My sister was in the OSI when some politician thought up “Project 100,000.” (In the late ‘60’s I think.) Boys were given a choice by judges, go to jail or join the military. She said it might have helped a few, but most became huge problems to the military justice system and were eventually discharged at huge expense to the military.
“She said it might have helped a few, but most became huge problems to the military justice system and were eventually discharged at huge expense to the military.”
We unleashed them on the people of South Vietnam first. Heck, a decade ago we were overlooking felonies to send troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Now we’re badgering them about tattoos...
As Colonel Kurtz said in “Apocalypse Now”: “We tell them to drop fire on people, but won’t let them write “F&%#” on their airplanes because it’s obscene...”
You are correct, although in the military they were called “McNamara’s 100,000”. Every one of them came in as undesignated strikers, ie, E-1 with no training beyond boot camp. They were used to wash airplanes, sweep decks, and they were expected to work hard. If they wanted to advanvce they had to “strike” for a particular job. Most didn’t. Large numbers of them ended up in trouble and discharged under other than honorable conditions. At the time I never dreamed they would end up running the country....
I went through basic and AIT with an individual in similar circumstances, though this was long after Vietnam. He got through basic just fine, but once we had a little more freedom in MOS training, the wheels came off. He was finally discharged after being found drunk on duty. It was really too bad, because the guy was ridiculously textbook smart and could have gone far in the military or as a civilian, if he really wanted to.