GWB and the Air Guard

Ed Rasimus wrote in message . ..
On 13 Feb 2004 11:44:10 -0800, (Fred the Red
Shirt) wrote:

...
I don't think anyone disputes that. But how many were there?
CNN today (feel free to correct this) said that 8,000 National
guardsmen served in Vietnam in total. How many Americans in
total served there? How many National guardsmen during that
time did NOT go to Vietnam.

...

How many did NOT go? How many Americans did NOT go? How many men did
NOT go? How many members of Congress did NOT go? What has that got to
do with anything?

It is generally accepted by most folks who remember those years that
men joined the NG to avoid service in Vietnam. Here and there some
folks on this newsgroup argue that GWB in particular did not choose
the Air National Gurad to avoid being sent to Vietnam. If he had
WANTED to go to Vietnam as a pilot then it would ahve made sense
for him to enlist in the USAF or USN.

So I still stick to the notion that GWB chose the guard to avoid
being sent to Vietnam. That's why those numbers are meaningful.

If GWB did not want to go to Vietnam that's fine with me. My brother
didn't want to go, but his birthday was drawn last in the lottery
for his year. I didn't want to go, and they did not draft anyone
from my year. Neither one of us volunteered.

I see nothing wrong with avoiding service in Vietnam by whatever
legal means. I see nothing wrong with terminating one's tour of
duty in Vietnam by whatever legal means. That was how things
were back then.


It remains a fact that a man who was 1-A and had a low lottery
number was a lot less likely to go to Vietnam if he joined the
Guard than if he didn't, unless he could get CO status.

If a man was 1-A with a low lottery number he didn't need to join the
Guard. If a man were in college, he didn't go. If he were married, he
didn't go. If he did drugs and admitted it, he didn't go.


If he aws gay and admitted it he didn;t go. But weren't defferments
for college eventually discontinued (with existing ones grandfathered)?
I thought that was the basis for the 'unrest' on the college campuses.

--

FF