[syriacus]

As graduation approached, Kerry knew that he had three choices: be drafted...

I wonder what Kerry would have chosen to do, if he had been looking forward to graduation in 1968 instead of 1966?

Americans suffered over 2X as many casualties per month in early 1968 than in early 1966.

1966 --Jan - 196; Feb - 208; Mar - 231;

1968 -- Jan - 498; Feb - 506; Mar - 515

[syriacus]

Deadliest years in Viet Nam

Notice the number of deaths in 1965 (1926 deaths in the year ending 6 months before Kerry's Graduation) as opposed to the number of deaths in 1967 (11,348 deaths in the year ending 6 months before Bush's graduation)

VIETNAM WAR (ranking of the years by deaths)

YEAR -- ALL DEATHS

1968 -- 16,869
1969 -- 11,775
1967 -- 11,348
1966 -- 6,333
1970 -- 6,164
1971 -- 2,413
1965 -- 1,926
1972 had far fewer deaths because US troops were pulled from the field by August

Service in Viet Nam looked much less dangerous when Kerry was deciding what to do when he graduated.