PA24 said:

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LOYAL AG said:

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PA24 said:

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BadMoonRisin said:

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Lead singer dodged the draft so he was really a fortunate one.

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That's false. Fogerty enlisted in 1966 and served from '66 to '68 with some of that time being active and some being reserves.

https://www.military.com/off-duty/2019/09/26/52-years-later-rock-legend-john-fogerty-remembers-time-army.html

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From your article:

"I was on active duty for six months, but I was in the Reserves between 1966 and 1968," said Fogerty.

Six months active duty as a stateside clerk during the height of Nam and not called up...that is definitely a fortunate one.

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And? Enlisting in the reserves doesn't make him a draft dodger. My dad enlisted Navy Nuclear Power to avoid the draft. I would assume you don't consider him a draft dodger either.

Red Rubber Ball its been a long since I heard that song

PA24 said:

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LOYAL AG said:

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PA24 said:

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LOYAL AG said:

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PA24 said:

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BadMoonRisin said:

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Lead singer dodged the draft so he was really a fortunate one.

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That's false. Fogerty enlisted in 1966 and served from '66 to '68 with some of that time being active and some being reserves.

https://www.military.com/off-duty/2019/09/26/52-years-later-rock-legend-john-fogerty-remembers-time-army.html

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From your article:

"I was on active duty for six months, but I was in the Reserves between 1966 and 1968," said Fogerty.

Six months active duty as a stateside clerk during the height of Nam and not called up...that is definitely a fortunate one.

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And? Enlisting in the reserves doesn't make him a draft dodger. My dad enlisted Navy Nuclear Power to avoid the draft. I would assume you don't consider him a draft dodger

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You assume correctly.

I had a buddy serve on a nuclear sub, one of the smartest engineers I have ever worked with,

Look, I served a couple years active and also served in the National Guard. John is a veteran by definition and proud of those months of service but He didn't run thru the jungle, doubt he saw a bad moon a rising, and certainly was a fortunate one.

In the same token, Biden got a deferral because of school as did most of our young politicians did, Kerry was a war hero, and Trump had a medical issue, so no draft dodgers in that group either. No, the only draft dodgers were the ones that went to Canada so excuse me for being so ****ing stupid.

Thank you.

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Got it. We're in the same page. I'm a 5th generation vet back to the Civil War so it runs deep for me. Apologies for sounding snarky.

So much tension back during the Vietnam era. Not only an unpopular war, but in my town they closed the black school and they all came to our school. They weren't wanted in our school, and didn't want to be there either. What a mess.

The draft was still going, my lottery number was #12, so I was a goner. My dad had been wounded on Tarawa and Saipan, unscathed on Tinian, floating reserve on Okinawa, his dad gassed in the Meuse Argonne offensive but was in favor of there being no more Purple Hearts received. He was adamant that I should join or report if drafted, but just as adamant that I do not go to Vietnam. I remember when the news carried the story that Lt. Calley had been charged with premeditated murder, dad stood up and said "every Jap I killed was premeditated" and he walked outside. I left him alone for a few hours. Of course, he didn't have the full story at the time.

https://texags.com/forums/12/topics/3411511

one safe place said:

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So much tension back during the Vietnam era. Not only an unpopular war, but in my town they closed the black school and they all came to our school. They weren't wanted in our school, and didn't want to be there either. What a mess.

The draft was still going, my lottery number was #12, so I was a goner. My dad had been wounded on Tarawa and Saipan, unscathed on Tinian, floating reserve on Okinawa, his dad gassed in the Meuse Argonne offensive but was in favor of there being no more Purple Hearts received. He was adamant that I should join or report if drafted, but just as adamant that I do not go to Vietnam. I remember when the news carried the story that Lt. Calley had been charged with premeditated murder, dad stood up and said "every Jap I killed was premeditated" and he walked outside. I left him alone for a few hours. Of course, he didn't have the full story at the time.

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My number was 326.

It really didn't matter, though. I don't think that they ever called up anyone born in my year for the draft. I think that the last draftees were called about a year before I went in for my physical.

eric76 said:

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one safe place said:

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So much tension back during the Vietnam era. Not only an unpopular war, but in my town they closed the black school and they all came to our school. They weren't wanted in our school, and didn't want to be there either. What a mess.

The draft was still going, my lottery number was #12, so I was a goner. My dad had been wounded on Tarawa and Saipan, unscathed on Tinian, floating reserve on Okinawa, his dad gassed in the Meuse Argonne offensive but was in favor of there being no more Purple Hearts received. He was adamant that I should join or report if drafted, but just as adamant that I do not go to Vietnam. I remember when the news carried the story that Lt. Calley had been charged with premeditated murder, dad stood up and said "every Jap I killed was premeditated" and he walked outside. I left him alone for a few hours. Of course, he didn't have the full story at the time.

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My number was 326.

It really didn't matter, though. I don't think that they ever called up anyone born in my year for the draft. I think that the last draftees were called about a year before I went in for my physical.

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The last draftees were born in 1952 and I think they were to go up to lottery number 95 to get the desired number of draftees. I was born in 1953, so wasn't part of the last bunch to be drafted. I did go for the physical though and was classified 1-A.

Quote:

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Kerry was a war hero,

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Bob, yes.

John, no.

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And? Enlisting in the reserves doesn't make him a draft dodger. My dad enlisted Navy Nuclear Power to avoid the draft. I would assume you don't consider him a draft dodger either.

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We've discussed this before. About 1/3 of WWII vets were drafted, only about 25% of Vietnam vets were drafted. Doesn't fit the narrative, but it's true.

My uncles that served in WWII were pretty much told that Uncle Sam would come get them when he was ready. So I think a lot of guys in WWII just worked defense jobs or whatever until the Army had the facilities needed to train and equip them. And when called, they served.

In Vietnam, it wasn't that people were anxious to serve. My guess is that lots of people did exactly as your dad did. They enlisted or became officers so they had some control over how they served. I know guys who chose to enlist in the Air Force, to avoid being an infantryman.

My cousin graduated from college, had a low draft number, and enlisted in the Army because they had a 2 year commitment, AF had 4, and he wanted to get through it and go on with life. He also chose to be a medic, and served with a combat unit in 'Nam. So he was a little different.

The war saw plenty of dudes who joined the reserves/guard only to have their unit called up and deploy to Vietnam. Joining the reserves/guard was not dodging.