Vietnam Vets

[TeenageRepublican]

I have homework that involves me doing an interview (again) with someone who's either:
A) Was Drafted
B) Wasn't Eligble For The Draft
C) Joined Willingly
...in Vietnam.

Here's the questions to you Vietnam Vets. What were feelings about the Vietnam War? What were your feelings about the draft system?

Since I know Vietnam was not that long ago, I will pick the best reply and write about it. So it's sort of a contest if you want to look at it that way. I have to have it in by Thursday morning.

Thanks For Your Service, Vets! :thumb:

[Taylor1]

Too bad I can't do reports like this >: ( but I was able to do a report on President Reagan.

[TeenageRepublican]

That's why my school is really different from others even though most of the teachers are Leftists.

[Wolfcounsel]

I joined willingly. I went into the Navy recruiter's office to see what was up. I got hooked with his sea stories. I went to Vietnam to what was called Yankee Station, in the Tonkin Gulf, on board the USS Chicago, the world's most powerful guided missile cruiser at the time. We assisted in 14 MIG kills and one of our own. My feelings about the Vietnam War at the time? We were kicking the crap out the North Vietnamese, and then the hostilities ended about a year later.

[TeenageRepublican]

Woot! At least I got one reply. My JFK Question thread went unanswered until the very last minute. I almost shouted at the computer "ANSWER! ANSWER!"
Thanks WC.

[Wolfcounsel]

You're welcome, TR. If you have more questions, I'll try to answer them.

[RogerFGay]

Well, you include the possibility of not even being eligible, so I assume actually going to Vietnam is not a requirement.

Strange as it may sound, I volunteered for the draft before numbers were picked. When they were picked, my birthday got a big number (that's how they did it when I went in - lottery to pick birthdays). It was well over 200 as I recall, so I wouldn't have been drafted. I got orders to go into the Army and showed up to catch the bus from my hometown at the appointed time. The bus took us to O'Hare Airport (Chicago) and we went by plane to Ft. Lewis, Washington for basic training.

After basic, I was ordered to Ft. Sam Houston, TX for medical corps training. There, I volunteered (again) to train as a psychological counselor to do drug rehabilitation. After that training, I spent most of the rest of my two years working at a drug rehabilitation center at Ft. Lee, Virginia. Nixon announced we were pulling out of Vietnam shortly before my service period ended (Mar 1971-1973). Something I looked into and decided ultimately not to volunteer for - going to Vietnam to help with troop withdrawl. I personally decided that experience in Virginia had not properly prepared me, and if accepted for the mission I might just get in the way. I just had an overwhelming feeling that the people over there needed someone to cover their backs as they left and it was time I did something less comfortable for them than protecting Virginia against Communism ... just hadn't thought it all the way through before asking about it. As the news of the withdrawl spread, I recall no cheers in the hallways, no celebrations, perhaps what was just an absence of a sense of victory.

A couple of things those of you who weren't around back then probably don't have a sense of is how graphic the coverage of the war was on TV and how active and ever-present was the anti-war (anti-military, anti-government) activities. I wore my uniform in airports a few times back then. I got screamed at, spit on, and a gun pointed at me with once (altogether different story however). Visiting home in great physical condition and short hair bought me strange conversations with open-mouthed hippie types who were trying to figure out what was going on. Since my job involved getting people off drugs implied opposition to drug abuse, I also induced a certain degree of paranoia amongst this subcultural strain - especially with my short haircut and all. I was sometimes asked several times in a day whether I was a "knark", based on the common belief that undercover police had to tell the truth if asked.

In the time before I reported for duty, one of my own favorite songs was : 1, 2, 3 What are we fightin' for .. don't ask me I don't give a damn ... next stop is Vietnam (but as it turned out I didn't actually go to Vietnam as I've said ... )

The drug rehabilitation program had been set up in political response to reports that people were getting hooked on drugs while in Vietnam, so logically it seemed the military should have some obligation to rehabilitate before returning soldiers to civilian life. Ft. Lee was (probably still is) a training post and most of our residents hadn't been in long and brought their drug problems with them into the service. It was also not particularly odd for company commanders to oppose the whole concept of rehabilitation, so some worked diligently to jail or discharge (dishonorably) the Vietnam returnees who participated in the program, and battled with us individually and as a group for information. Some of them were dishonorably discharged due to things they did in Vietnam while under the influence. (One guy destroyed a tanker truck on a wild joy ride.) The rehabilitation program was just a stop along the way.

Sheesh ... this could almost make a TV series ... or ....

How did I feel about it? I guess it's accurate to say that I felt like an American. It's what was going on at the time. I suppose you can also say - given the deep divide in the country over the war - that I chose a side. Volunteering for the draft was just a way of saying - I'm here to do my service - what do you want me to do?

Something that felt like an oddity - looking at the little post card with Richard Nixon's signature stamp on it thanking me for my service. Story of my life. I got a thank you note for my service from a president who was himself, dishonorably discharged.