the vietnam draft, crucially, actually happened and often traumatized or killed people of that specific generation, at pretty high rates and with extremely high public visibility
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also that specific generation, for demographic reasons, completely reshaped American culture in ways that have to this point proved pretty darn stable for better (maybe? sometimes) and worse (oh yeah)
Matches my experience in 2003 (when I was a 20-year-old “guy”). A lot of frenzying re a draft from our parents’ generation, at least up until the one guy who’d actually served pointed out nobody wants miserable drunk conscripts scheming to frag their COs _less_ than the professonalized military.
Yes. Important to remember grandpa didn’t need to actually be drafted to have a draft story to pass down after Thanksgiving dinner. If you were in that age bracket, it touched you.
Men went back to school, had kids, got bone spurs, or have a story about how close it got to their number.
Yeah my antiwar boomer parents were very nervous about it as I was coming of age just as the Iraq was revving up and the high school Amnesty International chapter set up a talk with one of the guys on the local draft board on how it works and how requesting conscientious objector status works
Yup, my grandfather, who served in the Army in WWII (Never saw action but was stationed in Japan shortly after VJ Day & probably would’ve seen action if it hadn’t been for the bombs) had plans drawn up & ready to go to flee to Canada w/ my mom, grandmother, & uncle if the latter got drafted.
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Men went back to school, had kids, got bone spurs, or have a story about how close it got to their number.