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I sit here in my recliner on a peaceful Monday morning secure in my home surrounded by family as I ponder why it is I'm not at work.
I grew up in the Vietnam era. My one and only brush with the law happened when I was 17 and I was still on probation when I registered for the draft. As a result, I was classified 1Y. I was never called to serve, as a matter of fact, when I tried to enlist, first in the Navy and then the Army, they both decided to give me a pass for the same reason.
My father-in-law's WW2 uniform still hangs in my wife's closet, lest we forget his service in Egypt and Italy. Counting all my cousins who served there are 6 first cousins and one second cousin. Three of my close friends from high school served in Vietnam, one was in county less than a week before he found a landmine.
I missed my chance to serve due to the aforementioned youthful discretion. I sometimes feel guilty. I enjoy a good life; no PTSD, all my limbs, fingers and toes intact, yet those I've mentioned here and a half dozen friends I've made since high school have their memories clouded by the terrors of war. Many of them suffered the slings and arrows of the peaceniks. One friend told me yesterday that when he came home he was told he was another dummy who couldn't find Canada.
I don't share that notion. He and the others I've mentioned here have my utmost respect. Yes, my friend could have run away to Canada and avoided his time in hell. (One guy I know has a jacket that says on the back, "When I die, I'm going to Heaven, I've spent my time in Hell," written over a map of Vietnam.) But he didn't. He manned up and served so the peaceniks could have the right to spite on him and his fellow veterans. A sorry chapter in American history.
To all who served: Thank God for you and your service and thank you for being there when I couldn't.
Comments
Ok, I'll bite
For those of us not in the USA, what sort of discression would give you an exemption from the draft and what is a Y1?
Samantha
Mine or their's
My definition was "Call him just before calling the women and children.
Their's is, "1-Y - Registrant qualified for service only in time of war or national emergency."
I didn't get drafted because Vietnam was a "Police Action," just like Korea. We all know how the men who served there felt about those conflicts. Police action, my derriere! They were shooting to kill and so were we. If that's not a war, then just does it take to upgrade it to a war?
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Classifications
What's the classification where they take the women and children, then they take you?
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Thanks
I love your definition.
Samantha
Selective Service classifications
A 1-Y classification meant that you had some condition, often physical and minor, that the military preferred not to deal with as long as they had enough other young men to induct, but which was not so serious to be a complete bar to service, which would be classified as 4-F. I was 1-A (available for service) and was drafted in November 1968, serving in the US Army until November 1970. When I was inducted, the Marine Corps was also taking draftees, though they probably would have preferred not to do so.
Not fair!
After reading your story of how you got a 1Y, I suddenly have Alice's Restaurant going through my mind.
-- You can do anything you want at Alice's Restaurant --
Right time of year, come to think of it.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I was too young for Nam, but my brother wasn't. He got a college deferment and a panicked mother every time his grades slipped.
AuP
You can get anything you want
..."ceptin' Alice, at Alice's Restaurant."
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann