Pacifist or chickenhawk? How Jeb (almost) avoided Vietnam draft

[Panich52]

Whatever Jeb Bush believes about his brother's disasterous invasion of Iraq, one thing is clear. He remains enthusiastic about war only for other people’s sons and daughters.

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http://link.nationalmemo.com/5390d3d3dd52b8141a0aafe52lw7r.3cw6/VVXdbkmOaAzNpsn1A84eb
 

[pinboy3niner]

1. Ask some of us who fought and bled there what we think of chickenhawks

[HereSince1628]

2. Draft avoidance was common, it's not rare in the histories of male US politicians of a certain age

It occurs among d's and r's. Bill Clinton's brush with the draft is also associated with stories of attempts to circumvent it.

Many Vietnam vets, like myself, volunteered rather than being subjected to the draft in order to have some control over our MOS. A significant number of us did not create contracts that insisted the military to put us into combat arms.

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Draft avoidance in the VN era was commendable. Even heroic in many cases.

What distinguishes a "chickenhawk" from the average advoider/evader/resister is that the 'hawk *promoted and justified the war * while conniving to pass the buck of fighting it to the next unfortunate soul... who couldn't or WOULDN'T connive as effectively.

[pinboy3niner]

4. There's a difference between war supporters avoiding service and antiwar avoidance

Clinton's opposition to the war excludes him from the chickenhawk club. His war avoidance was consistent with his views.

You and I were contemporaries. I was gung-ho, and volunteered for the draft to get my service over in 2 years instead of enlisting for 3 or 4. As it turned out, my number came up in a later lottery so I would have been drafted anyway .

But being gung-ho, I volunteered for Infantry and for OCS, which extended my commitment. I also volunteered for Vietnam, where I served with my little brother until I was wounded--extending my service well beyohd my termination date while I was in hospital for 18 months. My 2-year draftee term ended up being 4 1/2 years. I was retired from the Army at 23 for partial disability.

Those of us who were young then had to make our choices and now we have to live with them, for better or worse.

One of my heroes is the HS teacher I met who had a bunch of us VN vets speak to his classes for a few years. Eventually we learned that he had refused to go when drafted and he served time in prison for it. Courage on the battlefield and moral courage are both admirable.

[HereSince1628]

5. Perhaps, but then, a whole lot of people discussed various scenarios with family and friends...

Last edited Fri May 15, 2015, 09:29 PM - Edit history (1)

My younger brothers had a similar experience as J.E.B. the draft ended before either had to go in.

My older brother and I both 'volunteered' to avoid the draft. He ended up doing infantry AIT, airborne, waited a couple months to hook up with entry into OCS, the another couple months to hook up with flight school and somehow got additional time training on Cobras and Loaches In the end, I think the enlistments that came along with some of those options had him in service 9-10 years.

I opted for a 4 year enlistment and in the end that got a haircut. They cut a year off after the cease-fire, and then during a base-closing they cut off almost 2 months more.

My brother loves war stories and stars in most of them, hasn't seen a use of force he didn't support. My younger brothers who came close enough to getting drafted to have to make plans have been split over the various campaigns since VN. I'm the only one who hasn't really seen anything worth carrying out a campaign for since before Granada.