Posted on 10/19/2007 11:31:13 AM PDT by RKV
“Now we have many years later those who didn’t serve, including te likes of Bill Clinton, revising history and saying how eager they were to serve.”
Romney: “I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and be representing our country there and in some ways it was frustrating not to feel like I was there as part of the troops that were fighting in Vietnam.”
That’s because the military was already drawing down from VN in 1971. I was in the first lottery and I had a fairly low number. I enlisted in the Marines in late 69 rather than take the Army. I had orders to VN in late 71 for less than 2 months when they were cancelled because the Marines were already drawing down to a small contingent. The Marines stopped drafting in Feb/Mar of 70 which really brought tears to the eyes of some of my barracks mates who were drafted only a few short months before.
Right, I considered adding in my last post that many people do not remember the timing of who really faced the Viet Nam era draft. I was in the third lottery, but really it did not matter that much by then, not nearly as much as for those of you in the first lottery.
You miss the point. As I said, I am proud that I served and even prouder now. The USA owes me nothing. I owe it everything. I hold no grudge and have a comfortable secure life. I am not pissed at those who didn’t go, but I do have a low tolerance for the BS some revisionists now state as reasons why they didn’t. They were singing a different tune 40 years ago.
Well, the cohorts for Harry Reid (1939) and Rush Limbaugh (1951) can probably be approximated by the 1940 and 1950 censuses.
The US population grew 14.5% in that time frame - so instinctively one would say that there were 14.5% more people available for the draft, not 100% more.
Of course, during that same period, US life expectancy jumped dramatically - from 60.8 years for men in 1940 to 65.6 years for men in 1950.
This would mean that by the time the draft rolled around for Rush, there weren't just a lot more 19 year olds than there were in Harry Reid's time, there were a lot more 65 year olds as well.
So therefore, there probably were something less than 14.5% more draftable men.
Population changes cannot possibly account for a 100% jump - they probably can't account for more than 12% of the jump.
Rush would never throw a stinkbomb like "...Harry Reid never wore the uniform..." and leave it to the audience to presume that he had.
Unless you describe what you are graphing, the graph isn't worth very much.
Number of births in US
You make some good points. What I find disconcerting is he current lack of an service among the vast majority of the GOP “leadership”. Cantor, Santorum, Toomey, Cruz, Rubio, Paul, etc., etc.
You make an interesting point regarding men of your age who did not serve some way. A good measure of that is to go back with some peers and look at your high school yearbook and go though the men who served. I have done this with several old timers (over 60) and usually as best they can remember military service runs 40% or higher. This being during a period where (as other posters have pointed out) the service doctors were aggressive in disqualifying people. Do the same ‘yearbook test’ to any current high school.
The US Navy sought and obtained my draft deferrment
That remains the case today! I’ve seen young men commissioned, complete their Airborne and Ranger training then get posted to Fort Riley and deploy nowhere. It’s quite frustrating!
Face it, nothing could get fish hawk into the military, he had at least 10 years to join and he avoided it.
Well, ansel12, I do not know you and you do not know me otherwise you would not say that nasty crack about me. Here is the truth. I was still in highschool when the Korean war was over, I graduated and the next year married and we had two daughters right off. Then with two daughters and a wife and being 21/ 22 years old. I talked to a recruiter and asked him if they would take me. When he found out I was married with two kids he said No Way. So, I did not avoid or shun the military at all. I was just born in a time where , of age, I hit right between two wars. Since I do love our military , especially or Viet Vets and have always supported them, I feel you owe me an apology for your very wrong statement above.
I read the thread and this post is just like the others, making excuses.
You didn’t want to serve, and you didn’t, that is why you never enlisted.
To all people reading this. I do know know ansel12 and he/she does not know me or anything about my life. Why someone would want to insult me (a lover of our military) is beyond me. evil mind is all I can think of
Sure I know about you and your strange claims about the military, I read the thread.
You could have enlisted like everyone else but chose not to, why try to create some fantasy that you wanted to but were prevented from doing so?
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