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Originally Posted by t walgamuth
I graduated high school in '67. I went to college right after. I never really understood why going to college exempted you from the draft but I was glad to accept the deferrment.
While in college I came to believe that the war was wrong and that we should not have been there.
I never understood kids who called vets baby killers. I fully believe that some spit on vets. I also believe a lot of folks who did such things now regret it. I always felt that the soldiers were as much victims of the conflict as the innocent farmers in Viet Nam.
Any wrongdoing was the responsibility of our political leaders.
Any vet has my respect and gratitude....and sympathy.
I just finished a book about vietnam, written by a marine who fought and served there...."A rumor of war". It was a good book. I recommend it.
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I was still on HS during vietnam, but it was clear that it was an error.
The college draft exemption definitely made it a different kind of war, with an element of "class discrimination" that did not exist in previous wars. Anyone with the ability and means to go to college could basically buy themselves out of the conflict. I suspect that it would have ended sooner if everyone would have been eligible for the draft.
On a similar note, I'm not sure that recent conflicts would have been politically acceptable if there was a draft in place. It appears that the last several administrations have been willing to deploy troops with "questionable" justifications. I'm not sure they would have acted the same without a "volunteer" military at their disposal. I'm not suggesting a draft, but maybe we should think in those terms before committing troops.