leaders. The United States began withdrawing its troops in 1973, and in 1975 the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to North Vietnamese forces. More than 58,000 American soldiers had perished.
http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war

Yet since the official start of the Vietnam war was 1964 and the offical end was 1975, it is easy to get that wrong.


UPDATE 6-09-10
Looks like someone else agrees. This was posted yesterday on CNN Blog

Can Afghanistan be compared to the Vietnam war?
Post by: CNN's Tim Lister
Much has been made in recent media reports about the conflict in Afghanistan surpassing the length of the Vietnam War, becoming the United States’ longest war. Some would dispute that, and few would suggest the two wars are comparable.

But the Afghan War can’t really be compared to the conflict in Vietnam, which claimed some 58,000 American lives and involved more conventional warfare, including pitched battles for major cities, as well as guerrilla combat. The Tet offensive in 1968 involved some 80,000 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers in a series of coordinated attacks on cities in South Vietnam.

Whether or not Afghanistan is now the longest war that America has fought is a contentious issue. The Department of Defense officially lists deaths in Vietnam beginning November 1, 1955 as related to the war; that’s the date when the Military Assistance Advisory Group began in Vietnam. Others insist that 1964 represents the year when the United States rapidly escalated its military presence in Southeast Asia, and moved from a support role to front-line engagement.

The start of the Vietnam War is also dated from the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, something that diplomat Richard Holbrooke has rejected.

read more here

Can Afghanistan be compared to the Vietnam war

But there is so much more of the history of Vietnam that has been forgotten.

United States in Vietnam 1945-1975
Comprehensive Timelines with Quotes and Analysis
Seeds of Conflict
America Committs 1961-1964

Looking at the totals of Vietnam, we need to remember that as some want to try to make headlines suggesting Afghanistan lasted longer than Vietnam, when they do, they end up dismissing the lives lost and the wounded who would never be the same. Imagine being one of the veterans sent into Vietnam watching friends die and then read according to the media, it was all forgotten.

Reason (Cause of Casualty)
Number of Records
Gun, Small Arms Fire 18,518
Multiple Fragmentary Wounds 8,456
Air Loss, Crash on Land 7,992
Other Explosive Devices 7,450
Artillery, Rocket or Mortar 4,914
Other Accident 1,371
Misadventure 1,326
Drowned, Suffocated 1,207
Vehicle Loss, Crash 1,187
Accidental Homicide 944
Accidental Self Destruction 842
Other Causes 754
Air Loss, Crash in Sea 577
Burns 530
Illness, Disease 482
Suicide 382
Heart Attack 273
Intentional Homicide 234
Malaria 118
Bomb Explosion 52
Stroke 42
Hepatitis 22
Unknown, Not Reported 520
Total 58,193

According to media reports, that would mean all the deaths before 1964 and after 1973 did not happen.

Year of Death or Declaration of Death Number of Records
1956-1960 9
1961 16
1962 52
1963 118
1964 206
1965 1,863
1966 6,143
1967 11,153
1968 16,592
1969 11,616
1970 6,081
1971 2,357
1972 641
1973 168
1974 178
1975 161
1976 77
1977 96
1978 447
1979 148
1980 26
1981-1990 34
1991-1998 11
Total 58,193