Born Too Late

[retslock]

True. We were worried about it a great deal. I was extremely relieved the draft ended not long before I turned 18.

In Australia the system was called conscription. Your name went into a ballot. In July 1968 in a bizarre twist of fate at the age of eighteen I was offered a gig touring U.S. bases in Vietnam to entertain troops. After six months there and another month in Thailand and the Philippines I arrived home and my name was in the ballot for that year. Ironically, after six months in Vietnam, my name wasn't drawn and I never served.

 

[J Wilson]

I turned 18 in the Spring of 1973, and as required, filled out my Selective Service paperwork and sent it in. My Draft Lottery Number was drawn and I was supposed to report a few days before Thanksgiving. By then, Kissinger had negotiated the end of it, but I called down to my local recruiting office, and got hold of a been-around Army sergeant:

He's says, 'Son are you and Appointee to West Point? Have you already signed up otherwise?'

'No sir'.

'Well, son, they're about to start sending men home, and I'm not taking anybody right now, but if we need you, we'll call you'.

I turned 71 a while back, and I doubt they're going to call, they haven't so far.

I'd have gone, but I gotta admit I wasn't looking forward to it.

And oh yeah, rich kids didn't go, they'd all get deferments. Poor people somehow didn't. I saw it over and over.

I was 5 years old in 1960, and the whole world was like Ozzie & Harriet and Leave It To Beaver. I was 15 in 1970, and after the Kennedy and MLK killings, drugs, hippies, Nixon, Viet Nam, liberation for all kinds of subsets of the population, Civil Rights, Duck and Cover and The Cuban Missile Crisis, and the vast changes in music from Elvis to The Beatles and the British Invasion, Soul music, Motown, Stax, the Summer of Love and the whole West Coast music, well, anybody that didn't live through it has NO clue how the whole of American turned upside down and inside out the way it did in 10 years.

 

[Marc valero]

I turned 18 in the Spring of 1973, and as required, filled out my Selective Service paperwork and sent it in. My Draft Lottery Number was drawn and I was supposed to report a few days before Thanksgiving. By then, Kissinger had negotiated the end of it, but I called down to my local recruiting office, and got hold of a been-around Army sergeant:

He's says, 'Son are you and Appointee to West Point? Have you already signed up otherwise?'

'No sir'.

'Well, son, they're about to start sending men home, and I'm not taking anybody right now, but if we need you, we'll call you'.

I turned 71 a while back, and I doubt they're going to call, they haven't so far.

I'd have gone, but I gotta admit I wasn't looking forward to it.

And oh yeah, rich kids didn't go, they'd all get deferments. Poor people somehow didn't. I saw it over and over.

I was 5 years old in 1960, and the whole world was like Ozzie & Harriet and Leave It To Beaver. I was 15 in 1970, and after the Kennedy and MLK killings, drugs, hippies, Nixon, Viet Nam, liberation for all kinds of subsets of the population, Civil Rights, Duck and Cover and The Cuban Missile Crisis, and the vast changes in music from Elvis to The Beatles and the British Invasion, Soul music, Motown, Stax, the Summer of Love and the whole West Coast music, well, anybody that didn't live through it has NO clue how the whole of American turned upside down and inside out the way it did in 10 years.

I am 71 too, I know what you are talking about. It was Beatles, Beach Boys and DC5 for me in mid 60s. I had a high draft number in 1973 or so.

 

[Alkali Ike]

I really don't think a lot of people understand what it was like having that hanging over your head as a teenager. Back then, if they picked you up in the draft, you WERE going to Vietnam.

This is not completely true. I had a low lottery number and received a draft notice to report to the Army, same as all draftees. And yes Army draftees had a pretty high chance of being sent to Vietnam. The common joke was draftees were trained as BB stackers and muzzle ****ers.

But draftees had (I believe) 30 days to "voluntarily" join another branch of the service: Air Force, Navy, or Marines After considering and rejecting going to Canada, I decided the Air Force seemed least risky. So I signed up with that branch "voluntarily". This turned out to be one of the few truly good decisions I've made in my life. There's more to this story and it's most all positive...

Anyway, draftees who just accepted the Army summons were highly likely to wind up in Vietnam. But there were other options.

 

[LordRyan]

Back then if you were in college you could get a student deferment from the draft. The college where I studied music now known as Western Oregon College was only $150 per semester. Unlike today there was no such thing as student loans. I got a student deferment and was playing music six nights a week.

 

[retslock]

This is not completely true. I had a low lottery number and received a draft notice to report to the Army, same as all draftees. And yes Army draftees had a pretty high chance of being sent to Vietnam. The common joke was draftees were trained as BB stackers and muzzle ****ers.

But draftees had (I believe) 30 days to "voluntarily" join another branch of the service: Air Force, Navy, or Marines After considering and rejecting going to Canada, I decided the Air Force seemed least risky. So I signed up with that branch "voluntarily". This turned out to be one of the few truly good decisions I've made in my life. There's more to this story and it's most all positive...

Anyway, draftees who just accepted the Army summons were highly likely to wind up in Vietnam. But there were other options.

I don't about the numbers but Air Force and Navy both went to Vietnam. See comment #21. I spent time there entertaining on U.S. bases. Some were Air Force and on one occasion we were flown out to the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Coral Sea to perform.

 

[Alkali Ike]

I don't about the numbers but Air Force and Navy both went to Vietnam. See comment #21. I spent time there entertaining on U.S. bases. Some were Air Force and on one occasion we were flown out to the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Coral Sea to perform.

Correct. I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. However, the other branches were much less likely to be shooting weapons or taking fire. Your chances of being away from the front lines (I.e. coming out in one piece) were much better if you were in one of the other branches of the Service.

My DD-214 service records show I did a 450+ day tour in Southeast Asia during the war. But I was lucky enough to be stationed in Thailand, far away from the action. I really don’t consider myself a Vietnam Vet even though the official record says otherwise.

 

[Not Insane]

It was an exciting time to be alive..If you could avoid the draft.

Yep! BTW, I missed the draft by one month.

 

[Low Main]

I enlisted in the USAF ROTC unit in college because my draft number was 9 in 1972. I withdrew after one year when the Paris peace accords were signed.

It was not a popular time to be walking around campus in a uniform, but I had a bit more control of my destiny and I was just getting stared at and taking a few comments, not crawling over land mines in dense jungle foliage.

In Australia the system was called conscription. Your name went into a ballot.

I was stunned when guys coming back from 'Nam talked about the Aussie SASR 5 man units that went on deep penetration missions looking for VC. I had no idea Australian specialists were being used so strategically and effectively. SASR translated to FAFO.

 

[jerry]

I enlisted in the USAF ROTC unit in college because my draft number was 9 in 1972. I withdrew after one year when the Paris peace accords were signed.

It was not a popular time to be walking around campus in a uniform, but I had a bit more control of my destiny and I was just getting stared at and taking a few comments, not crawling over land mines in dense jungle foliage.


I was stunned when guys coming back from 'Nam talked about the Aussie SASR 5 man units that went on deep penetration missions looking for VC. I had no idea Australian specialists were being used so strategically and effectively. SASR translated to FAFO.

This was was before "thank you for your service" for returning vets.

 

[retslock]

Correct. I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. However, the other branches were much less likely to be shooting weapons or taking fire. Your chances of being away from the front lines (I.e. coming out in one piece) were much better if you were in one of the other branches of the Service.

My DD-214 service records show I did a 450+ day tour in Southeast Asia during the war. But I was lucky enough to be stationed in Thailand, far away from the action. I really don’t consider myself a Vietnam Vet even though the official record says otherwise.

WE also played at a U.S. base in Thailand somewhere up north in January '69 if I remember correctly. I'm afraid my memory fails me in recalling the name of the base.
Sometimes I think about those days and it's almost like a dream I had but it was in fact, very real and at times frightening. Ahh the crazy things we do when we're young. It was quite an adventure.