Response for Sept. 17th
A quote from Ken Lombardi - "I didn't want to get drafted so I enlisted in the army because they gave me the old scam that if you enlist you can pick your career and you may not go to Vietnam." In 1968 Ken was sent to Vietnam as an infantryman. (pg. 46)
This statement embodies what a young man growing up in the Vietnam War era must have been thinking/feeling at the time. If you were a healthy young man past the age of 18, it was inevitable that you would be drafted into the war and sent to Vietnam. To try and beat this system most men enlisted into one of the branches of military to try and secure a job so that they wouldn't be chosen to go to war. The branches, such as the army took advantage of this thought process and even made recruiting slogans like "Make your choice now - join, or we'll make the choice for you" (pg. 46). This seems more like a threat than a recruiting slogan. It's ironic that many of the men who enlisted to try and escape the draft were actually still sent to Vietnam anyway. It seems like the army (I can't speak for the other branches) almost took advantage of the young men. Promising them a way out then throwing them into the fire anyway.
This statement embodies what a young man growing up in the Vietnam War era must have been thinking/feeling at the time. If you were a healthy young man past the age of 18, it was inevitable that you would be drafted into the war and sent to Vietnam. To try and beat this system most men enlisted into one of the branches of military to try and secure a job so that they wouldn't be chosen to go to war. The branches, such as the army took advantage of this thought process and even made recruiting slogans like "Make your choice now - join, or we'll make the choice for you" (pg. 46). This seems more like a threat than a recruiting slogan. It's ironic that many of the men who enlisted to try and escape the draft were actually still sent to Vietnam anyway. It seems like the army (I can't speak for the other branches) almost took advantage of the young men. Promising them a way out then throwing them into the fire anyway.
“But Mike and other middle-class men faced the draft from a fundamentally different vantage point than working-class men. For them, the other body that might go in their place was usually an anonymous abstraction. For working-class men, it could very well be a next-door neighbor. Men such as Mike wrestled with the moral dilemma of whether or not to avoid the draft, but most working-class draftees did not see the matter as open to debate. For them, the draft notice represented an order, not a dilemma.”
ReplyDeleteThis quote brings to light the more subtle nature of the class divide of the 60s as evidenced by the reactions of working- and middle-class draftees. While the effort to avoid the draft was typically seen as normal, and, in the beginning, achievable for the middle-class men who found themselves drafted, this opportunity was not available for those in the working class. These “techniques of avoidance” for middle-class men were openly discussed and even supported on college campuses, somewhere that only those with the advantage of affording and being able to achieve a higher education could be exposed too. This privilege of avoidance was not provided to those working-class men who found themselves drafted. Though some did oppose the draft, doing do publicly would cause them to face the knowledge and criticism of their peers. Instead of having whoever would take their place in the war be an “anonymous abstraction,” they could be a next-door neighbor, a member of their community, someone they know. This forced these men to see their draft notice as an order and something that was a certainty, not a dilemma that needed to be solved like those in the middle class. This distinction between the crisis and the order emphasizes the differing perspectives and opportunities of those drafted. Despite these opposing outlooks, however, more often than not they culminated in the same thing: most men, drafted or volunteer, ended up in Vietnam.
The part of the reading I found to be most interesting came from At War as we saw a glimpse into the draft and “non-declarant military service”. Immigrant life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was very rough, often treated as second class citizens in daily life. Much like African Americans, these immigrants most likely saw military service as a way to show their capabilities and as a way to lobby for better lives at home. Also just like African Americans the immigrants were at first rejected by natural-born Americans, as the Selective Service Act only allowed “certain immigrants to serve”. “Enemy aliens- recent immigrants from Germany for example, were barred” (90). This ruling is extremely odd to me, as the military at the time this decision was made was a very diverse group, with Italians, Poles, Bohemians, Syrians, Hungarians, and Russian Jews comprised of one-fifth of the armed forces. As the land scape of World War I unfolded and the treacherous stalemate warfare continues, the US quickly realized the need for overwhelming amounts of manpower and ended this policy. The Selective Service Act was expanded to include all immigrants who declared they planned on becoming US citizens. This stroke was all fine and dandy. Until more manpower was needed. This fact, along with strong resentment from the native born citizen population, as they were drafted and sent to war in larger numbers. Shortly thereafter the US began accepting even “non-declarants”. This sudden change was quite strange, as the army even went as far to create a special unit for immigrant soldiers to display their skill and patriotism to “Native born Americans”.
ReplyDeleteAs we see the immigrant struggle was really not that different from the African American struggle, as both groups felt the need to prove themselves to the so-called “Native born Americans”. I found this section really interesting for that strong parallel, but it also made me wonder whether or not their service in the war brought them equality more quickly than was given to African Americans.
Robby
There were many different view points in "Working-class War" that I found interesting but the main one that stuck out to me was the case of Tim O'Brien. O'Brien was a well educated man who wrote about topics that opposed the war and even himself saying that the war was wrong. The fight within himself to enlist or not was strong. The feeling of abandoning his views and beliefs to fight a war he found "evil" seemed unbearable. However, he found himself in it. This case is a major contrast to the many other cases in this chapter because he wasn't joining by pressure of his friends. In fact, O'Brien joined strictly because he felt like he had a good childhood because of the same country that urged him to enlist. If he didn't enlist he believed he would be embarrassing his family and community. In the other cases, ill-educated men enlisted because of law, family or job issues but O'Brien did it out of an inner pressure to serve a country that made his life enjoyable. In another case, a man enlisted because he felt a pressure that he grew up with. "Our little town had a legion post and a VFW post and a DAV post and this kind of post and that kind of post." The engrained pressure naturally put into most Americans to serve because of the quant life we live is strong especially in the middle class citizens who have had it pretty good all through life. I know I feel an urge to serve because of the nice life I've had so far. Also seeing all the military posts throughout my town that I would drive by everyday to get to school left a constant reminder. Is that done on purpose?
ReplyDeleteRiley