Records: Governor candidates received Vietnam War deferments

AP via Boston.com ^ | 7/13/02 | John McElhenny

[GeneD]

BOSTON -- It was 1968, as U.S. soldiers were being shipped off every day to fight the war in Vietnam, when 22-year-old Robert Reich walked into the Oakland military induction center and made the examining sergeant's day.

"Just what we're looking for!" the sergeant said upon sight of the 4-foot-10-inch Reich. "A tunnel rat to flush the Vietcong out from under the rice paddies!"

[GeneD]

They care in Massachusetts?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Robert ReeeeiiiiccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhchhchchchhccccchchchchchccchchchchchchhcchcchccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhsHSHSHSHSHHSHSUUUHHHH!!!

As Rush would say.

[donozark]

1 out of 16 babyboomer males saw combat in Vietnam. For every baby boomer killed in combat in Vietnam, 10 committed a felony to avoid the draft. Was that generation against war or against personal participation? 80 percent of them supported the Gulf War. SOURCE:USA TODAY Jan 1993.

[marvlus]

They were against an unwinnable war, which was obvious to us at the time.

[muawiyah]

Reich showed up for his induction physical. He failed it. There's absolutely nothing dishonorable about that happening.

Remember, this guy 4'10" tall showed up where taller, stronger and supposedly smarter men didn't!

[donozark]

All wars are winnable. The VC had been defeated in 1968. Never again to attack in formations larger than Battalion-and only two of those.The North, while already in the war, was forced to enter en masse. They too lost so many men they fled to their sanctuaries in Laos/Cambodia and only attacked on their terms-much as Al Queda is doing from the "neutral" area of Paskistan.

Most of these guys had as much chance of ending up grunts as Corporal Klinton did.

[muawiyah]

It was only obvious to Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara. They were the two most important people in the war, and they didn't happen to have the moral fortitude or the will to win the war. - Or to lose it -

They preferred to just let it run on and on and on and kill off my buddies.

When McNamara built his present mansion, he had bricks custom-made with a special sand finish. When the job was done the brick contractor had several hundred left over. He sold them to me for 2 cents per brick.

I keep them in a patio. Sometimes we have beer parties. Those brick are quit handy for relieving one's self, although I do restrict that activity to a small section. No sense making a mess, eh?!

[Bogey78O]

Politics made it unwinnable.

[donozark]

True. But the armed forces had been compelled to take in approx. 100K of "McNamara's morons." Meanwhile, these guys walked...through no real fault of their own, but walk they did.

[donozark]

Our goal was not to defeat communism (in VN), merely contain it. And we did. At least according to Singapore's PM Kew.

[muawiyah]

"Project One Hundred Thousand" didn't pull in idiots. I know a few men who were inducted under it's provisions, and they performed well.

One gentleman I knew in the First and Fifteenth in Germany had come in under "Project One Hundred Thousand", yet, he had to beg both of his Senators and his Representative so he could be deployed to Viet Nam.

Last time I heard of him he was an E-6 and on the front page of Life magazine - in Viet Nam!

His experience was typical of that of most of those inductees - they were shunted into non-combat units far from Viet Nam, and only through the most strenuous of efforts could they actually get permission to serve fully and honorably. Still, their presence allowed the military to deploy their "smart guys" to Viet Nam to get killed.

BTW, you wouldn't be jealous of those marginal guys would you?

Then, too, what do you think of many of the impoverished, illiterate and barefoot men who freed this nation from European tyranny in the American Revolution? Bet you think you are better than them as well, and that marginals really shouldn't be allowed to play a part in this nation.

George Washington was caught praying out in the bushes at Valley Forge. He had been moved by the sight of the Army that had chosen him to really be their leader. They were not much different from the Project One Hundred Thousand guys.

"God", speaking of prayer, "please rid me of these elitists who reject the honest patriotism of the plain man."

[donozark]

Amazing how you could misread what I wrote so quickly...I placed the pejorative term in quotes to specifically avoid the very sort of response I got from you.

[genefromjersey]

What in heck is the point of all this ?

[dts32041]

I think this of my fellow baby boomers ho did not serve during the SEA War Games, FOAD.

That which you sowed was reaped on 9-11-2001.

Especially after 8 years of the a president who so prefectly represented your values.

My where always duty honor country, yours was me.

[jonascord]

Odd that it was not so obvious to those of us who were there, unlike the slimy, filthy, sub-human, cowardly #$%^&&^*&%*^%#$&^%*()(*&*^%%$^ who "knew" better...

[Pushi]

It wasn't obvious to me. The war could have been won if we had not had a bunch of neo-politically correct pussies running things. I served.

[muawiyah]

It was your antecedent - the guys who "walked". Presumably those are the guys named earlier in the tread who had deferments.

The "Project One Hundred Thousand" guys were actually a lot closer to Reich than Reich was to his compatriots in the Ivy League schools. He and the "100,000" guys showed up!

If that's what you meant, it simply was not clear since you deviated from the thread.

You also have to remember that I am still very angry with Ollie North for having gotten this "dump on the marginal guys" stuff. As we all recall he didn't handle his last military assignment all that well himself.

Maybe he was dipping into Fawn's stash, eh?!

[gunnedah]

I will serve my country from an elected position since I was unable to do it in the military.Plus my retirement will be a bit better,more along the lines of what my position in life calls for!

[donozark]

I deviated from the thread? You went from urinating on bricks from McNamara's house to Valley Forge!

Yes, I was of course referring to the listed deferments.

PS:I really do like the story about the bricks. That is a keeper.

[old school]

You beat me to the punch! I saw all manner of devices used at the induction center in Oakland in 1967, including using illegal drugs. Some guys even claimed that they were queer, so that the wouldn't be inducted. Most of us were scared but not all of us were cowards. By the way, I went to Vietnam with a kid who was no bigger than Reich. Who's providing this information about his ineligibility?