How did the Vietnam soldiers know when they were going home?
There were three live ways of departing Vietnam: DEROS, ETS, or
REDEPLOYMENT. The first was simply doing your 12 months, then
returning home. The second was discharging from the service and
going home at the same time. The third was the unit itself was
heading home.
For DEROS or ETS the GI himself knew what date that was; all he
had to know was when he got in country, then count off the 12
months from there. Re-deployment was always a rumor, hardly ever
spoken in the clear by the brass (because they weren't sure
themselves). A GI only knew something was up (re-deployment) when
the South Viet Nationals began talking to you about it, when you
saw gear being dissembled and being packaged for shipment,
buildings being torn down, large amounts of tracks (armored
vehicles) returning from the field, etc. When you saw all those
things happening at once, something big was taking place...you were
going home.