50 years ago, we were involved in another war.
I was lucky not to be called up in the last Vietnam draft. My birthday was drawn, but they reached their quota before they got to 'K'. I didn't have any exemptions - if I had to go, I was going to enlist in the Naval Reserve. I had made contacts with the recruiters at Glenview Naval Air Station north of Chicago. My Dad was in WWII in the Navy, so it would have been something of a tradition.
If I had been drafted into the Army, I would have lasted five minutes on the ground over there - I'm not that much of an athlete, couldn't run to save my life, and am blind as a bat without my glasses. I figured that life on a ship would be a safer arrangement for me as well as the others in my group.
Almost joined the Navy again in 1978 - went through all the tests, the next step was the physical - and found out that I was one year too old to try for nuclear power school. So, never served.
I have great respect for anyone who did serve. I never could understand how anyone could act the way too many so-called Americans did when our guys came home from 'Nam.
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