Deadliest Jobs in Military History

[@thepyrokitten]

I don't think you can emphasize enough just how crazy brave the PJs are. They willingly run and drop into situations that other special forces already got their asses kicked in. They are the absolute unequivocal baddest of badasses.

[@matthewcox7985]

"These things we do, so others may live." Badass of the week, month, and year.

[@wolvves4293]

I'm a welder, and have put thought into underwater welding. The issue with it is; you can only do it for a few years. The constant compression and decompression takes a toll on your lungs over time.

[@kieronparr3403]

I'd be more put off by the fact that it's bloody terrifying

[@Sideprojects]

@@kieronparr3403 I made a video about something called the Byford Dolphin accident. And yeah..... no thanks.

[@kieronparr3403]

@@Sideprojects that's what scared me off it!

[@wolvves4293]

@@kieronparr3403 Most of the work is in the Gulf of Mexico, and ive heard that most guys will be sitting there welding, and then they'll look up and there will be Barracuda swimming overhead watching. They're attracted to shiny stuff so obviously the arc draws a lot more attention xD

[@wolvves4293]

@@Sideprojects I will be watching that next!

[@jrmckim]

My grandfather was a mobile line/radio operator in Italy. He was shot in the shoulder. The bullet went in his right shoulder followed his humerus came out next to his elbow. He was so damn lucky it didn't sever any arteries. After recovering from that he was shot in the lower back and lost part of his liver and gallbladder. He was sent home with purple hearts.

[@calendarpage]

My late husband was a LRRP (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) in Vietnam. My understanding is that they went in and located the enemy. I'd think that was pretty dangerous work. I met him after he returned from combat. The whole time we were married, he'd say "Today's a good day. Nobody's shooting at me." Jeez.

[@TheBooban]

Makes me think of all the vets returning from Afghanistan and Iraq only to get shot and die in the US.

[@tanderson6442]

My father did that as well, he just called then patrols, basically walk thru a jungle until you make contact, in other words keep walking til one of you is shot. Some patrols came back with less then 1/2 the men, he told me after a patrol he would be awake for at least 2 full days sometimes 3 basically from a huge adrenaline dump.

[@NotHPotter]

That does sound like a good day.

[@vegan-cannibal714]

Sorry for your loss I was part of the last jungle warfare class in Panama. When I got to my first and sadly last blues platoon all my senior NCOs were Vietnam era lrrps. I thought the learning part of my training was complete. I was mistaken hardest and best job I had. We were dispanded just before ODS. 1st CAV was happy to get us minutes before we deployed. It was like being a highly trained redheaded step child.

[@gregbailey1753]

@@vegan-cannibal714 my BN (2-187 IN) was at Sherman 2AUG90 when Iraq invaded . We were back to Ft. Campbell in 2 days.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:35 - Chapter 1 - Mobile radio operator 4:35 - Chapter 2 - Pararescue 7:05 - Chapter 3 - Flamethrower trooper 9:35 - Chapter 4 - Explosive ordnance disposal technician 14:10 - Chapter 5 - Infantry

[@Ti-sq8jm]

Thank you!

[@mikejohnson5900]

Thank you for posting this.

[@LittleBallOfPurr]

Simon: "Everybody has a price..." Raid Shadow Legends: "We know..."

[@leholen381]

But they’re not willing to pay it

[@V1CT1MIZED]

KZbin user: sponsor block

[@BrianPseivaD]

Globetruckers U.K. help injured truck drivers, we’ve lost 59 truck drivers in the U.K. this year alone, and it’s not over yet, it’s really dangerous, I broke my back doing it, thanks Simon.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

I would ask you to consider one of the more dangerous occupations was being non-military. The role of the merchant seaman. They died on all sides without glory.

[@Genesh12]

I once read the US Merchant Marines had the same fatality rate in WW 2 as the US Marines.

[@ltkreg]

Well put, they died without glory.

[@TGP109]

True, dat. My Uncle Bob was a MM in WW II.

[@lanceferraro3781]

Simon, I salute you. I spent 22 years in the Navy and taught history for another 22 years. I have also read a lot of military history in my 70 years. You do good work, well presented and, seemingly, well researched. I have watched near 100 of your episodes and hardly ever find a hole in them, and when I do it is insignificant. As far as many of the other channels, well.....clueless.

[@ericdreblow8564]

Pretty similar in quality. Simon has some really god writers and other staff, all doing great work

[@DIDYOUSEETHAT172]

There are a couple other channels that are as equally well researched, and presented. There is no need to present a blanket put down (which is inaccurate) on top of a complement for this channel.

[@7thhokage87]

Check out mega projects and biographics. I love those channels of his. Geographical is good too but I’m more of a history, projects, and biographics kinda guy

[@lanceferraro3781]

@@7thhokage87 Been watching all his channels. Good stuff.

[@anti-Russia-sigma]

Surely,you were not referring to The History Guy:History Deserves To Be Remembered.

[@tanderson6442]

My old man fought in Vietnam, was there almost 3 full years. When he came home he had 3 Purple Hearts, a bronze star and PTSD for the next 50 years.

[@richardschwarz7071]

Thank you for your Dad's sacrifice

[@mugnuz]

so sad he did that for such a sad and useless thing as the vietnam war...

[@BergenDev]

I'm curious how much the country gave him a chance to cope with civilian life after he came back or if he just got spit at by hippies.

[@grapeshot]

Yeah my dad's first Tour of Duty in Vietnam he was a flamethrower operator. And he talked about how dangerous they were. My dad also told me about the flamethrowing tanks and APCs they had also. My great uncle said the same thing he was a Montford Point Marine and he served in World War II in the battles of Pelelu and Okinawa. As well as serving in the Korean War.

[@tanderson6442]

My dad barely told me about his time in Vietnam. But one thing he did tell me was after a fire fight they would sometimes go collect trophies. And seeing the enemy that you are forced to dehumanize out of necessity dead didn’t bother him cause it was kill or be killed. but seeing the pictures of their family and loved ones really messed him up. It really blew me away. The fact he actually talked a little about it with me and I would have never thought of that aspect of war.

[@chimpinaneckbrace]

My grandfather was awarded the Silver Star for his work at the Battle of Guam during WW2. He trained guys and developed new techniques using flamethrowers. He died before I was born. I can’t even imagine the things he experienced.

[@jeffersonott4357]

I can’t believe u have two close relatives who did that insane job. I only ever did a job, not including fire in my combat tour… flipping wow. Bless ‘em both.

[@christopherengel7436]

My best to everybody's fathers, uncles, & grandfathers for there service. Thanks for sharing there stories.

[@kieronparr3403]

@@tanderson6442 by collecting trophies you mean desecration of bodies

[@S2HL5UCO]

Note, during WWII the most dangerous job in most militaries was to serve on a submarine. Something like 8 out of 10 Germans that went to sea in subs were killed. The US sub service had the highest per capita death rate in the miltary.

[@ksh011201]

I know this is pedantic, but I don’t think you need to say “per capita” here as the word “rate” implies a percentage. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure you only need either “rate” or you could say “highest number of deaths per capita.”

[@brentgranger7856]

We also have the highest divorce rate in the military. Does that count as casualties?

[@madziferwigglesworth5011]

@@brentgranger7856 but the comaradarie

[@DeliveryMcGee]

75% of WWII U-Boat sailors were lost at sea. The few that made it back ... well, just watch the movie Das Boot. One of the most historically accurate war movies ever.

[@MrKen-wy5dk]

@@brentgranger7856 That should count as bonus pay and non-taxable.

[@NotHPotter]

Holy shit. Thank you, Simon, for opening the list with the job I actually had my first deployment. EOD et al get all the limelight, but there aren't many jobs where you're required to carry probably the most important piece of equipment on a foot patrol while also having a giant beacon pointing you out to snipers. ETA: lol, ok, it's gotten a little better than it used to be, but I was still lugging 40 lbs of radio and batteries plus a meter long antenna on my back.

[@eliminshrintar]

I was an RTO myself last half of my first Iraq tour. I became one when our last original RTOs from stateside was killed by a sniper. My platoon lost all three starting RTO's in 2 weeks time. Since I was a "smart" infantryman, I was thrown a manual, told to read through it, collect a PRC-119A radio and extra batteries and be ready to step off in one hour. Not the best entry into a job world I had gone through.....

[@NotHPotter]

@@eliminshrintar Yeah, that sounds familiar, although at least I got 5 months of training after the ran three of us fresh from basic through putting together and programming a radio, and I happened to do it fastest.

[@nealhoffman7518]

I reconnected with a guy I served with a few years ago after he retired, astounded that he had gone EOD after we parted ways. He always struck me more as the potential bomber (for humorous reasons over malicious)

[@briansimpson6710]

For the US Army, EOD only really gets called in for 'complex' IEDs because there are not enough of them and it may take several hours for them to respond to something that is found. Commonly the disposal would be handled by the more numerous Combat Engineers

[@0Quiwi0]

Yeah combat engineers do most of the defusing and explode harmlessly stuff in most military forces. EOD gets called in when it's either in a place that it can't be exploded safely or the design is something really weird that needs to be looked at closer in case of sister bomb triggers or such

[@DeliveryMcGee]

@@0Quiwi0 Yeah, mostly it's "clear the area and shoot it with the .50 cal.""

[@elfpimp1]

I got to work with a couple EOD teams in Afghanistan. Loved those guys. Even got to play with one of their ROV's. They loved having me and my K9 partner around. And yes. That's me in my avatar.. 👍

[@matthewcox7985]

@@DeliveryMcGee Or "Drop a grenade on it and run!"

[@0Quiwi0]

@@elfpimp1 I wonder when this was. I have done three trips to Afghanistan for ordnance clearing for UN peacekeepers. There's a small chance that we have crossed paths

[@pbandj37]

PJs and CCTs are the most underrated special operations troops out there. They go everywhere other SOF elements go and do all the same stuff. Also, "That Others May Live."

[@gwynn2528]

I have a friend who is an EOD and one of the unusually common things they have had to do was detonate Russian bombs left behind in Afghanistan that villages would use as threshers (beating grain against the bombs to remove the grain from the shafts). The villagers would inevitably be upset by the loss of their threshers. Apparently these big bombs were perfect for the job.

[@chrislong3938]

My father-in-law was a Marine in the Pacific and we used to sit around at night having beers and talking about the war. I once asked about the flame thrower tank that they used and said that the guys on those things were all lunatics and the other Marines tended to stay away from them. They ate their chow next to the track and mostly kept to themselves. They always smelled of napalm and that it would sometime leak all over the track! He was amazed that they never set fire to themselves! I suspect that that happened on occasion though...

[@Beryllahawk]

My stepfather's dad was EOD just after WWII. The stories he told were some of them amazing but just as often, terrifying and tragic. I'll never forget him showing me a scar on his arm and telling me how it was from shrapnel - an unexploded shell in a German farmer's field. They'd removed five out of six of the damn things, but the last one went off. He told me he was lucky to be alive, that his CO pushed him over and put his own body between him and the explosion. The CO didn't make it. Even decades later, that old man had nerves of pure steel.

[@ghaznavid]

Incidentally the most dangerous job in the world at the moment (which also doesn't pay very well) is a high altitude rope fixer on an 8000m mountain, such as Everest. 1 in 3 of them will die while doing their job (rates over a lifetime of the job, not per trip) - making it even deadlier than any military position.

[@jonhall2274]

I think reason it doesn't pay as well is because most are sherpas, right?(I don't know, just know sherpas help Everest climbs ALOT) and the people paying them can get away with giving them less, cause the currency exchange makes it where a few US $ is quite a bit in their currency. Again, all of this is just guessing! Still, they definitely need to be paid more for such a dangerous occupation, Sherpa or anyone else doing so.

[@ghaznavid]

@@jonhall2274 you are correct - even in Pakistan it is predominantly the Sherpa people who do the work on the big mountains. Unemployment is high and the mountains are sacred in their culture - rope fixing and high ultimate porting are both honoured jobs in their communities (also the best paying on the big mountains, even though they don't pay much). The Sherpa people are a minority in Nepal, and aren't generally liked by the government, which means they don't get the same level of access to education and healthcare as other groups - which also doesn't help.

[@waynefontaine5533]

I deployed twice to Iraq and once to AFG, sustained combat every damn trip, and I've been clinically dead for almost 10mins, had to defib my heart multiple times to bring me back, even with all that I can say that only a complete and utter idiot, someone so dumb that there's no way their parents aren't directly related, who would want to work or climb Mt. Everest...those fools are a special kind of stupid...

[@fireforger9192]

I was an infantryman in the UK armed forces in the mid 80s. My unit was posted to Germany and when we arrived received a briefing about the Warsaw Pact particularly USSR troops and had the grim news if the WW3 started we could expect to have 75-80% casualties with 48 hrs. Most likely to be from the use of tactical nukes/chem weapons that we knew they used liberally in their plans. To make matters even better I was in the MG platoon and was a high priority target along with radio ops and officers for the oppositions snipers. However I was always in awe of the medics and Arty Forward observers as they were an even higher target.

[@jwenting]

sounds something like the casualty rate of my grandfather's unit defending the Dutch Grebbe line from the German assault in May 1940. Out of his unit of about 200 men only 20 made it out alive after 3 days of fighting, only to be taken as prisoners of war and sent to German labour camps, my grandfather was one of them. They were fighting with bolt action rifles and semi automatic pistols against German tanks and dive bombers.

[@ravanpee1325]

There was no reason to fight anyway, becaus the common soldier know the NATP troops in Germany would not hold against the Warschauer Pact tank troops..so they would nuke everything with tactical nuclear weapons...expected live expectancy was 15mins for pilots according to what I heard

[@d4mdcykey]

_"The less desirable a job is the more money it's likely to pay"_ I think this is a common adage that is repeated but not really thought-out to its conclusion, i.e. I spent many years in various forms of home construction before moving on to other employment and I can assure you there few jobs as undesirable, hard, and unrelenting hours on the clock as outdoor construction, and yet the pay is crap. On the other hand I've worked in jobs that were very easy physically and mentally and the pay was ridiculously high, with no overtime, full benefit package, and climate controlled.

[@maplobats]

Where I live, that type of construction pays around $40/hr.....and I wasted years getting a useless biochemistry degree so I could get slightly more than half that.

[@WaddedBliss]

You're right.

[@QBCPerdition]

Yeah, Simon was going through the jobs, starting with garbage man and fire fighter, and then listing off very low pay. I'm a low level employee doing work on a computer, and I get paid well more than those jobs.

[@Murderface666]

Its about the military, not the civilian world. One of the least desirable jobs in the US Army is Field Artillery. This is why when it comes to bonuses for this job, its typically huge in comparison to others to keep the ranks filled. Im assuming it consists of long, boring hours in the field. Plus once you're spotted, you're as good a dust.

[@SuicideJones]

that's because you're (all) doing it wrong...... you build wrong so of course it's horrible... you don't deserve good pay or benefits for "home construction" is essentially gluing together popsicle stick houses and adding a bunch of matches and methanol just for fun.. serious, don't brag about "homebuilding", every engineer everywhere hates you.. they patiently wait and sit and laugh at construction site fail videos as they arise..

[@jackstuttgart8386]

I was a Marine grunt for 24 years... thank you for remembering "the poor bloody infantryman." As an aside, most flame thrower men were infantrymen and there is something particularly brave about employing a weapon with a maximum effective range of 20 meters. To put that in perspective, a pistol has more than twice that range meaning you are damn near in hand to hand combat when using the weapon. As soon as the trigger is pulled everyone knows where you are... (no signature reduction here) and everyone is trying to kill you. I have always considered flame thrower operators to be among the bravest of the brave. Our last surviving WWII Medal of Honor recipient, CWO-4 Hershel Williams, USMC, earned the medal as a flame thrower operator in WWII.

[@DIDYOUSEETHAT172]

I served in the Special Forces, happy you pay tribute to the infantry. Courage and fortitude to spare these often unsung hero's.

[@herrhaber9076]

Ah, Special Forces :) Those guys that kindly left a pickup truck for my father (working with CAT at that time: 60's). My father was pretty unhappy when after a few hours of driving on African "roads" he noticed that the bag on the passenger seat was not only full of C4 but they had put the detonators in there aswell ! It's best to keep those appart :) CAT then became Air America and rescuing pilots, transporting people (Special Forces, CIA), rice and "hard rice" (ammo!) became his job. He talks more now about these days and the more he talks the more I am surprised I was even born.

[@DIDYOUSEETHAT172]

​@@herrhaber9076 The two can travel fairly safely together. The detonators need to be inserted to exert the combination of heat and shock needed to initiate an explosion in C4. You an drop that shit, or even light it on fire it won't explode. However to the uninitiated I can see how the discovery could strike a nerve. 😁 Your dad sounds like a gentleman worth having a beer with. 😊👍🙏🙏

[@herrhaber9076]

@@DIDYOUSEETHAT172 +1 on the "fairly". It should not be done though if you are driving through bush pass :) I've seen duds and partials even with properly installed detonators specially in cold weather. And yes, my dad has quite a few eye widening stories to tell. It just took a very long time for him to talk about them. Not because he felt bad or unhappy. I think he just wanted time to pass for some events to be less "classified".

[@DIDYOUSEETHAT172]

​@@herrhaber9076 Just sayin', but Yup safety first, why invite disaster? I worked in a coal mine at 16, first day on the job I was introduced to a foreman who handed me two sacks, one contained dynamite, the other detonators. "You gotta be shitting me!" we spent the day a mile or so underground blasting obstructions. In the tunnels feels like your head's an accordion and your brain is being sucked out your ears. 😁

[@lelagrangeeffectphysics4120]

@@DIDYOUSEETHAT172 uh.... keyboard division?

[@chrisd4749]

Hvac guy trusted in not blowing your home up, or poisoning you allegedly...priceless

[@BenSwagnerd]

My husband's grandpa was an officer in the Army (edited: originally said marines but my husband corrected me) in the Korean War, also a pilot. A big part of his job was to fly in after a bombing and determine the scale of the damage. They knew the dates and times through whatever espionage means they were going to happen, but one time he went too early. He got there and didn't see any damage and called to check in. They'd told him the wrong time. So he had to get back in his plane and get away, but because the airports weren't planning on his return yet he ended up nearly running out of fuel in the process of finding a runway he could land on. There was also fog, which complicated things. Finally managed to land with barely any fuel left. Like seconds before needing to glide which- you don't get to glide far. Anyway, TLDR my grandfather-in-law was a bomb surveyor, but was accidentally sent before the bombing once and missed its arrival by mere moments. The survey was never done.

[@TheBooban]

Get back in his plane? Wut? He god damn _landed_ in enemy territory before the enemy was knocked out? Wtf.

[@BenSwagnerd]

@@TheBooban and he's still alive to tell the tale at almost 90!

[@davidbofinger]

Another issue that made flamethrower operator a particularly dangerous job was the tendency of enemy soldiers to hate them so much they declined to take them prisoner.

[@elfpimp1]

As a 24 year veteran and a Military Working Dog handler, I can tell you - I didn't care a lot about my pay. It was a lot to me as I came from a very poor home. But I loved the work. And the free benefits I received on top of my pay were top notch. Full meals three times, sometimes four if I got up for midrats. Full medical and dental. NO CO PAY... Free meds when prescribed. A place to live. Free legal advice. Reduced veterinarian bills at base pet hospital. Free schooling while active duty. And on top of that I had the GI bill I used for college after I retired.. so, dint just look at the money we get in our paycheck. Add in the cost of what we get for being a service member and you get a much more realistic idea of what our compensation REALLY was. Working with a Dog was a BONUS!!

[@patrickscalia5088]

I was a reserve infantryman between wars and never deployed, never saw combat. I guess I still felt like I had something to prove to myself so when I graduated college I went to work as a police officer in the second most dangerous city in the the most violent state in the country. I worked in uniform patrol because contrary to what the various dramatic TV shows would have you believe, the most dangerous job in police work isn't any detective or investigative job, nor is it any of the quasi-elite positions like SRT. No, simple uniform patrol is the law enforcement version of the infantryman and they provide the lion's share of people on the casualty list everywhere in the country simply because no matter what crazy sh!t was going down, the first one to encounter it was always a uniform officer. The pay we received was laughable and any of us could have quite literally doubled our pay by going to work nailing boards together in a construction job. For most of us who were really enthusiastic about it, the pay was irrelevant. We didn't do it for the pay. We did it because we liked the job and there was nothing like it anywhere else in the professional world. We did it because we had to face things that other people only ever watched on TV, we measured ourselves against things that would have killed us just as casually as putting out a cigarette. Believe me, there's nothing else in the world like facing something like that and learning you're not a coward; that no matter what the risk you step up and do whatever needs to be done. It's something about yourself you simply can't learn any other way. It's a lesson you can't learn except by literally putting your life on the line in the defense of others. And if you pass that test -- and most of us had to pass it again and again practically every day -- there's no feeling like it in the world. Like I said, I've never been to war but it's probably the closest thing in the civilian world to having to serve in combat as a soldier. Pay? Sure, we'd have loved to get rich off it if we could. But most of us were going to do it regardless, until it chewed us up and spat us out in a condition that meant we couldn't do it anymore. Not that we considered ourselves heroes, or the baddest MFs in the city. No, we reserved that opinion for only one other profession: Firemen. As the saying goes in police work, when you don't get the acclaim you feel like you should have gotten for doing something brave: "If you wanted to be a hero, you should have joined the fire department." I don't say that cynically at all. I couldn't tell you how many times I had to go to the ER to get sewed up after something bad happened on a call. I was as brave as any of the people I worked with. But I have seen with my own eyes firemen going in the front door of a house where it looked like the air itself inside was on fire; where the heat was so powerful that even standing two hundred feet away it was almost enough to raise blisters on my skin. And in they went. Geared up for it, no doubt, but I wouldn't do that, not in a million years. What kind of man does such a thing? I'll tell you: someone more courageous than me. I doubt that many of them do it for the pay either.

[@elfpimp1]

@@patrickscalia5088 Amen brother.

[@austinwagner3231]

I wish you shared the mortality rates of these roles, puts things more in perspective

[@wolfgangholtzclaw2637]

Former Infantryman, Vietnam Era. They told us; you are 10% of the Army and 98% of the casualties. And my Drill Sergeant always saying: "the infantry is dirty, grimy, and lethal". I joined for a four year hitch and got a 2 thousand dollar bonus. I earned every cent of that 2 thousand dollars.

[@kiriuxeosa8716]

You're underpaid 🫡

[@wolfgangholtzclaw2637]

@@kiriuxeosa8716 2K looked good at the time though! LOL!!!

[@waynefontaine5533]

My Grandfather was a radio operator with the 3rd Infantry Div at Utah Beach on D-Day....radio operators were definitely targeted as he carried what he called "Kraut shrapnel" in his body til the day he died in Oct 2002....

[@turtlezeus1610]

combat engineers deal with a lot of unexploded ordinance (uxo) and all mines at least in the US marine corps. Combat engineers are also the ones who primarily find ieds and deal with land mines.

[@georgecristiancripcia4819]

About the flametrower,if the enemy used regular bullets and not incendiary ones,you were safe,even if they hit the tanks on your back.Petroleum products dont explode if hits by a normal bullet.That is way a car gas tank will not explode if hit by normal bullets.Also the lichid ignite and explode but the gase that is gathering in the tank.That is way self sealing tanks on aircrafts in ww2 were so succesful.

[@HiekerMJ]

You are dangerously wrong; careful thought, knowledge of the laws of physics or consulting historical commentaries, or modern demonstration - as I am watching currently - would reveal this. Cars leaking Gas(oline)/Petrol do set on fire when the vapo(u)r cloud contacts hot parts or sources of ignition; we call this a BLEVE in the logistics world, do your ADR qualifications and you'd learn this. The fuel tanks in a flamethrower are (also) pressurised to force the fuel out - including through any holes in them - to above 250 PSI (cf car tyres at 25-30PSI); the tanks were not resealable. Aircraft fuel system operated at much lower pressures, 16-18PSI for the P-38 I'm reading in the operators manual - hence the need for fuel pumps in the engine to suck fuel from the tanks and so the 'self sealing' coatings could work.

[@georgecristiancripcia4819]

@@HiekerMJ I thank you for your explication. I saw in the myth busters for both a car,for which they used a pistol and assault rifle with normal bullets and it did not catch fire and for a flametrower,were again it did not catch fire using normal bullets.Only incendiary bullets made both the car and the flametrower to catch fire and the flametrower also exploded after several seconds of beign hit by incendiary bullets. Also i saw and even saved a person from a car that burst in flames after an accident(the flames started at the engine) and until the firefighters arrived the car burned almost completly without any explosion when it reach the fuel tank.

[@dyamonde9555]

What you could have also mentioned in the Chapter about Bomb Disposal is that big parts of Europe still have a problem with large amounts of unexploded Bombs from the 2nd World War, many of them buried unknown in the middle of large Cities. Summer of 2020 i was on a Job in Frankfurt am Main when they found another big one right in the center of the City, next to a Shopping Mall, a Hospital and the Central Train Station. My Workplace was just outside the evacuation radius, and me and my colleagues had been walking past that Bomb every day when we went for Lunch in said Shopping Mall.

[@fukkitful]

Seen a show not to long ago about how the Brits in WW1 tunneled under German lines for nearly a year and placed explosives. When detonated it was the largest man made explosion ever recorded. Even bigger than Halifax. Years later it was discovered not all the explosive were detonated when an empty field suddenly had a 40m crater. Another large stockpile is believed to be under a farmhouse close to that field according to old maps.

[@hometown687]

My great grandfather, who passed away this year. Was a flame thrower in the Pacific theater during World War II. He’s told us he was the only man who volunteered, and he on more than one occasion ripped packs off of other men who were cowering in fear. In one of the photos in this video, you’ll see a guy wearing a beret instead of a helmet. My grandpa said nobody wore their helmet because it would clink against the tanks like pots and pans. We still have his Purple Heart and bronze star he was awarded.

[@V1CT1MIZED]

Someone I used to work with has a son that worked in bomb disposal for the British army. He told me that they have on average a 6 month life expectancy back during the afgan war. Thankfully his son survived many tours

[@joshcurtis386]

The craziest thing with the PJs is that they don’t just get called for “regular” rescue missions. If they get sent out, it could very well be another special operations unit like the SEALS or Rangers they’re going to save. They’re being called to rescue some of the baddest men on the planet 😮

[@fangslaughter1198]

We were still using that radio in Canada's infantry in the 80s. No one ever wanted to get put on a radio tech course

[@TheBooban]

I found it funny they were called radio technicians. What? It’s not just a button you press?

[@fangslaughter1198]

@@TheBooban Every thing is a tech in the military. We called ourselves Death Techs. Lol. It’s actually a 6 week course. And a high pressure position when the shit hits. Lots of learning. And that’s just the basics, you teach a grunt.

[@jacobp3059]

Always good stuff brother keep it up!!

[@douglassauvageau7262]

ROMAD (radio operator maintainer and driver). Jeep-mounted Air Traffic Control teams eventually eclipsed through electronic solid-state miniaturization by JTACs (Joint Terminal Attack Controllers).

[@douglassauvageau7262]

On April 11, 1966 Airman First Class William H. Pitsenbarger's valorous sacrifice energized a growing school-of-thought within the United States' military. Emphasis upon 'Joint' (Army, Navy, Airforce, Intelligence, etc.) operational doctrine and the establishment of 'Special Operations' teams in support of conflicts which might be surgically resolved short of conventional war eventually evolved. Pitsenbarger was awarded the Medal of Honor on December 8, 2000.

[@douglassauvageau7262]

Brains and Guts are far more effective when the blood-stream remains intact.

[@MinistryOfMagic_DoM]

Important note: The US military doesn't only have EOD in the Navy. The USAF and Army do as well. Not sure about the Coast Guard, but I expect they probably do.

[@orsonincharge4879]

8:30 au contraire , nitrogen is inert and the napalm was ridiculously hard to ignite thus a special ignition device on the muzzle was needed , in fact it seems that unless you were pretty unlucky and was hit with a specific incendiary round the chances of it blowing up was slim and if it did it would only be the force of the nitrogen escaping to throw you down .

[@alancox5777]

Even now ground role radios are not exactly small or light. Nor is the ecm (which look like radios to normal people)

[@kaltaron1284]

Here's another example of dangerous specialized troops from history: the Sapper. The basic idea was to construct a tunnel under the enemy fortifications and then destabilize or outright destroy them be collapsing the tunnel. So you get all the fun of mining with the added bonus of ulitmately destroying your work which isn't exactly without danger.

[@jrmckim]

I knew a woman who did the pararescue stuff. She did over 50 jumps with her great Pyrenees. She's now an instructor for the military.

[@collateralpigeon2151]

Seeing as of 2019 there were only 2 women in the pipeline for pararescue and one dropped out shortly after I highly doubt that. Much less with 50 jumps. I knew guys who were in for years and never made that many jumps. I think she gave you a load of bullshit. Also PJ's rarely, if ever, use dogs. So that whole story is bs.

[@mugnuz]

thats so unlikely.....

[@daehr9399]

0:12 the other bonus is it is city/state/govt. job, so you get a pension, amazing benefits, and retirement before age 60 is usually offered.

[@benjaminroberson1967]

My great grandpa in WW2 was an artilleryman in command of a battery of 4 155mm howitzers. His best friend was KIA while he was a forward observer and his replacement went mad from shellshock (after a friendly fire incident if I recall). When my great grandpa took up the role he used the radio described. He directed some of the first US artillery attacks over the Rhine River. A photographer nearly got him killed by stepping out of the shadows and up to a large window in full view of the Germans.

[@CODYoungGunna]

Good video, small correction, PJ (pararescue) belong to AFSOC AND ACC (air combat command)

[@johnwethekylow]

A family friend fought on the western front of WWII and I interviewed him for a project in middle school, that was probably too early for all the things he was about to tell me, and show me; his grenade shrapnel scars, which were far away from his vital organs, bc of that radio on his back. He actively turned away from the blast hoping that giant of a contraption would save him and surely it did.

[@travisj8091]

Have you shared his interview? I'd like to read or listen ext

[@Rusty513]

Just a couple of notes on the PJ section. 1.) They are airmen, not soldiers and 2.) Chief Master Sergeant Hackney should not be referred to as simply Sergeant Hackney. If you wish to shorten it, use Chief Hackney. Same goes for any USAF Chief Master Sergeant.

[@UNUSUALUSERNAME220]

Mention rank to a Navy man and they quickly snap RATE at ya right quick!

[@timegerton1308]

Excellent video.My Dad was in the army (REME) in WW2 & for a number of years afterwards. In 1946 he volunteered to do mine-lifting in Scotland. Many UK beaches had been hastily mined in 1939-40. Because they had been in the ground so long & often underwater many of the mines had corroded making lifting them even more dangerous. The men would be spaced out along the beach at distance of 100 yards. One day the soldier 100 yards from my Dad was attempting to lift an anti-tank mine when it exploded. The biggest part of his body they found was on of his thighs. As he had volunteered for this work my Dad received extra pay - a shilling a day.

[@Fuchswinter]

In Europe, especially Germany, it’s also pretty normal to find unexploded bombs in the ground. There’s literal tonnes still left, not to speak of high amounts of phosphor crystals in e.g. the Baltic Sea (which can get mistaken for Amber by amateur collectors at beaches) There was an excavator operator a few years back that was killed when he hit a bomb during road construction.

[@RowanRedbrush]

Simon, I love your videos. They are always very informative and professional, yet fun and educational! I would like to suggest a peculiar place I recently vacationed to this summer, and it was so profoundly weird, wonderful, cursed and creepy, I can not stop thinking about it. It has even haunted my dreams for a month since. The location is called House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin, USA. Supposedly it began as a man, names Alex Jordan Jr.'s, ambitions to build a house to spite Architect Frank Lloyd Wright after Jordan showed Wright his plans for the building, and Wright told him "I wouldn't hire you to design a cheese crate or a chicken coop. You're not capable." He hand built it atop a pinnacle rock overlooking the countryside, and it devolved from there into an unsettling macabre collection of allegedly real ancient artifacts, dolls, weapons, instruments and so much more crammed into a literal maze of buildings. It has an "infinity room" hanging precariously off the tiny rock the hobbit-like house is perched on, a massive carousel room boasting to be the worlds largest, surrounded by mannequins dressed as angels suspended from the ceiling, an indoor street of yesteryear, countless automatons that play eerie music, a five level doll carousel, a three story fiberglass whale, a warehouse-sized pipe organ... the list goes on and on. It may just be a throw away American roadside attraction, but the whole place gives an extremely unsettling vibe, especially since the place has grown increasingly dilapidated over time. There are rumors of the place being associated with a cult by people, and there are secret areas that tourists are not allowed to tread. If anything, it's worth a look into because this place really can not be described in words, and story behind the place is just as bizarre as the exhibits themselves. It seems perfect for one of your channels. Cheers!

[@ianmacdiarmid1249]

For a time, I was the Radio Telephone Operator for an infantry platoon. My buddies nicknamed me "Sniper Bait". Was glad to be reassigned to another role

[@martinstallard2742]

1:31 mobile radio operator 4:30 pararescue 7:00 flamethrower trooper 9:30 explosive ordnance disposal technician 14:06 infantry

[@crazyjoeshorts5256]

I would like to add that the point man on patrol or the man taking up the rear is also a dangerous job due to ambush tactics.( Kill the first man, then the last man, then kill in the box) The point man usually is selected at random, or there is a schedule, so its not the same poor guy every time. I was told by a man who was there that in Vietnam, they did it by schedule, so that you only had to do it two times per deployment, upping your odds of going home.

[@ethanhoier9931]

*us signal Corps gets mentioned in a side projects video* HELL YEAH

[@danielbigham6290]

There's a second combat engineer MOS that's lesser known. 12F, Engineer, Tracked Vehicle Crewman. Even training could be deadly. A fellow soldier shattered his foot while removing a breech block from the cannon on a CEV (M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle). He hadn't attached the block properly. Explosives, tank operations and everything that an engineer does, all in one dangerous yet thrilling job.

[@Wizardess]

I am told by a former "Tunnel Rat" that the probability of surviving a deployment is among the lowest of any other specialty, at least in Vietnam. Tunnels are often a feature of warfare, especially asymmetric warfare. They serve as temporary safe houses on the trail to advanced command centers. Their entrances are almost always heavily boobytrapped. The tunnel rat's job was to avoid setting off the booby traps and penetrate the entire tunnel system so it can be destroyed. He's EOD on steroids. The tunnel rat I knew managed to do something few of them ever did by dying in an automobile wreck at home in the US. {o.o}

[@TheBooban]

I also commented on them. Must be the second most deadliest job in military history. First is kamikaze.

[@painface98]

That’s what I was here to say. What a nightmare of a job to have

[@TidusX16]

A childhood friend of mine immigrated from Cambodia to the US. I remember as a kid (4 maybe 5) that we were with our moms and playing in a park. We were in a sandbox and he froze up and held me back because he saw a round shape in the sand. I knew it was frisbee but I didn't know until my mom explained to me that he was afraid it was a landmine. Caught up with him a few years ago and he moved back to Cambodia to help his uncle with removing landmines in Cambodia.

[@stephendrobinski2426]

Fact boy! You missed talking about the Combat Engineer, which is the merging of EOD and Infantry. While in Iraq my unit disarmed and safely disposed of IEDs as our 9-5

[@Indyofthedead]

You forgot one of the most deadly and unglamorous jobs: surveyor. When an army plans to mobilize through unfamiliar terrain through thick jungle like in Vietnam or plan to attack an island that is heavily fortified like Iwo Jima, they need information about the terrain so they can plan their routes and avoid disaster from getting important supplies or vehicles stuck or troops bottlenecked in an opportune ambush point. How do they get this information? Surveyors. Surveyors will go in small groups, usually in enemy territory, to map out the field. Since they are a precursor to mobilization, enemy troops learned quickly that these surveyors were a prime target to prevent a coming army.

[@Lindrios]

Tow Truck operator here. 6 operators are hit and killed every week. We make less than $25/hour and just want to help I guess this risk/reward pay scale doesn't apply to our industry

[@junebegorra]

Y'all should do a video on the 2020 Nashville bombing, the most considerate terrorist attack in history.

[@danielberglv259]

The biggest issues with Smartphones and Tablet, are software. Often you switch a phone or tablet to get the newest software rather than getting a new device. A desktop PC or laptop can last most people for many years, simply because you can install new software on it easily. Even when it gets to old for daily use cases, you can install something else and put it to work on other tasks. On handheld devices however, there is lack of standards for drivers, boot loaders and such, and you are forced to rely on the manufacturer to provide a device specific version of some software for it, which they often won't do after a short period of time, forcing people to upgrade the entire device.

[@cliveambrose2251]

"Mobile infantry made me the man I am today" Starship Troopers

[@EricScott-jr8wl]

I carried the PRC25 with long 15 foot antennia calling in the air strikes/artillery for (FO RTO) RECON, 1/502. My life span was 4 seconds after the first bullet was fired.

[@hansangb]

@2:25 I don't know if that was true back in the days. But for the modern US Army, RTO's were well 11B's. Signal Corps troops setup Single Side Band and satellite trucks well behind the FEBA. And @3:28 the T in the rank is Technical Sergeant. (Modern day Specialists track that never really took off). So I guess Signal guys did follow around Infantry units? Or the guy using the radio had a fedora cover so maybe this was well behind the lines. Ah. You mentioned the Infantry. There's a reason why the US Army has a special blue Infantry chord as part of the uniform. Follow Me!

[@MaddoggOG70]

My grandfather was a glider pilot and flew reconnaissance missions into Germany. He went on many missions and was never captured.

[@dsnitris2007]

I remember reading many years ago that the life expectancy of a flame thrower operator on Iwo Jima was 90 seconds. My dad's friend was a tail gunner in a Halifax bomber and he said that to bail out, you would have to climb back into the fuselage to get your parachute, put it on and make your way to the door to escape. All the while the plane could be enveloped in fire that would have incinerated your parachute, or in a flat spin that would press you against the wall, or a nosedive that would produce G-forces that would keep you glued inside the turret. Or the plane could just explode with him trapped inside a glass coffin. Basically, he said if the plane went down, you went down with it.

[@w13rdguy]

Thank you, veterans and active duty!

[@adilachahbar3154]

War is good for business selling weapons, but it's bad for a soldier and sometimes bad for poor civilians too

[@keirangrant1607]

The military pays you well IF you volunteer for special duty programs. I signed up for 2 while I was in and got paid and war zones are also tax-free zones

[@reggiefurlow1]

Tunnel rat vs flame thrower vs ball gunner for the worst

[@Echo4Sierra4160]

I was a USMC scout sniper. Radio operators are your #1 target.

[@StonegateCreations]

No mention of maintenance personnel that repair weapon systems coated with hexavalent chromium paint without proper PPE. Not immediately dangerous but debilitating long term effects.

[@noth606]

Not everything is done with small radios, for a time I was a strategic level long range comms NCO in the AF, our comms gear took up a full 19" rack in a comms trailer. We were in constant contact with the top brass, one of whom was kind enough to inform us that our median lifespan if things went badly was 8min30sec and that we were under no circumstance to be taken alive. I managed to get transferred to LRRP instead, seemed a much safer bet. Still was a radio operator, but at least not the first obvious priority target.

[@mrdeadwalker7113]

im surprised u didnt talk about the Tunnel rat in the vietnam war

[@chalkopirate]

It is incredible how often unexploded bombs are found in germany. Random artillery shells, panzerfaust heads but by far most often fragmentation, anti structure and firebombs from the big bomb raids in WW2. The soft ground around rivers, where the big cities are, is perfect for cussionning a bomb. In many construction projects in big cities one or multiple bombs are found. You hear it on the radio every few weeks. And they don't even report on all of germany.

[@TNCombatMedic]

My grandfather helped liberate the Philippines & was on Okinawa with a flamethrower. He also carried it in Korea. And missed out on Vietnam because he was a year too old & needed to train younger troops. My cousin is a marine & made it out of Fallujah both times unscathed. And don’t get me started on being a medic with three deployments.

[@haggis525]

Yes, some militaries pay an "alarmingly average" salary for dangerous jobs. In the Canadian Armed Forces, however, while a newly minted Corporal earns a base pay of about $5K monthly a SAR Tech Corporal (similar to the PJ's of the USAF) earns a starting base pay of $9K monthly which rises to $12K monthly over several years. At $12K the SAR Tech is still a Corporal... his pay will rise to over $15K per month if he advances in rank through Sergeant and Warrant Officer grades. A dangerous job, sure - but rather well paid. To put the $12K in perspective in our armed forces.... that is the salary of a full Colonel or Navy Captain and at $15K the SAR Tech will be earning the same salary as a Major General or Rear Admiral. Not bad!

[@eodmax85]

From a former #4: The most dangerous job in the military (at least U.S.): lowest man on the totem pole has to go wake Top (1st Sergeant, E-8) knowing he has an epic Gary Busey style hangover; owing to his recent divorce (3rd or more) settlement. For you stat nerds: 10/10 privates that attempt said procedure die. Painfully and slow. 😁

[@awkc63]

There's something so beautiful about Flame Troopers

[@damion9742]

When i was in the Army, my MOS (job) was the second most stressful MOS behind the #1 EOD. My MOS was 92R Parachute Rigger. Edit: words

[@cynthiasimpson931]

My dad was a pay officer during Vietnam. He was stationed in Thailand, and he was the one who passed out the money and kept the books, plus did all kinds of administrative jobs. When I was a teenager I happened to overhear him talking to another Vietnam veteran, and the gist of their conversation was that my dad was also an extra set of hands at the base he was at. Among a lot of other things, he also helped carry deceased soldiers. As for explosive retrieval, the town I lived in as a teenager, plus another close-by town contracted with the local Air Force base's EOD team to deal with bomb threats, bomb retrieval, rendering bombs inert, and other related jobs.

[@dragonrider4253]

What's that song at 1:30? It sounds familiar but I can't seem to figure it out.

[@JackBWatkins]

How about a Bio on General Haig. He killed more British troops than the Germans in WWI. Having never actually visited the front He was fighting with tactics from the 1890’s. Britain called him a hero and erected statues of him. However General Pershing would not allow American Forces to be under a joint British and US Command because of the incompetence of General Haig and his strategy of going over the top with bayonets only, no ammunition. He did not want the smoke from black powder rounds to hinder the German Machine Gunners from mowing down almost an entire generation of young Brits. He represents the worst of the isolation of British nobility from working class people.

[@dodoubleg2356]

Simon, it's the TIP of the spear, TIP, not point. No worries. Enjoyed the vid as always. 😉👍✌️

[@raulduke6105]

A friend’s pops was a combat engineer on dday. He got the flamethrower to take out pillboxes. He became a vegetarian decade’s before it became popular. You can guess why

[@kinguchiha6212]

Those EoD guys are no joke, I was a radar repairer and there a few EiD trainees there too for some reason and they would tell me what they’re training consisted of and I always said their job was ten times as badass as my boring ass technician job

[@zarasbazaar]

My husband's father handled flamethrowers in WWII. He cleared German machine gun nests during the battle of Monte Cassino. I have no idea how he made it back alive.

[@ninjaswordtothehead]

Fun Fact: an enlisted man in the US military, who gets married and has a child, will qualify for food stamps in the majority of states.

[@taylorbray2666]

Did y'all put the Business Blaze theme on the flamethrower entry??

[@exactinmidget92]

i feel that you need to clarify what era Infantry was the deadliest. i was a grunt from 2011-2017 and i still believe truck drivers had it worst. there is a reason why we call them IED detectors, mine detectors, and mine clearers.

[@TheBooban]

Saw a vid where a driver in convoy got hit and ambushed. His escorts just left him.

[@darmav4148]

I remember I read somewhere information that during WWII, only about 25% of all german submarine crew actually survived. I don't know if that is true, but if it's even close to that percentage, it is for sure one of the deadliest jobs in WWII.

[@markdudley3831]

6:31 minutes ... Do they carry parachutes on helicopters ? Cheers from australia.

[@Scout-Fanfiction]

Could you do a video of risky civilian jobs? Not counting ones mentioned in this vid of course (they needn't be well paying).

[@Vikanuck]

3:00 - “I’M GOING ON AN ADVENT… BLEH!”

[@RealMoukeycat]

15:10 "heavily armored" shows guy wearing only a helmet.

[@thurin84]

interestingly what we would today call a walkie talky, the bc-611, was called the "handy talkie" during ww2.