Old_Dragoon
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He doesn't have a glass in front of him because he casually chewed it up and swallowed it.
@Justanaveragejoe @Charlieford I remember reading an article in the Army Times by a sailor in that position--he had been in the Navy for three years and had never been posted to a ship. He was the only sailor in an Army base in Viet Nam. When the GI's asked him about life on board a ship, he had to repeat stories other sailors had told him, because he had no personal experience to draw on.
@Charlieford @Old_Dragoon No, I didn't "volunteer for the draft"; I enlisted, for two years. This is probably more answer than you or anyone else wants, but I'll try to give a complete answer. A brief complete answer. First, consider my state of mind at the time. I hated the draft with the white-hot flame of a thousand suns. I hated a device that should be called on only when the country is at real risk was used to provide national politicians with a fund of tokens to use in international confrontations like a stack of chips in a late-night high-stakes poker game. I hated a system that was unfair in principle and implementation, that arbitrarily drew men away from their friends and families and returned them changed or dead. I resented the fact that it was aimed at me and others like me, for no good reason that I could see. I resented that there were well-known exclusions for the sons of the rich and powerful that weren't available to the rest of us. I could go on for hours.
At the same time, I had to do something. I was a few months from college graduation and my draft board had been making threatening gestures at me for two years. I went to the recruiting office to find the best deal that I could get. I signed up for a special OCS-entry plan for graduates who had not been able to get into a ROTC program. One thing that made it attractive is that the initial contract was for two years. The condition was that a new contract would be drawn up on graduation from OCS, for two years as an officer. As far as I know, this was the only two-year RA plan around.
The Army's mistake was to let me see some of their OCS graduates in Basic and Advanced Infantry training. I felt that most of them could not competently lead a Girl Scout troop on a cookie drive and I didn't want to be one of them. At the end of AIT, I told them to give my place in OCS to someone else and I would serve out the remainder of my two year as an enlisted man.
They sent me to the 3rd Squadron of the 3rd Cavalry in Germany, who made me a clerk in the motor pool. After four long months in the cold-war Army in Germany, I volunteered for Viet Nam. Curiosity, I guess.
I hope I answered your question in there, Charlieford. Say hello to Bob for me.
I avoided the draft in 1967 by enlisting. It seemed a better idea at the time than it does in retrospect. My only addition to this conversation is a small request. Please, in this discussion and future ones on the same topic, be honest in your nomenclature. Do not call it "the draft" or "national service" or any of the other spineless euphemisms that hide the essential nature of the experience.
Call it "state-supported slavery." And be consistent in using this phrase every time you address the topic. You could alternate this with "involuntary servitude imposed by older Americans on younger Americans," but that doesn't really roll off the tongue as trippingly as "state-supported slavery."