In my personnel clerk activity I had access to the records of many draftees. They were like me in that we VOLUNTEERED FOR THE DRAFT... WE WANTED TO GO... but for only 2 years, not 3. We figured we could always re-up later if so motivated.
We were truly motivated by a sense of duty and obligation to country... that included both conservative Republicans and John Kennedy Democrats who truly lived the words "Ask not what your country can do for you; but what you can do for your country."
I saw numerous files where guys were begging their draft boards to draft them, as I was. In August '64 I wrote my draft board asking them to re-classify me 1A and draft me. It took them 18 months, thanks to the incompetent bureaucracy that is the US Government. My story was typical. Many of us had our lives on hold for ove a year trying to get drafted, and unable to get a good job because we were honest with employers about trying to get drafted.
Don't believe the lies of the MSM on this. The vast majority of us who went in LBJ's buildup of 66-67 wanted to go.
Coming out of basic training, it was the same. Overwhelmingly guys wanted to go to Vietnam. Some were assigned to Germany, Korea, etc and actively tried to get their orders changed to Vietnam.
"In my personnel clerk activity I had access to the records of many draftees. They were like me in that we VOLUNTEERED FOR THE DRAFT... WE WANTED TO GO... but for only 2 years, not 3. We figured we could always re-up later if so motivated."
" I saw numerous files where guys were begging their draft boards to draft them, as I was. In August '64 I wrote my draft board asking them to re-classify me 1A and draft me."
True, I remember that, in fact the army started 2 year enlistments to accommodate the guys that wanted to serve during the war, but weren't interested in hanging around for years afterward.
There are a lot of adventurous young men that will do wild stuff for two years, but to whom a 3 or 4 year contract seems like an eternity.