Text 29665, 62 rader
Skriven 2012-06-14 07:42:14 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
  Kommentar till text 29639 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
Ärende: Vietnam
===============
Roy Witt wrote to Robert Bashe on Monday June 11 2012 at 09:52:

RB>> Just for the record, I was examined and classified for military
RB>> service (the "draft") in 1962.

RW> That's odd.

RW> Were you notified to appear at an examining facility at age 21?

That was from memory, but I know the examination and classification took place
in Boston and I went to MIT in September 1962, so it must have been that year,
and yes, I was 21 then (or going on 21). I still have the draft card somewhere,
but haven't seen it in years.

RB>> The first classification was 1-A (fit for service),

RW> I was classified as 1-A when I registered for the draft at age 18 ...
RW> a belated high school graduation present.

I just started college at 18, in the fall of 1959. But perhaps they weren't
examining people to classify them fot the draft at that time, or weren't doing
it if the person in question was already in college (at least in Texas, where I
first went to college). I just don't know.

RB>> later 2-S (deferred) because I was studying at MIT.

RW> I was later classified as 3-A (23yo), as most Tool & Die Apprentices
RW> are classified.  Upon graduation, (1966 for me) they're classified as
RW> 4-A, since T&D makers are/were always needed in defense jobs during
RW> times of military actions.

RW> 4-A is exempt from the draft for that reason.

Vital industries, I know. My dad was exempted (in WWII) for the same reason, as
he worked in the oil industry and was considered in a "vital occupation".

RB>> By the time I graduated, people my age (24, going on 25) were no
RB>> longer being drafted,

RW> Interesting. A one year (1965) T&D Journeyman (age 25) and friend of
RW> mine was drafted because he was given a deferral when he entered the
RW> T&D program a year before I did. Getting married before graduating
RW> didn't help him avoid the draft either. He was lost in Viet Nam during
RW> his first patrol...

Poor guy. The different experience may also have something to do with the draft
boards, since I understood they had some leeway about their decisions. Possibly
I was just lucky.

RB>> but I still asked for and received permission from the draft board to
RB>> leave the country before I came to Germany.

RW> I never bothered, as I was already 26, married w/2 kids and working
RW> for Boeing (w/a Secret level clearance), which meant that I would
RW> still be classified as 4-A or possibly 5-A if I had...

Well, all that's history now, thank heaven.

Cheers, Bob

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