What Months Were Guys Drafted Into The Marines or Into the Navy During The Vietnam War?

[BMW R1100]

A buddy of mine said he was drafted into the army, and while in the indoctro center a marine sergeant came down the line and tapped every second guy on the shoulder and said, "Come with me, you're drafted into the marine corps." He hated every second he was in the crotch. I was drafted into the army and, for the most part, liked every second I was in, with a few exceptions.

[unit731]

Half of the Marine recruits in 1969 were draftees.

[johngolf]

In the mid 60's some drafted into the Army for 2 years were offered a 3 year enlistment in the Navy instead.

[DanBev]

I was called up,Naval reserve 1952,Korea

[johngolf]

I know of two brothers from Ireland that came together to the US in the mid-60's. Not sure what type visa's they had but one went to work for the NYC School System and the other for a major NYC bank. They both received draft notice. One ignored it and returned to Ireland. The other accepted it and served in the US Army in Vietnam. He returned to NYC, went back to work for the bank, married, raised a family, retired from the bank, and moved back to Ireland. He collects a bank retirement and US Social Security.

I served in the US Navy Submarine Service (early to mid 60's) with at least one (from NYC) that said he was drafted into the US Army for two years at that time but he opted to enlist. in the US Navy for 4 years. Louis Salicrup (Sal) was his name.

[grad_student200]

Originally Posted by czech_ed

I and 10 other inductees from Pulaski County, Indiana were transported to Indianapolis in January 1966. Near the conclusion of the process of the 165 Indiana total, they asked for volunteers for the USMC. They got 1 (from Pulaski County). For lack of volunteers they had us fill out a preference of the 4 branches. I listed Air Force 1st, then Navy, Army, and last USMC. Little good that did. At the end they named 11 additional as USMC recruits, me included. This included 3 total from Pulaski County (6th smallest in Indiana by population). In past research I learned that the Marines drafted in Jan & March 66. The odds of being drafted into the Marines was 5%. Don't know where I got this, but I do know about half my boot camp platoon was draftees. I have a news paper clipping from Jan 66 showing a "tent city" at MCRD San Diego that housed 20,000 Marines due to the extra inductees from the draft. I spent 13 months and 20 days in Vietnam. Went over with 3/26 and ended up at Khe San. However, I went on to Dong Ha, Phu Bai, and finally, ASP 1 at DaNang. czech_ed@yahoo.com Sgt. USMC 1-66 to 1-68

This is interesting history. I am curious as to your opinions:
* Was the film "The Boys in Company C" realistic? It has a lot of scenes focused on the boot camp stage.
* What is your opinion of the US Marine pilot who was responsible for the friendly fire incident at Dak To (Hill 875) in 1967? The New York Times did a story on it very recently, and the pilot was finally named.

As for me, I studied Agent Orange in graduate school. The film "Boys in Company C" did not show Agent Orange. But I have visited Camp Pendleton and seen the Marines in training. The boot camp scenes did seem realistic (from a casual observer's perspective). It was just brutal with a lot of verbal abuse and extreme physical exertion. We saw the "Stairway to Heaven" near the San Diego Airport while the DI was giving us HS teens as tour. This was back in the 80s when "Top Gun" came out. We were all excited as teens to see the US Navy jets and got to see the base on a field trip.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boys_in_Company_C

Probably the most unrealistic scene in that film was an ambush with the VC on the most exposed spot of a hill possible for the camera to see. In real life, I would guess the VC were hidden beyond recognition such as in the Tunnels of Cu Chi.

I noticed that the Wikipedia page for Hill 875 was updated to include that pilot's name who dropped the bomb by accident on US soldiers which killed and wounded many of them. John Steer lost his arm and was left for dead. He somehow survived the triage of wounded when the doctors and medics thought he simply would not survive and chose to operate on others besides him. But he made it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dak_To#Battle

Meanwhile, this article focused on that pilot. I can imagine how angry the surviving relatives of that battle must feel behind the scenes of social media - a horrible way to lose family in the "Nam".
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/m...ke-dak-to.html

[msgsing]

I went into the Marine Corps in March 1966 in San Diego. Reference an earlier post I was one of those recruits in the tent city. I read much later that 1966 was the year that Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego has the largest intake of recruits in history. We also did an abbreviated 8 week training schedule.

[yinduffy]

Early in this thread, comments were made that match a situation a friend had. He got his draft notice and ran down to the Navy recruiting station and talked the recruiter into backdating papers for enlisting in the Navy. His Navy duty was helicopter repair in Rhode Island.

[BG2910]

When I was drafted in Chicago in 1967, the Army, Navy and Marines were drafting. At the Induction center, we were told to count off "1, 2, 3" until all draftees had either a 1,2,or 3. The 1's went to the Army, the 2's went to the Navy, and the 3's went to the Marines.