Trump on Vietnam and his (lack of) Military Service

[*bfine32*]

(06-07-2019, 05:55 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: A 19-year old me would have gone to Vietnam. But that is because at 19, I was already a soldier and going where you ordered to go doing what you are lawfully ordered to do are part of what you volunteer for.

You should note I used the word volunteer". Back in the 60's you could volunteer (and I probably still would have due to economics). But you also could have been drafted. It is hard for the younger crowd to envision what that is like today since we have had an all-volunteer armed forces since 1976. Back then the government could take the choice to serve away from you and send you fight wherever/whenever.

Of course, there were several ways to get out of it. If you were poor, you dodged the draft and moved to Canada. If you were rich, you could get a college deferment (but you still had to be in ROTC at most colleges), you could get a position in the National Guard like Bush Jr., or you could just pay a doctor to say you had a questionable medical condition and get a pass.

Really the only thing people hate about draft dodgers is that they were poor and didn't want to go. If you were rich and didn't want to go, it had no impact on your future whatsoever. Heck, you could even grow up and become President.

I originally served 4 years in the Military and got out. While I was out I got a job as a District Manager for the Middletown Journal. I came into work one Sunday and grabbed a copy of the paper "hot off the press". Inside there was a story titled "Grandma goes to war". 

It was a piece about a Reservist getting called to Active Duty for Desert Storm. I said "Granny's not going to war without me" and the next day I went down and reenlisted. About 2 weeks later I was in  Saudi Arabia getting ready to go into Kuwait. So I'm pretty confident what a 19 year old bfine would have done and it wouldn't have been "tough minded".