during Vietnam WAR WHY DID THE US SOLDIERS CALL THE NORTH SOLDIERS CHARLIE?

Leafy,

In the phonetic alphabet VC (for Viet Cong) is Victor Charlie. So somehow it got shortened to Charlie.

"Ranger"

Well in actual fact the soldiers from North

Vietnam wern't called Charlie, they were referred to as the NVA. Now the guerilla fighters in the south were called Viet Cong, initials VC, and in the international phonetic alphabet its spoken Victor Charlie. You shorten that and you get Charlie. And that's where the name came from.

mikey: Right answer but you could have been a little nicer about it. Schools don't teach that sort of thing anymore and by the way I am a public school graduate and I knew the answer as well as you did.

Are you people all public school students? do you not have a single neuron among you? Here is the story, because, you asked, but also because i remember. The name "charlie " came from the military alphabet abbreviation for the first letters of Viet Cong, the americanized name of the guerrilla forces who were in the south, and supposedly from the south of vietnam, and supported by the people of North Vietnam. So, these forces were referred to as VC or using the military call signs for the letters, Victor Charlie, shortened to simply 'Charlie'. Now the north Vietnamese had an army that were referred to as North Vietnamese Regulars. They were 'Victor Romeo', however, as far as the GI's fighting and getting killed, they were all 'charlie', and we wanted them all dead. But, I don't any more, but I do still remember.

The irregular guerrilla force fighting in south Vietnam was called Viet Cong, shortened to VC, then expanded to Victor Charles, aka Charlie. The Northern troops were the North Vietnamese Army or NVA.

There was more than 1. The old OG 107 utilities were around a long time. I think they went thru a few changes from the Korean War up to the BDU's in 81. The big pocket shirt out style seen in photo's on combat units were jungle fagigues. Don't know what the designation was. They came in the same OG 107 (OG is Olive Green, 107 is the shade) We had guys comeing in with a cotton poly version in late 75. The cotton stuff I had needed starch or daily ironing to keep out of trouble in many units. Duffle bag press got me in trouble more than once. When done up with heavy starch they would last all week for guys like me sitting at a work bench. We would starch the Field Jackets too. Am not sure but think the designation was something like Shirt, Field Utility, OG 107. It would be on the collar tag.

Its generic for "the enemy", not outside of Viet Nam anyway. In the real Army (as opposed to the one seen in M*A*S*H episodes) the term didn't mean "the enemy" or "communists" until the Viet Nam war, and not after that.

The term comes from the phonetic alphabet, where "Viet Cong" gets abbreviated to VC, and that is pronounced phonetically as "Victor Charlie"... which was soon shortened to "Charlie" in casual conversation.

Although technically these folks were quite distinct from the North Viet Namese Army (NVA), on the ground, both enemy groups were commonly called "Charlie".

References:

http://www.johncglass.com/racialslurs.htm .

Why they didn't just say "Viet Cong" instead of "Victor Charlie" is beyond me; "Viet Cong" even saves a syllable. It might have been one of those "let's not make it TOO easy for radio intercepts to know what we're talking about" things. Much as in present-day police voice comms, where women, especially those stranded at roadside, are referred to on the radio as an "X-ray" (phonetic for the letter "X") -- it's to keep random pervs with scanners from having too easy a time finding women in distress.

The term comes from the phonetic alphabet, where "Viet Cong" gets abbreviated to VC, and that is pronounced phonetically as "Victor Charlie"... which was soon shortened to "Charlie" in casual conversation

I did a tour in viet nam in 1966, they were called Charlie because it was short for "Victor Charlie" for VC, a term used when talking on the radio.

The first Vietnam solider was believed to be called charlie.

The answer is that humans are primative creatures who when confronted with something or someone that challenges their reality resort to the lowest common denominator. Hate and Fear. Next time, try Love.