Mukilteo Musings

The Vietnam War

In the Seattle Times, there have been stories about just what happened during the Vietnam war time and why some people served and others did not. I really do not care what Bush did--it was typical for the sons of the rich and powerful. I just wish he would say how it really was--that he got special treatment because of who he was and he had an easy time of it and an honorable discharge because of who he was. This was his way of avoiding Vietnam; Clinton had his way; Dean his; and Kerry his.

The war lasted my entire childhood--it was the subject of the nightly news and in every issue of Life Magazine from the time I was 10 until I was 20. Horrible things happened there and men came back crazy and without limbs. By the time I was in my teens, all of the guys were trying to figure out how to avoid being sent to HELL. Even my WW2 vet father who had spent 9 months as a prisoner of Hitler's Nazis thought the war was completely pointless. It wasn't so hard to head up to Canada from Montana and kids did just that. My boyfriend (my now hubby) had a student deferment through college as did my brother. The scary thing was what would happen after that?

If you got into medical school, the deferment continued. If you went to graduate school, it did not. "They" decided to have a draft lottery in 1972. One horrible night we all sat around the TV while they drew 365 dates--each day of the year--out of a hat. Each young man 18 and over had a number assigned to his birthday and that would be his draft number. Dave's birthday, August 15, was number 20!!! We were stunned; undoubtedly, he'd be drafted with that low number the minute he graduated from college and we were planning to be married! I cried. My brother's number was 364--they'd never get to that so he was safe.

Sure enough, Dave gets his notice to go for a physical to determine his eligibility. His parents, devoted Republicans, managed to get the family doctor, their good friend, to write a letter saying Dave's knees should keep him out of the service. He really did have trouble with his knees but the army doc didn't buy it--he was stamped eligible. Dave's Mom was plotting a strategy to finance Canada because she was not sending her youngest child into war. Dave applied to medical school even though he really wanted to be a research scientist; he didn't get in and things were beginning to look very grim. He did get into graduate school in several places but that did not extend his deferment. At this point people got very creative--Clinton was creative. One of my favorite Episcopal priests got creative--he headed to seminary to avoid the draft even though he wasn't religious. He had a transformation while there and is one of the most spiritual leaders in Seattle.

Canada was beginning to look like the answer and then as suddenly as we learned the number that night on TV, the draft ended and the war ended. The year was 1973. Relief--complete and total relief.