Who Served Who Didn't? (Military)

For a short time. Didn't like it. I was too young (16).

Me. Navy, late 1962 through 1964.

United States Army Medical Corps, February, 1970 through February, 1973.

I didn't !

It might be interesting to separate out those who served through the draft, as opposed to those who joined the volunteer military!

I guaran-damn-tee ya, Phoenix, it made no difference to the poor sonsabitches we got from the medevac helicopters . . .

Allowing one's self to be drafted during a war is a form of volunteerism, in my book.

Oh, I agree. I know that there was a tremendouse backlash against the military during the Vietnam War. I don't remember exactly when they stopped the draft. I am curious as to how many people actually joined the military when they were no longer obliged to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription#United_States


Found my own answer.

I volunteered, not knowing the war in Vietnam was underway, thinking to get my service over with and thereby beat the draft. It was wholly voluntary to get sent over there at the time. Very near the time I was sent home they started sending evryone over there.

I only know of conscription here (in wartime) for Vietnam. It's never surprised me that it was a right wing government that conscripted people too young to vote, and sent them to America's manufactured war for no other reason than to protect the alliance. When they were thrown out, the new left wing government immediately recalled the troops, and released the concientious objectors from prison, yet somehow the alliance survived.

World wars I and II were all volunteers from Australia. And they didn't have any trouble getting volunteers. In WWII Australia had one in seven of it's citizens serving in the armed forces, which was second only to New Zealand (1 in 5).

There's good reason to believe that Gough Whitlam's government was engineered out of office by the CIA acting through John Kerr . . . whose name ought to be spelled Cur . . .

except that the term cur is insulting to dogs....

Yes, and the comparison to John Kerr is also insulting to dogs . . .

I'll bet bears don't like him either...... who is he?

I don't know. I'm sure they wanted it to happen. But Gough could have called a double dissolution election before Kerr booted him. In fact, he probably should have, before the uncertainty created by the blocked budget bill took such strong hold.

Wislo, it could be that he was blind-sided--that he didn't see it coming, and relied upon his popularity. There is no denying that his opposition was funded through a bank set up by an Australian, and funded by a previous Air America employee--a notorious CIA front operation.

Bear, the Australian government which pulled the Ozzians out of Vietnam came into office in late 1972, headed by Gough Whitlam. He had some genuine political problems, but seemed to have been confident that he could deal with them, when the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, the representative of the Queen in Australia, dismissed him in late 1975. Rupert Murdoch, not yet an international media mogul, had already turned aginst the ALP, Whitlam's party, and was now supporting the opposition. Kerr sought advice (he had been appointed by Whitlam, but had come to despise him, claiming he was socially slighted by Whitlam, as was his wife), and was told that, yes, he could dismiss Whitlam, but that the Australians would resent it, and that he should give Whitlam a warning of the possible dismissal. He dismissed Whitlam without warning. Many Australians still resent it. Kerr was a great friend of William Colby, who later became Director, Central Intelligence, and it is alleged that it was Colby's idea to fund the opposition to Whitlam, and that Colby "worked on" Kerr to help engineer the dismissal. What cannot be denied is that a bogus bank, which never opened a single branch, funnelled money to the opposition, and that one of it's two directors was a former CIA employee.

Re: Who Served Who Didn't? (Military)

I never did become a waiter when I was in my 20s, even though I did take a course.

I did do a stint as a busboy though.

Does that count?

ever play any tennis?

tennis, love is when nobody scores.