Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Military ever feel C. S. for NOT having to go.....

I was draftable in '71. My draft # was in the 300 range. Never went.
My brother enlisted in '65 to avoid the draft, and was killed in an auto accident in '68
He told me to avoid the army at all costs.. so I stuck with what he "drilled" into me.
Later, I wondered about his wisdome...Couldn't dispute the wisdome of a dead brother.
Anyone else have second gusses about serving?
Virgil B. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Well - not really bout serving - just kinda wish I knew more. I am almost 1/2 the way thrue my enlistment and really have found what I really want to do with my life. - Sucks is it is no where near the military. I decided that I really want to be a professional gunsmith/own a sporting goods store - I literaly can not sleep many nights as I mentaly "build" rifles in my head and or set up a store.

I hate the stress the military has put on my family, and my marriage but that which doesn't kill you... right?


I don't know - If I could do it over - I would not have joined but I wouldn't say that serving is a bad thing just not the right decision for me.

When I was in the Army, I volunteered to serve in Vietnam, and I told my brother exactly what your brother told you.



Thirty some years later, it no longer matters. There is nothing you can do to change the past unless you are John Kerry.



Many served in Vietnam, most proudly, whether they were drafted or volunteered. Get on with your life, without guilt or recrimination.

WMacD,
thanks for the kind words....
You sound like my older brother.
Virgil B.

Yup, 71' too. Draft # in the 300's and I wanted to go do what my older brother had been doing- flying Army Hueys in Nam, assaults and medivac. He too, told me to stay away..."it's not your war" He said. Of his graduating flight class, almost all went to Nam. Over 52% were wounded or killed. My brother was never able to be a father and he lost his life to Agent Orange at the young age of 38. Reread the post by WMacD and never look back. Your brothers words were a gift.

Joining the USAF was the best decision that I ever made. I got an education, training for a good civilian job, I met my wife and developed a love for travel. What's not to like. However, I'm glad everyone isn't required to serve. I think the military is much better as an all volunteer force. As for the CS part, my dad was of draft age during the VN war and did not serve. Is he CS-hell no! He retired as a firefighter and provided a good life for our family. Most of my friends did not enlist after school either, but the community needs grocery store managers, electricians, mechanics and teachers every bit as much as we need soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coasties.

I didn't serve and it kill's me! I'm only 29 but when I was 17 I had knee surgery. When I was 18 we (my wife and I) had my first daughter and I couldn't have left my wife with a new born baby. The hardest part of it is My father and I are extremely close. He's like my best friend in the world. He served in Vietnam 3/'67 to 3/'68. He was with the 554th Eng. Batt., 25th Infantry Division in the Cu Chi and Tay Ninh area. My grandfather was in WWII. He was in the 14th Armored Division and fought in the "Battle of The Bulge". I alway kinda felt if they did it I should have done it to. Last year I tried or should I say looked into joining the Marine Reserves. My employer will pay your lost wadges if your already in the reserves and get "activated". They won't pay your wadges if you join and have to go to basic trainning, your not really on "active duty" so they say. I was gonna join the 8th Tank Battalion and it was 12 weeks for boot camp and another 16 weeks for tank school. There was no way I could go the better part of 7 months without a paycheck. I make pretty good money and the money the Marines would have given me wouldn't cut it, not at all! My father told me I was crazy. He said he wouldn't have joined the military if he wasn't drafted and my grandfather wouldn't have either. He said he knows I would have gone if I was drafted and is proud of me for that, plus he couldn't imagine having a "jarhead" in the family! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I still wish I would have served! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

I've been in the Corps for 16 years. I've got 4 more and then I can focus on getting a real job. I say a real job because the military for me has been mostly fun, sometimes hard, but always restrictive. I have two sons (8yrs & 6 yrs) and I tell them that I'm doing 20 yrs in the Marines so that they don't have to join. It makes sence in my head but not to my friends. It's just that I know all of the sacrifices I've had to make to serve my country... missing anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, leaving my wife alone with a 2 yr. old and a newborn baby one week after she had surgery (plus, she was in Okinawa without family to help). I just don't want my kids to go through that kind of stuff. On the other hand there have been alot of good things. I wouldn't have met my wife if not for the military, or had my kids for that matter. I've been around the world, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Africa. Wouldn't have done that working at Domino's. So, I don't regret being in the military, and yes, I'd do it all over again. I'm just looking forward to that light at the end of the tunnel.

The only regret I have is that I did not retire. I was a Navy medic from 1970-76. After the war (Vietnam) ended the Navy seemed to go downhill. I had re-enlisted once but did not like the "NEW" Navy. It wasn't long after I got out that things went back to the way they used to be.

Here is the bottom line. The past is the past. Learn from it and don't live in it. The mid to late 60's and the early 70's were a horrible time for the United States military personnel. We were despised by many and appreciated by few. It was a thankless time.

I would not take for my service time. I met some excellant individuals.

God bless all men and women of our Armed Forces.
Jim

This topic is an expression of very personal feelings. When I joined the Army and was eventually sent to Vietnam, I felt I had an obligation to keep my two younger brothers out of the conflict. That's what big brothers are for; I went so that they wouldn't have to go.



I wish I had half as much influence over my son.

Tough question. I believe you gotta go w/your heart. I graduated high school in 1981 and wanted to join the Navy, my father was in the navy and did not like it. Almost everyone said dont do it but I did and spent 20 years there retiring 2 years ago. 5 different ships 9 deployments, 30 plus countries visited I loved it, the family seperation is terrible but do-able the pay so-so but I was set up pretty good when I got out. I believe your brother's time in the service was a difficult period for America and he was looking out for your best interest. I had supervisors up until 1993 that were NAM vets. They were the best supervisors I had in my career and all felt differently about the war. I would'nt dwell on the past enjoy the future!

Right for me? What does that have to do with it? Do you not understand that freedom is not free? Freedom is our country's most precious posession and our proudest heritage. It is only by the blood of our soldiers that we enjoy such liberty. Always remember! Never forget!



Don't misunderstand me; I do not believe in conscription, nor do I disparage the right of those who protest war. I believe that to be meaningful, service must be voluntary.



My father, God rest his soul, voluntarily served in the Army Transportation Corps in the South Pacific during WW2. I voluntarily served 4 years in the Air Force, working as a radar tech and spending the last year in Vietnam, 7/66-6/67.



My elder son served 4 years in the Marines, getting out 2 weeks prior to 9/11/01. He immediately enlisted in the Army National Guard and has already deployed 6 months to the Sinai serving in the Multi-National Corps of Observers. Now undergoing specialized training, he is due to deploy to Kuwait/Iraq before the end of the year for an 18 nonth tour of duty.



My son and I are both very proud of our family tradition of service and intend to pass on that sense of honor and duty to our posterity. I would sooner die than to ask my sons (and daughters) to not serve the country which offers them so much.



I have a younger son, just 18, who has not chosen to serve, yet. He may, or may not; the choice is his to make. But I shall certainly NOT counsel him to NOT serve, nor think the less of him for not serving. That would be inconsistant with my own beliefs, that service to God and country are both honorable and needful.



Thank you, Chrissum, and all others of you who have served, for your service to your country and mine.



In love of God and country,

Lee



All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to

do nothing. --Edmund Burke

I never felt the urge to be in the military. I also felt that if my country asked me to serve (draft) that it was my duty to do so. I was drafted in 1967 and served in Vietnam. I did not like the military but served to the best of my ability. I feel (and think that most Veterans feel) that if you are called, then you should serve. If you are not called then you have done nothing wrong and should show no shame. If on the other hand, you run to Canada or something like that, you are a coward. There are other ways to serve your country beside the military. There are sincere objecters to war and there are things in place so that they can serve their country in other ways. A lot of people feel that the military is the place for them. That is why the current system is working. It is probably a better military for it. If, on the other hand, the draft is reinstated, waiting on the draft before you go should cause no shame. miles

My Dad was in the Air Force and always told us (twin brothers)," If you're drafted, go, otherwise, no". We didn't and both of us have ALWAYS, always regretted not serving. I almost joined anyway but I admit I was too chickensh...t and would rather drink and chase girls. My brother is looking at the Air Force reserve as an attorney right now. I like to think I could still keep up, but yeah right, if I had to train as a soldier now I wouldn't make it three days. I know it's not right to feel bad about not serving but I still do nearly every day. The only thing that helps is I have had bosses and work buds who were in tell me I would have been a good soldier. I always perk up when that happens. I guess I just got to do my soldiering at the textile mill here. We do make alot of yarn that goes into military applications! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> We make thread for the rappelling ropes the SF uses to drop out of the helicopters. Plus alot of stuff for tents and even body bags. That's as close as I'll be able to get I guess.

In 1972 the last thing anybody wanted to be was the last guy killed in Viet Nam. But growing up I was always of the impression that military service was a natural part of a man�s, well, growing up. By 1972 even die hard conservatives were pretty much disgusted with that war.

When I joined in January �72 Nixon�s volunteer Army was just getting going. I could join for two years and they�d send me where they wanted me, or I could join for three years and pick my duty station. I joined for three and picked Germany. The Drill Sergeants in Basic were almost all just returned Nam vets, as were most of the training cadre. My MOS was 11 Bravo, straight leg infantry, and fully half of my AIT company went to Viet Nam. Of course in training everything is �rah rah�, �I want to go to Vi-et Naw-am, I want to kill some Charlie Cong!�. For the first several months of Army life I felt like I had made the wrong decision and was missing out on some �big adventure�.

When I got to West Berlin in August �72 most everybody in the battalion (4th Bn, 18th Inf. Reg)) above Spec 4 was a Nam vet. After a few beers with these guys the stories they told were hair raising. But even at the tender age of 19 I began to realize that the best war stories came from situations where you didn�t think you were going to survive the next five minutes. How many really, really �gutsy� war stories can never be told because the would be tellers didn�t make it?

Am I glad I served? Yes, and even in a peacetime role watching the Russian guards across the wall, I served as honorably as I could. But serving my country was only part of the reason. Mostly I was a �head up my ass� kid with the emotional maturity of a 13 year old when I joined. After three years in the service I was a full grown man and ready to take on a responsible life.

Am I glad I never saw combat? You�re damn right I�m glad. Do I feel chicksh*t for not having been in combat? Nope. I�ll always give a most sincere and HUGE salute to those guys who were in it, but almost every one of the combat vets I talked to in Germany complimented me on the good sense to have stayed away from it.

I guess I knew I would eventually. My dad was a 'nam vet and lifer Marine, my granfather was in the Navy in WW2, my great-granfather was in WW1 and if you look on the Andersonville Prison website you'll find two dead Schreckengost's there from the 109th Pennsylvania. It's not that we're patriotic it's just that we're belligerent!
Military life did not agree with me, I did a hitch and got out.
Wonderful experience, I recommend it to anyone of age. I dropped out of collage and the Marines straightened my sorry a$$ out. At least partways <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

You guys gotta stop beating yourselves up, the military is a calling that is not for everyone. It�s a good fit for a lot of people, but I don�t think should be mandatory. I�m personally of the camp that thinks each American should give back a little something more than taxes, but it certainly doesn�t have to mean time in uniform. Time in service doesn�t make a person a worthy American or vise versa. I�ve met disrespectable POS that made a career out of the military and many folks for whom I have a ton of respect who never served. Every service is different, too. Most of the eyeball-to-eyeball combat in recent history has been taken by the Army and the Marines. But that doesn�t take anything away from the AF, Navy, or Coast Guard. Hell, they�re the smart ones.

I went into a combat tour in Afghanistan thinking it would make me a better man. I learned a lot including many things about myself, but quite frankly came back as damaged goods. I�ve got children, and would be proud of them if they serve, but deep down hope they don�t. They�ll grow up to be their own men, but I�d die a happy man knowing they�d never have to experience some of the things I did. War means something different to everyone, I�m kind of glad most Americans live in ignorance about its honest and gory details. I believe it is and always will be necessary to maintain the freedom we enjoy, but I really wouldn�t wish it upon anyone.

There are countless up and downsides to the military. Great friends, travel, fulfilling your sense of duty, adrenaline junkie jobs, education benefits, the feeling of leading troops when everything is clicking is like no other. But, danger notwithstanding, there�s also the phenomenon most in the Army refer to as �the big green weenie.� A small stroke of bad luck, botched paperwork, or even actually doing the right thing in the face of CS seniors who disagree can ruin a career. I�m sure the other services have similar situations.

So go forth, coach, teach, volunteer your time, donate, run for office, do nothing (also a right). Sign up for the military if you want, the personal rewards can be huge, but buyer beware. Make sure it�s right for you because at the end of the day, it�s a pretty thankless job that, contrary to Hollywood, probably wouldn�t make a very good movie.

Just don�t look back and second-guess yourself, life is too short. Most of us in the service don�t want you back here wringing your hands about what you �coulda� done. Not serving doesn�t make you any less patriotic or American. We just want everyone to realize how good we have it, what it takes to keep it, and to exercise all the freedoms that come with being a good old yankee infidel.

Superdave