I did BCT in a mixed company, NG's AR's, US's and a few of us RA's.
All the NG's and AR's admitted both sober and drunk, they were seeking to avoid VN.
Volunteered? Great, a infantry unit would have loved to had him in it.
I cannot climb in his brain, but he knows what is there.
So why didn't he keep an active (Private) pilots license after discharge?
So, everyone who served in the Navy or Air Force was a draft dodger? How about those in supply units or the artillery?
If you can't climb into his brain why do you make the assumption of the worst.
He was a Yale grad in 1968 with a highly connected father and granddad. If he wanted to avoid aggravation, unpleasantness and danger he could have found an easier way of doing it without looking bad than flying jets.
As another poster mentioned, the F-102, was designed for "Continental Air Defence', hence the likely hood of V-N being in the rotation was slim. Ya ya ya - a few - tiny number went overseas.
I would agree with that.
However, flying jets has a hazard -- they sometimes crash.
How often do we read of a military jet or helicopter crashing with everyone killed -- normally many times a year.
If you get some bozo in your platoon/squad who is very inept, you might get shot or blown up.
For example, in the Clint Eastwood Heartbreak Ridge that was a foulup in the Recon Platoon that almost killed that football major that Clint Eastwood referred to as a cluster F***.
Screwups in the military with weapsons can kill you.
But if you fly jets, you might get killed by a bad mechanic...