The Fear of Being Drafted to the Vietnam War
Failure is a hard word, and no matter how you analyze the Vietnam War, that is exactly what it was. From its covert beginnings, through the bloodiest, darkest days and finally to the bitter end, this ten-year period of American history is a national disgrace. The Vietnam War began in November of 1955 and lasted until the fall of Saigon in April of 1975. During the Vietnam War, about two-third of American troops were volunteered, the rest were selected for military service through the drafts. Hundreds of thousands of American men feared for the day they would be drafted. They were afraid of possibly getting captured, tortured, maimed and wounded, killed, or having to flee their home country to prevent being shipped off to Vietnam.
In the beginning of the war, the names of all American men in draft-age were collected by the Selective Service. When someone’s name was called, he had to report to his local draft board, which was made up of various community members. Most of U.S. soldiers drafted during the Vietnam War were men from poor and working-class families. The least political power sections were mistreated. The majority of soldiers came from rural towns and farming communities. American forces in Vietnam included twenty-five percent poor, fifty-five percent working class, twenty percent middle-class men, but very few came from upper-classes families. Since eighty percent of those drafted were purely from the poor and the working-class, the majority of American families were fearful of receiving that dreadful notice in the mail asking for their service.
A big factor to why millions of families were scared was solely the fact that those who were drafted were between the ages of eighteen and thirty. And because of the lack of success of the U.S., there was a very high chance that their beloved would not return home at all, or at least not the same man as before. By the end of the war fifty-eight thousand were killed, two thousand captured, and three hundred fifty thousand maimed and wounded. As a result, almost everyone in this country still feels the effects of this conflict.
The fear of being drafted was so great, that many men tried to avoid or delay their military service. Men who had physical problems, were attending college, or were needed at home to support their families might be granted deferments. A lot of draft-age men received deferments were from wealthy and educated families. Highly prominent political figures who were accused of improperly avoiding the draft include Bill Clinton and Dick Cheney. Some other Americans fled to Canada to avoid the draft like Jack Todd, a journalist for the Miami Herald. These people were derogatorily referred as “draft dodgers.” The draft dodgers would, in fact, flee to other countries, mostly Canada, and give up their citizenship as an American and become a member of society of that country.
Most American families did not belong to the wealthy or middle-class, the majority were working-class or poor. When the Vietnam War started, they had everything to fear; they could lose their husband, brother, father, or son. If they were unfortunately selected, they would consider even leaving America behind and fleeing to Canada. Anything seemed better than to be possibly captured, tortured, or even found dead in the cold mud in the middle of a jungle in Vietnam.