Posted on 05/25/2010 12:21:15 PM PDT by neverdem
As a kid, an abiding fear, reinforced by movies and comic books, was that I would die on some foreign battlefield. I would become a casualty of the war that every generation of American men seemed destined to fight: World War I for our grandfathers and World War II for our fathers and Korea for our older brothers. Then came Vietnam, which is where many of my generation drew the line: "Hell no, we won't go," in the chant of the day.
And I didn't.
It turned out I didn't have to. Just luck. I enlisted in the 42nd Infantry (Rainbow) Division of the New York National Guard, and I did it to avoid the draft. The Vietnam War was in its infancy and it wasn't until I got to basic training that I realized something was up: Why were so many guys mentioning Vietnam? Why all this talk about combat? I returned to civilian life plenty worried.
For the next 5-1/2 years, I feared our guard unit would be called up for Vietnam. What would I do if the order came? I had once supported the war - this noble battle against evil, monolithic communism. But troubling facts kept seeping out. The Red Russians and the Red Chinese were at odds. The North Vietnamese hated the Chinese. So much for the Communist monolith. The South Vietnamese government was corrupt. Why should I fight for it? What, exactly, was I supposed to die for anyway? I thought I had the right to know.
Now those of us who slipped the noose of Vietnam are sometimes characterized as spoiled shirkers of our presumed duty. The loaded word "privileged" is often used, as if attending public college at night and working for an insurance company during the day is a mark of...
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
They didn't come to blows until 1969, IIRC, and it was only known among the cognoscenti in D.C. Et tu Dick?
Bump to a lousy draft dodger.
Cohen got into the 42nd NY. I had two friends get into the 42nd and both of them used a great deal of political influence to get into it. The 42nd’s core was the 165th Inf rgt, the Fighting 69th. Openings were given to the sons of NYC’s political and social elites. Both friends used the influence their fathers had derived from membership in a very influential Knights of Columbus Council. My guess is Cohen’s hook was a person high in NYC reformed Demorcatic politics.
After I came home I was in the NC NG for a number of years. I never knew a guardsman who said or implied he was in to stay out of combat duty - never. Most had already served on active duty. All were ready for the call.
All of this talk about using he guard as a repository for cowards is so much baloney and those who make the accusations should be called out on it.
Just because he and all of his libtard friends feel this way, have the stones to admit this is the way YOU guys feel about this.
NORMAL Americans don't feel that way, and if you want to project your perverted and twisted morals on us, you can take a hike...
Cohen joined the National Guard in order to avoid being drafted. Good for him. I don’t know of too many people who welcomed being drafted. I wanted to serve in the Army as a career Infantry officer. But, I damned sure didn’t want to be drafted. So, I took the deferments, signed up for ROTC and was commissioned in the Infantry. I then served in Vietnam as a Platoon Leader and Company Commander.
I harbor no animosity for any of my generation who used legal means to avoid combat duty in Vietnam. If you didn’t join ROTC, you could enlist in the Air Force. Or, join the Army in some specialty that almost guaranteed that you would sit behind a desk for two years. There were lots of tricks and no shame as I recall for taking advantage of them. The resentment over the reserves came late in the war when these units were completely full and only the sons of privilege or members of a professional sports team could somehow find a vacancy. Blumenthal probably belongs in that category, he joined a unit that Cohen and his regular Joe buddies could not join.
Fast forward 40 years and Blumenthal is now publicly stating that he served in Vietnam. He says it multiple times and never corrects press accounts of his service. George W. Bush served in the Air National Guard. He never claimed to have served in Vietnam, he flew very dangerous old F-106 fighter jets, and was blistered by the press for having done it. Mr. Blumenthal is absolved by the press for his blatant lies.
Cohen tries to muddy the waters with his own tale of service, and then passes judgment on wars that he and his buddy Blumenthal didn’t want to fight. Isn’t it a shame that World War II wasn’t around when Mr. Cohen came of age. But, back then we didn’t have politicians who never served who were willing to cut and run at the first sign of political trouble, no matter the sacrifice of the American fighting man.
Cohen? Cohen seems to celebrate being a draft dodger.
I wonder about guys confessing their fears. The society has become too feminized, IMHO.
We have always had those who claim to be something they are not but this phony Vietnam “Vet” phenomena is really puzzling to me. I served US Navy ‘60-’63 was an actual sailor in two ships and TAD on another for a brief time but I sure didn’t single-handedly fight off hoards of NVA sampans with my trusty rusty cutlass and pistol while swinging from the rigging (what little there is on modern ships—maybe signal flag halyards!).
I’ve said it before, but when I held a PI license (Texas) I investigated some backgrounds of some phony “hero vets”, most never served at all, others were discharged Sec. 8 mainly, never made it out of Basic. Some were former hippies who I imagined were in the streets fighting okay—fighting the law here in the USA, now after 30+ years they are mass murderers of innocent Vietnamese whiloe on secret ops of course (another puzzle) and claim fantastical feats of heroism.
Maybe “Robin of Berkeley” (those of you who read American Thinker) could explain this! I sure can’t.
After I came home I was in the NC NG for a number of years. I never knew a guardsman who said or implied he was in to stay out of combat duty - never. Most had already served on active duty. All were ready for the call.
All of this talk about using he guard as a repository for cowards is so much baloney and those who make the accusations should be called out on it.
A number of NG units were called up for Korea. It was very rare during the Vietnam War. LBJ didn't have the guts for a major mobilization.
Joining the reserve components was a common way to avoid the draft in that war. My basic training platoon had plenty of Army Reserve and National Guardsmen in 1969.
I was a draft dodger myself... My way was to join the Marine Corps for four years vice getting drafted for two... And MY service was in the regular Marine Corps not the reserve.
Very well said, and thank you for your service...
DRAFT DODGER!
:)
Me too. I graduated Army basic training on my eighteenth birthday. If I could have made West Point, I would have grabbed it. Having no other plans, I did three years in the Army as a light weapons infantryman touring Vietnam twice. I was young & dumb & lucky.
I was in Cohen's 69th Infantry in the 1980s until my first year of med school. I switched to the Army Reserve when the Army gave me a scholarship for school.
What do you think has changed?
Almost 10 years in and there is a backlog of recruits right now in every branch for active duty. The only way to get streamlined in right now is to do the Reserves. Especially the Marines, at least a 10 mo. wait to boot camp. My son didn’t want to wait and is at OSUT at Fort Benning.
Minor correction: G. W. Bush flew the F-102.
I should have said I was in the 69th Infantry, a unit in the 42nd ID, which Cohen said he joined.
"I enlisted in the 42nd Infantry (Rainbow) Division of the New York National Guard..."
The economy
My son didn’t want to wait and is at OSUT at Fort Benning.
I went back in the Army in 1980 at Fort Benning to become an indirect fire infantryman(mortars) and jump school. Good luck to your son! May the Lord keep him safe!
Even more dangerous, probably...:)
Blumenthal is a perfect representation of modern liberalism. He lies and claims an honor he hasn’t earned, and, in fact, took extreme steps to avoid. And then he gets caught in his lie and attacks those who catch him. And then when he sees that’s not playing well he lies again...and when that doesn’t play well he offers a non-apology apology. He has never taken responsibility for his actions...as I said, a perfect representation of modern liberalism.
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