Rick Springfield on killing a Viet Cong in Vietnam
Rick Springfield told Joe Rogan (episode #2550, Sept 8, 2026) that while entertaining troops in 1968 he fired mortars and was later told one hit and killed a man.
What he said — and why it matters
Rick Springfield, on the Joe Rogan Experience episode #2550 released September 8, 2026, revisited a 1968 episode from a tour entertaining U.S. troops in South Vietnam and said a mortar he helped fire later hit and killed a man.
Springfield told Rogan he and his band were at the Marble Mountain encampment outside Da Nang when U.S. sailors invited them into the radio shack during a Viet Cong attack and asked them to "throw some mortars down the tube." He describes loading and firing about "five or six" rounds; the next day soldiers told him, in his words, "Hey, you got one," meaning one mortar had struck a person. These details come from the episode transcript and official episode page for the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE episode #2550 and its transcript).
"It's hard for me to face that I was responsible for the end of a life…" — Rick Springfield, Joe Rogan Experience #2550
Springfield first wrote about the same episode in his memoir Late, Late at Night: A Memoir (2010), and the publisher's book page confirms the earlier account (Simon & Schuster).
Why music fans should care
This isn't a throwaway anecdote. For fans who know Springfield for his pop‑rock hits and autobiographical songwriting, the story links his stage life to a fraught moment of real combat responsibility — an episode he has revisited publicly across decades. It helps explain recurring themes in his work about guilt, survival and the costs of youth on the road. Music press picked up the podcast remarks after it aired; The Independent and other outlets summarized the same account and noted the songsmith's lasting remorse (The Independent).
Whether you come for the back‑catalogue or the life stories, the podcast moment reframes a familiar performer: Springfield as someone who has carried a violent memory from a noncombatant stint on tour into a whole career of songs and confessions.
Something wrong on this page? Tell us and we will fix it.
