"Tank Fixer" wrote
D. Strang attempted to say .....
"ArtKramr" wrote

That was not my quote. It was made by General Colin Powell in his book.

In the narrow context of Vietnam before the lottery system. Before about
1965, no one joined the NG or Reserves out of civilian life, they joined it
after active duty.

You are incorrect, when I came off active duty to the Guard in 1980 there
were many who had joined direct out of high school in the 1950's

Sounds like personal unit experience, rather than national statistics.

If your experience were true, then most of the Guard would have been about
40 years old, and too old for humping 40 lbs in the jungle (i.e., worthless).