I always feel weird about this, so I'll put it here and let the true veterans tell me what they think of me.
I turned 18 in October 1970 and registered with Selective Service. I graduated from high school half a year later and planned to attend Rose Polytechnic Institute, which became Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology before I actually got there.
The class matriculating in 1971 was not eligible for student deferments, since the fighting in Viet Nam was continuing at a blistering pace. I was in the second (I think) draft lottery, and my number came up 36. Viet Nam, here I come.
I got called for a pre-induction physical sometime in the fall of 1971. I went through the physical in Indianapolis (quite depersonalizing) and passed it except for a question about my knee. I had had a football injury in the summer of 1970 with subsequent meniscus surgery, back in the days before arthroscopic surgery. My recovery wasn't as good as I would have hoped. Actually, I think the surgery was botched, because I still have trouble today.
Anyway, they sent me to an orthopod, who pronounced me fit enough to fight for my country.
On the way back to Terre Haute, I began to think that I would rather go to Viet Nam as an officer than as a grunt. (Please, don't take this as a demeaning thing. I would probably think much differently about it today.) So I joined up with Army ROTC asap. This instantly deferred my service until after college, which was all I really wanted.
I did three years of ROTC. The war was ending about the time I finished my third year. I did all the obligatory stuff for ROTC. I added on the Special Forces Group, which went out and played war on the weekends even when everybody else didn't. I was eventually a squad leader in SFG. I've done a lot of schlepping of the M14 and I've eaten a lot of C rations. That was the best part of ROTC.
After three years, it was time to go the ROTC summer camp at Fort Riley, Manhattan, Kansas.
I was issued my junk, including an M16 which I never got to fire. Then, on about the second day of camp, we had our physical. And I thought the pre-induction physical was demeaning.
We walked around for half a day wearing nothing but our boots and socks, carrying everything else in our helmets.
Anyway, guess what? My knee came up on the radar again. Again, I went to an army orthopod, who said I had degenerative arthritis and would soon be in a wheelchair and wasn't fit to be an officer.
All told, I had five days of actual Army active duty. Two were travel days to and from Fort Riley. One was a real one, where I had to do pull ups to get into the mess hall and double time it everywhere. One was the physical day and the other I spent lying in the barracks waiting to go home. (Except for when I snuck out to take the swimming test I had missed while at the doctor. Took it passed it. Got back and lay back on my bed and no one ever knew it. All under "no PT" orders. Probably grounds for court martial.)
So officially, I'm a veteran with five days of active duty. I have an honorable discharge for medical reasons from the US Army. When I tell people, they laugh at me. I tell them I also had three years of ROTC training, and usually they totally discount that. Mostly, I do too.
The deal is, when people ask the veterans present to stand up or hold up their hands, I'm pretty reluctant to do it. Should I just keep my mouth shut? What do you think of me? Do you still want to be my friend?
I turned 18 in October 1970 and registered with Selective Service. I graduated from high school half a year later and planned to attend Rose Polytechnic Institute, which became Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology before I actually got there.
The class matriculating in 1971 was not eligible for student deferments, since the fighting in Viet Nam was continuing at a blistering pace. I was in the second (I think) draft lottery, and my number came up 36. Viet Nam, here I come.
I got called for a pre-induction physical sometime in the fall of 1971. I went through the physical in Indianapolis (quite depersonalizing) and passed it except for a question about my knee. I had had a football injury in the summer of 1970 with subsequent meniscus surgery, back in the days before arthroscopic surgery. My recovery wasn't as good as I would have hoped. Actually, I think the surgery was botched, because I still have trouble today.
Anyway, they sent me to an orthopod, who pronounced me fit enough to fight for my country.
On the way back to Terre Haute, I began to think that I would rather go to Viet Nam as an officer than as a grunt. (Please, don't take this as a demeaning thing. I would probably think much differently about it today.) So I joined up with Army ROTC asap. This instantly deferred my service until after college, which was all I really wanted.
I did three years of ROTC. The war was ending about the time I finished my third year. I did all the obligatory stuff for ROTC. I added on the Special Forces Group, which went out and played war on the weekends even when everybody else didn't. I was eventually a squad leader in SFG. I've done a lot of schlepping of the M14 and I've eaten a lot of C rations. That was the best part of ROTC.
After three years, it was time to go the ROTC summer camp at Fort Riley, Manhattan, Kansas.
I was issued my junk, including an M16 which I never got to fire. Then, on about the second day of camp, we had our physical. And I thought the pre-induction physical was demeaning.
We walked around for half a day wearing nothing but our boots and socks, carrying everything else in our helmets.
Anyway, guess what? My knee came up on the radar again. Again, I went to an army orthopod, who said I had degenerative arthritis and would soon be in a wheelchair and wasn't fit to be an officer.
All told, I had five days of actual Army active duty. Two were travel days to and from Fort Riley. One was a real one, where I had to do pull ups to get into the mess hall and double time it everywhere. One was the physical day and the other I spent lying in the barracks waiting to go home. (Except for when I snuck out to take the swimming test I had missed while at the doctor. Took it passed it. Got back and lay back on my bed and no one ever knew it. All under "no PT" orders. Probably grounds for court martial.)
So officially, I'm a veteran with five days of active duty. I have an honorable discharge for medical reasons from the US Army. When I tell people, they laugh at me. I tell them I also had three years of ROTC training, and usually they totally discount that. Mostly, I do too.
The deal is, when people ask the veterans present to stand up or hold up their hands, I'm pretty reluctant to do it. Should I just keep my mouth shut? What do you think of me? Do you still want to be my friend?
Yeah... let me know how that works out for ya.
