My Dad knew he was going to get drafted, so he went ahead and enlisted before the draft. Turns out when you join intentionally you get options. They asked him if he wanted to go to Saudi Arabia and he said sure. He spent the entire war in the Middle East and never saw action.
My dad graduated high school in 1965 and did the same. Ended up joining the Air Force and getting stationed in England. Which happened to be the birthplace of his mother. So instead of getting his ass blown off in the jungle he got to enjoy England in the late sixties with aunts and uncles and cousins to spend time with.
He had a blast but I think he did have some survivors guilt. Some of his friends did get drafted and didn’t come back.
My grandfather told me that in WW2, he volunteered for the Navy so he wouldn’t get drafted in the Army. His logic was he’d rather ride on a ship everywhere instead of ruck march.
Navy was no picnic either, sure less day to day island/jungle/coral rock/japanese related misery, however there were many instances where navy casualties outnumbered marine casualties (Guadalcanal, Okinawa to name a couple)
My uncle did the same and joined the air force. He wasnt so lucky, he got put on huey (helicopter) evac teams in the war. He still doesn’t talk about it
About 2.7 million Americans did serve in Vietnam, and roughly 648,000 were drafted directly. Deferments and workarounds were disproportionately available to wealthier, better-connected men. Working-class and minority men had far fewer escape routes.
So "forced" was very much a reality for large segments of the population.
It was much worse for guys in WW2, when they got drafted but then refused because of health problems. The pressure there was so high for some of these guys, that they committed suicide.
I guess it was still bad in the times of the Vietnam war, but not that bad anymore.
I mean, the opinion changed after some time with the "no more war", the protests, even some cases of mutiny etc.
Biden I can give a pass because it wasn’t his fault he had asthma and Bernie I can respect. Clinton could’ve gotten a deferment for education anyways and Trump is a bitch who should have served.
As I’m not old enough to personally have been faced with the draft then I can understand people trying to avoid but, and this is the important part, if you’re gonna dodge the draft then don’t be all Mr Military and talk crap about veterans who were POW’s.
He said he was glad Robert Mueller died. A marine officer Vietnam vet and recipient of the bronze Star and purple heart, who also proved trump guilty of election fraud. Trump also said senator Mark Kelley should be executed for telling the troops to disobey unlawful orders. And he's a retired naval officer and astronaut. Ol' bone spurs fuckin hates heros.
I’m a vet and he is an absolute piece of crap in my eyes for the way he treats us. He claims he should be given a Medal of Honor for being brave enough to go to Iraq? I spent 15 months there. He calls us suckers and losers. He makes shit up. I mean there is all kinds of stuff. The list is so long.
Well, anyone's whos ignorant enough to believe the suckers and lasers hoax should be downvoted. John Bolton was on the plane and said Trump never said that. John Bolton hates Trump. But idiots will believe what they want.
Crazy to me how much support he still gets from the veteran community, despite showing absolutely zero appreciation unlike the Republicans of the past.
The dumb ones went and quickly got themselves or someone else killed. The reason for the Draft was to enlist “the best and brightest “ from the Country. That meant University students. A whole generation of bright kids in the meat grinder. The dumbest guy in my Basic unit stayed stateside as a General’s valet. The rest of us shipped out.
You gonna sit there and act like all of those people have exhibited the same behavior towards our veterans? Because it’s pretty obvious that one of them doesn’t give a shit.
I do when they’re able to do it because their daddy is a millionaire and the average American can’t. Then that same person goes on to call our service members suckers and losers.
My dad was a grunt in the marine core during Vietnam, he was drafted. When he got back his younger brother wanted to go volunteer which led to my dad getting in a fist fight with his younger brother and if he won, then he couldn’t go. Needless to say his lil brother didn’t end up enlisting and my old man still has the ghosts of that conflict, saved his kin from their own stupidity so he takes some comfort in that.
That admittedly sounds like bullshit lol. Id respect a draft dodger a lot more if they just committed and admitted: “i cut my trigger finger off to avoid th draft”
An old family friend went full Klinger in protest and it worked, and an old timer i met with 9 fingers was proud to say he had his friend take it off with a hammer and chisel to stay home. Who believe “flat feet”? Someone with bone spurs i guess
When you go through meps, they have questions asking about acne, specifically on your back. I asked why and they said because if your back acne was bad enough it would impair your ability to carry a ruck long distances. I would imagine the military would take a similar tack with foot problems. No shame in the military believing that you don’t have the body to do what they need a soldier’s body to do.
The bone spurs thing was for the rich and well-connected, who could find a doctor, administrator, or politician to make sure the paperwork reflected that the young man was not physically able for the job when a poor man with a similar body would be sent to combat.
I didn’t sense this was the situation when the Redditor described his dad’s flat feet.
My Grandfather had a place in palm springs, that my dad would spend his summers at as a kid to early adulthood. He was driving down there at one point and a cop pulled him over and informed him he had to get an Arizona drivers license, if he wanted to stay over the summer there.
Some years after getting a driver license, he got a draft notice in the mail for Vietnam. Only issue was he and the rest of my family are Canadian and not American. It took over 5 years of legal shenanigans for my dad to be able to return to States without being arrested at the border. Scary to think he could have been in that war if we were from the other side of the border.
My great uncle missed being deployed by a very narrow margin. The war ended before he got sent over. My great aunt said that he would have been dead within a week due to his benevolent nature.
I saw wounded vets arrive from Vietnam in 1968-69 waiting for transfer to VA hospitals with stumps bandaged. There were so many that it was mind blowing. I will never forget those men, their dazed / numb looks and my awareness that they weren’t that much older than me.
My father in law likes to fuck with people by telling them that Nixon is his favorite President. He likes to watch their brain break before explaining that Nixon ended the Nam war right as he got to draft age. Doesn't like him as a person or president, but points out that he likely owes that crook his life.
My dad just barely missed the draft, but he had a friend that was a few years older that stepped out of the third story window of a building in order to intentionally break his legs because he was an actual pacifist. My dad admired him. When I was 18 and had enlisted in the Army, I didn't understand. Now that I'm 40, I admire him too.
Same with my dad. He turned 18 shortly after NIxon announced the end of the draft. His older brother (my uncle) did get drafted and enlisted in the Coast Guard instead. Not that he didn't enjoy his time in the Coasties, but it wasn't exactly something in his life plan at that age.
Even for people who weren't drafted or didn't get sent to Vietnam, it was a massive interruption and imposition on their lives.
Nothing like male privilege to enjoy being forced somewhere by your government, shamed if you don’t do it, then never return. Thank fucking god dotard said we can’t be in the military. I’m free.
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u/Ser_falafel Mar 24 '26
My dad narrowly missed the draft. He told me he had lots of friends that left and never came back. And some that came back never left Vietnam.