9 Things the Army Charged Grunts For in Vietnam That Should Have Been Free

The first paycheck that came up short, the gear supply never handed out, the life insurance premium, the phone call home, the binoculars lost in a river, the rear-area comforts the field never saw, the R and R, and the warm can of beer sold on a hilltop. And the one thing the Army never charged for and could never have billed. Sources: - Servicemen's Group Life Insurance Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-214) - Executive Order 11216 (1965), combat zone tax exclusion for Vietnam - Uniformed Services Savings Deposit Program (Public Law 89-538, 1966) - Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) histories of Vietnam-era phone patches - Department of Defense military pay tables, 1963-1968 - Accounts from Army veterans of the Vietnam War