Was anyone here a draft resister in the Vietnam War?

[bluestateguy]

I'm reading a book right now called Confronting the War Machine: Draft Resistance During the Vietnam War by Michael Foley. The stories of so many young men and the risks that they took to stand up for their beliefs are really amazing. They could have gone to Canada or played the draft system by getting deferments, but instead they chose to articulate a principled oppositon to the war by confronting government authority and willfully accepting the consequences for their actions. They were every bit as brave as the men who went off to fight in the war.

So I am wondering if anyone here at DU has a story of draft resistance to share.

[seventhson]

1. I have one

but I am reluctant to share it.

I will just leave it at "I resisted the draft"

I was lucky and did not get called to die in Nam.

I have nothing but respect for those who served loyally and nothing but tears and sorrow for those who died.

I did have a great friend who went awol and avoided Nam/ THAT was courageous. But he served his term and got an honorable discharge.

I had another friend who was a lurp (LRRP) who helped the Vietnamese )civilians) protect themselves from american attacks.

another few friends totally lost their minds in the Nam and the war.

A young coed who I've known from childhood and her baby were just murdered by her boyfriend - a returning Iraq war vet.

I'd gladly do the time in jail if I had to rather than go to this insane clown posse's war.

[bahrbearian]

4. I have your exact sentiments . and some of your experiences...

I went eventually to Alaska to Log and Commercial fish, the log camps in Alaska and Washington were filled with Vets trying to get their heads straight, all my Buddy's. Your in a wilderness, living in tight quarters, some weird stuff, lots of testosterone.

[TX VN Viet]

9. seventhson you are full of shit

"I did have a great friend who went awol and avoided Nam/ THAT was courageous. But he served his term and got an honorable discharge"


I am a Vietnam Vet and I do not consider going AWOL ( Like Shrub) to avoid Nam courageous, I consider it the act of a coward. The people who stood for their beliefs and chose jail were courageous.

"I had another friend who was a lurp (LRRP) who helped the Vietnamese )civilians) protect themselves from american attacks."

LRRP means Long Range Recon Patrol. They were small teams who went out and checked for enemy activity. I WAS THERE AND WE DID NOT ATTACK CIVILIANS!!!!

"another few friends totally lost their minds in the Nam and the war."

I have attended several reunions for my Infantry unit and have met dozens of Viet Nam Vets and have not met one who has "LOST HIS MIND"

Like I said you are full of SHIT

[seventhson]

13. He DID go to jail (the brig)

he stood for his convictions and paid a heavy price.



I faced jail as well for my actions.

As far as killing civilians I can just cite My Lai. There were probably milliosn od Vietnamese civilians killed in the imperialist and colonial wars in which we ended up the perpetrators.

You are lucky none of your friends was made crazy by the war. I have three friends and know of several others who never recovered and were totally mentally disabled (and institutionalized)because of it.

I also have close frinds with PTSD and work with PTSD veterans in my work.

I know what I am speaking about.

My LRRP friend was special forces and suffered from agent orange and his son had birth defects. His story is what he told me. He tried to make sure air strikes did not hit civilians where he patrolled and where he came to know and love the Vietnamese people.

I respect your opinion and as a vet you have your story and experience. I only know my experience. They are both valid.

[Gildor Inglorion]

14. Welcome to DU, TX VN Vet...

and welcome home, brother! :-)

[bahrbearian]

2. Yeah I was 1970

Lottery number 11 , missed all my induction physicals , became 1-A , automatic induction , required to report,yada yada, hid out in Idaho and Montana to get away from the mail services, lots of forwarding addresses, then it all went away. Did some great Camping -fishing trips.

[Spinzonner]

3. Yes, I resisted getting drafted into the Army

by joining the Air Force.

I know that's not what you really meant but given a choice between getting handed a gun and being sent to get my ass shot at (I would have been running the wrong direction, mostly), it seemed the wiser course since the Air Farce didnt send most first-termers to Vietnam except for a few jobs such as munition, Security Police ...

Spent 4 years in Virginia programming computers.

It wasnt exactly unusual. A lot of the college grads in my unit were in the same situation.

Was against the war. So, I wouldnt characterize it as being brave at all. Didnt have the courage of my convictions.

Have always considered myself a ChickenChicken (A'la ChickenHawk). Chicken about going to the war; chicken about putting myself on the line against it.

[bahrbearian]

5. A Chicken Hawk promotes War and never fights one.

[chelsea0011]

6. No, jumped for joy when my birthday came up #199 and I went

out and got high. Don't know any resisters. They all went if called and some died, some came back OK, and some came back messed up.

And I don't agree that resisters can be compared with kids who went and fought. Granted they stood up for their convictions, but nothing can compare to war.

[madrchsod]

7. after running out of deferments

(student and married with a baby) i was reclassified 1-a. i got alittle angry and had to do some humble to keep from going away.so i went to my physical and waited for the letter- yup, the letter arrived so off i went to the induction. i told the nitwit who was going to stamp my paper that i refused to go...he became upset and sent me to the shrink. the shrink thought i was crazy for not wanting to go and i was classified 4-f..go figure. my friend did the same thing and was charged and went to trial-the judge fell asleep so many times the feds and his attorney gave up and let him go.

[H2O Man]

8. I think that Muhammad Ali's

story is one of the most important parts of American history. He was the Heavyweight Champion of the world, and there was no one who could have competed with him on the horizen. Ali had converted to the Nation of Islam before winning the title from Charles "Sonny" Liston on 2-25-64, and on 2-26 announced his name was "Cassius X." He was, at that time, a student of Malcolm X; he got caught in the NOI "power struggle" and soon became Muhammad Ali, and sided with Elijah Muhammad.

Ali's draft status was changed to 1-A after he became an out-spoken Muslim minister. He gave up his career and faced 5 years in prison for his beliefs. Many powerful black leaders had urged him to accept a military staus similar to that of the great Joe Louis, which Elijah had agreed would be okay to do. But Ali, after conversing with Martin Luther King, Jr., in phone calls tapped & taped by Hoover's FBI, refused to go along with what he recognized as an immoral war.

It is impossible for people who were not alive then to appreciate the hatred that this young champion was exposed to. He faced down the United States government, and would win a decision over Uncle Sam in a case decided by the United States Supreme Court.

We have real heroes in America. Ali is one. I hope that President Kerry will recognize the moral authority that Ali has in the Islamic world.

[Unperson 309]

10. Heh! I *wanted* to Be!

Yeah, I wanted to be the brave kid exiled to canada, the courageous Conscientious Objector...

... but I was 5'1", blind in one eye, low vision in the other, had a prolapsed disc in my back and spinal curvature (responsible for the height!) so instead of being a courageous draft resister, I was a run-of-the-mill 4F!

*sigh*

Somehow, burning your draft card when it says 4F just does NOT cut it!

I burned it anyway! And felt like a cheater doing it.

309

[seventhson]

23. No - Because you could have been jailed for that act of defiance

Be PROUD of that!

(I am proud of you for it.

They WANT us to be shamed by our resistance.

NEVER!

[bluestateguy]

11. kick

:kick:

[Gildor Inglorion]

12. I didn't have the courage....

I opposed the war and the draft, but with an older brother who had served heroically in Korea and four uncles who had fought in World War II, I knew that if I dodged the draft I'd lose my family forever. So I got drafted and went to Vietnam for a year. Fortunately, I was assigned to Nha Trang, which is a tropical paradise and far removed from any fighting.

[seventhson]

16. Lucky - But what you did took courage too

Look, these bastards leave us few choices.

It is like the Jews getting on the trains to the death camps.

They could try to run and/or fight --- but once they were trapped in the ghettoes or were already on the railway platforms - it would be hard to effectively resist and survive. Going took courage too, I think.

But in the Nam we were given the concept of "duty". Duty to country and to God (we were allegedly fighting godless communism but that turned out to be a crock since the Vietnamese are very spiritual).

What you did took courage and should be honored.

after all - we were just kids

just like most of the poor sons of bitches dying in Iraq

[bearfan454]

15. I enlisted so not me.

[Bertha Venation]

17. bearfan . . .

I believe my opinion on this topic would be extremely unpopular. Moreover it would be dismissed out of hand because I was a child during the war (not to mention being female -- even if of age I wouldn't have been drafted).

All I'll say is thanks for enlisting. Thanks to everyone here who served in VN, in whatever capacity.

Actually, I will say this much: I do not consider those who actively hid from the draft as being anywhere near as courageous as those who sucked it up and did their duty as the law of the time required. But I'm going to read Foley's book. No doubt I'll learn.

[bearfan454]

18. Thank you Bertha.

That was nice.

[seventhson]

22. I honor those who served honorably even though it was an immoral war

they were merely cannon fodder for the rich.

But I think it took a different sort of courage to resist this war. It is not that one sort of choice was more courageous or less courageous - each individual choice required courage under the circumstances.

Courage was needed because all of the choices were fearful.

Those who went to Nam made a choice which may have been prompted by sheer courage or blissful ignorance of what they were in for (these were practically BABIES in some instances 15 and 16 year olds).

Those who hid or resisted or fled had a different set of fears and courage.

But in both cases the fear of the government played a role. If you run, you are afraid of getting caught. And if you go knowing it is a mistake - then you are afraid what will happen if you run.

I would recommend a film (starring Colin Farrell) if I could remember its name, where these issues are explored. (On Edit: Found it: Tigerland)

It had a substanital impact on our second rate generation (I guess that's what we are supposed to be if our parent's generation was the greatest)

[XNASA]

19. Me too. I enlisted in the Navy so I wouldn't get drafted.

The War was winding down, and I enlisted when I was 17, but I wanted to see the World anyway.

And see the World I did.

[bearfan454]

21. Did you go through AAFEES in Chicago ?

I did.

[seventhson]

20. The SMARTEST thing Richard Nixon ever did was ending the draft

The Neocon agenda could be furtherered relentlessly once the lives of young people were no longer imminently at risk of being destroyed by being drafted into an insane and horrific war.

The act of ending the draft suddenly made American youth totally safe for greed, exploitation and disco.

Those of us who were activists lost the ability to convince people there was any urgency about ANYTHING. Don't worry - be Happy. Do coke and get laid and PARTEEE John Travolta-style!!!

Ther crimes of our country in Latin and Central America and Africa and Asia became insignificant to Americans and to our youth.

Cointelpro (the counterintelligence program of the CIA/FBI and Bushes ey al designed to murder and disrupt civil rights groups and antiwar progressives and assassinate leaders like RFK, MLK, and folks in the Black Panthers) - effectively destroyed the leadership.

Once the lives of the rest of us were no longer at risk we stopped paying attention and the fascists have been relatively unstoppable ever since.

Smartest thing Nixon and the BFEE ever did.

and we still haven't learned a thing, it seems.

Having been draftable I REMEMBER the palpable fear and disbelief as our numbers were called and my peers disappeared from our communities to go to Asia to fight "gooks" for Nixon and Rockefeller (Bush) and Wall Street.


I was lucky.

But Nixon's shrewd move set us up for the global fascist state we have today in the hands of the Bushes and their evil minions.