How long was a typical tour of duty in Vietnam?

Answer

1 year

Answer

I believe the army served one year tours, the marines served one and a half year tours.

Answer

The real answer. Army was 12 months; the Marine Corps 13 months. With the Marine Corps having a program where if you were willing to extend your tour an additional 6 months, they would give you a free leave of 30 days in between the two tours, flying you anywhere you wanted to spend it free of charge, with flight time not counting towards those thirty days, nor being credited towards your extra 6 months.

Naval shore personnel generally served one year tours such as at NSA Danang. Navy Seabees served from six months to ten months or more with a Mobile Construction Battalion. If Seabees were assigned to a shore activity, generally they stayed a year. Brown water sailors usually served a year tour, but could be more or less. Seabees could extend with relieving battalion and stay anywhere from eight to twenty months depending on the battalions work schedule. I have heard of Seabees doing four tours with battalions, or a tour or two with a battalion and another with a shore station such as NSA Danang. Navy Corpsmen serving with Marines generally did thirteen month tours, same as Marines. Some Seabees served aboard ships in the Yellow Sea patroling the coastline. These Bees served as long as the ship stayed on station.

First answer by anonymous. Last edit by Surfer-joe. Contributor trust: 0 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 95 [recommend question]