About the "service avoider" stuff: I am after all these years still very bitter that most of the men of my generation found convenient excuses to avoid service - and if they couldn't escape service completely, picked occupational specialties as far from combat as they could get.
That left people like me to take all of the hard stuff and I resented it. We could have used more help and we didn't get it, so more of us died or were torn apart than should have been.
I have always believed that it is the responsibility of all able-bodied young Americans to head for the fight. It was true in most of our earlier wars and it's a damn shame that it isn't true anymore.
I absolutely agree and thank you for serving your country against the evils of communism. I was of age during VN, but didn't get drafted. I had no intention of burning my draft card nor running off to Canada. I would have done my duty if called. I didn't volunteer because I was a clueless dumbass delinquent and didn't follow the war, but I wasn't a coward.
That said, my biggest resentment is directed towards LBJ and McNamara who micro-managed the war, not to mentioned Cronkite who made the wrong call at every turn (especially Tet) and energized the hippies. I grew up and joined the Navy for 11 years. Was going for 20+, but the deployments were tearing my family apart. I hope I did some good during the Cold War.
Except some of us could not “serve”... it isn’t just a willingness or avoidance issue...
And while I certainly understand your position on able-bodied men serving - even in those generations/wars of the past - while many did volunteer - the lack of a draft/compulsory service for our wars is a relatively new concept.