During the Vietnam war they took anyone and anybody. Why not now? Oh yeah. We lost.
“”””During the Vietnam war they took anyone and anybody. Why not now? Oh yeah. We lost.””””
We had the best-educated military we had ever had during that decade and they were awesome in battle, and unlike WWII they were overwhelmingly volunteers, not draftees.
The men fighting the war did not lose on the battlefield.
“During the Vietnam war they took anyone and anybody.”
Actually, that didn’t happen in the Navy and Airforce. A lot of smart, capable and non criminals gladly joined the Navy or Air Force to avoid going to Nam as a soldier.
I spent the last 3 years of reserve duty at a big Navy Reserve center in the DC area as a recruiter.
My job was to cherry pick those wanting to join the Navy with diplomas or degrees.
The best candidates had passed the mental tests, police checks, medical checkups, and drivers’ license checks to avoid the losers.
I was Naval Security Group, and we often got first choice of the candidates. My other priorities were potential OCS candidates, Seabees, possible Naval Academy candidates.
We often had a backup bucket list of good candidates.
We/I looked for those with good math and English abilities, and tried to get the right “fit” for them and the Navy.
Men with Good math skills and electronic interests were priorities for my 3 years at the center.
“During the Vietnam war they took anyone and anybody. Why not now? Oh yeah. We lost.”
No, we did not. The liberals of the country convinced politicians to abandon the Vietnamese. The politicians ran the war and refused to allow military leaders to do as they knew to do.