That's exactly how I remember it. There were two other alternatives to Vietnam. Instead of going to Canada, you could go to jail. Many accepted that fate. Or, you could hope for a sympathetic doctor at the draft exam. That's what happened to me. I had a mild case of asthma aggravated by cigarette smoking. Before my exam, I used all of my will power to not cough for about 12 hours. By the time I hit the exam, I had a slight wheeze. It was in Massachusetts, where few were sympathetic to the war. The doctor labeled me 4A, which meant that I would be called only in the case of a last resort.
There was a fiction that the draft was voluntary. When you were called, in Boston you reported to the Boston Naval Base (even though it was an army draft). You were lined up, and told to take one step forward. That step was symbolic of your volunteering. Every week, there was a significant number of draftees who took one step backwards. They were hustled off to jail. It became standard fare for the newspapers to send a photographer to the base to photograph the brave young men who stepped backwards rather than support a war that had nothing to do with the nation's security. I say "brave", because it took true guts to defy the drill sergeants, knowing you were off to jail.
This was about the same period when the Massachusetts Legislature passed a law stating it was illegal to send any resident of Massachusetts to Vietnam. Of course, that law was defeated in the Supreme Court rather quickly, but it was symbolic of an entire state which knew the war was wrong.
As things have turned out, they were right, as many of the national leaders from that time, like Robert McNamara, have declared that the war was a mistake.
While I was totally against the Vietnam war, I supported the troops. The war was not their fault. I certainly was not among those who shunned them, spit on them or called them baby killers. If I felt anything towards them, it was sorrow that they had been duped into fighting, dying and getting mutilated for a war that made no sense. 50,000 of those fine young people died, and for what?
Could history be repeating itself?
John Kerry was one of those who had the courage to lay his life on the line in vietnam because he initially believed his country needed him. Then, as he realized the war was a terrible mistake, he had the courage to come home and help found the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. To me, that makes him doubly courageous. It was his first flip-flop, and like all of them since, it was a result of his learning from his mistakes and growing in his knowledge. I much prefer a leader with the courage to admit his mistakes and change his course as necessary, as compared to a leader with blinders who cannot see that his course is to disaster.
The other day, I heard a learned student of history make the observation, "In 1919, when the British created the synthetic nation of Iraq consisting of disparate elements from the Sunnis and the Shiites, it took 3 years for the situation to become so bad that the Sunnis and Shiites banded into a united front to oust the British. It's possible that it will take much less time for the American invasion to reach the same point: Sunnis and Shiites banded together in their hatred for what the Americans are doing. All it will take is for the Americans to hand over the government to the wrong people on June 30."
Much too late, the administration has handed over the responsibility for finding a new Iraqi government to the United Nations. They have about 6 weeks to put it together. Asked by a reporter what is Plan B if they fail in those 6 weeks, a UN official replied, "We don't have time for a Plan B." But, the administration has vowed to stay the course, perhaps digging themselves a hole they can't climb out of. The chances of handing over to the wrong people are great.
