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Our youngest son is in the US Army as a Helicopter Aviontics Tech. His unit went to the Middle East 2 weeks ago. His units Helicopters are all functional so he was loaned out to a National Guard unit [out of North Carolina] when he arrived with this Nation Guard unit he found that their helicopters are fully functional also. So he had the option of sitting at camp waiting for a helicopter to get shot-up before he could work on it, or, ... he volunteered to be a rifleman going out on the daily patrols with this National Guard unit.
Every soldier is a rifleman, and while they may be trained to a 'higher' level of MOS, they still have the option, each day of volunteering to function that day as a basic rifleman.
[just don't tell his mother that he has done this]
Not really.... I saw a lot of draftees who were sent to various MOS's and various assignments.
I was drafted into the Army in May 1968. Said to have been one of the largest drafts. I was sent to Fort Bliss for AIT. Was selected for Army MOS 16E Hawk Fire Control Crewmember. Then I was assigned to a Missile Site in Florida.
Are you saying that the preponderance of draftees did not go into the infantry?
Are you saying that the preponderance of draftees did not go into the infantry?
I do wonder if the numbers of where post Korean War draftees were sent changed drastically between around 1964 to 1970? You could have your choice between US Army infantry and the USMC. But given that the draftee was only held for 2 years and the standard Vietnam tour was 12 or 13 months a draftee would be sent to those that needed replacements for casualties which were mostly combat arms units in the war zone instead of spending the tome qualifying from some other advanced course and have less than a year left on the enlistment.
In times of a national emergency service people may go directly into combat and sometimes without any formal training. In 1950 for instance at the beginning of the Korean War men who had just enlisted in the Marine Corp reserves were ordered into combat units.
These men had never been to boot camp. They could not march, never fired a rifle and had no knowledge of how a rifle company maneuvers in combat. They trained aboard ship on the way to Korea. And they did quite well during the Chosin Reservoir battle. I met some of these men when I was a Marine during Vietnam when they were senior enlisted men.
In times of a national emergency service people may go directly into combat and sometimes without any formal training. In 1950 for instance at the beginning of the Korean War men who had just enlisted in the Marine Corp reserves were ordered into combat units.
These men had never been to boot camp. They could not march, never fired a rifle and had no knowledge of how a rifle company maneuvers in combat. They trained aboard ship on the way to Korea. And they did quite well during the Chosin Reservoir battle. I met some of these men when I was a Marine during Vietnam when they were senior enlisted men.
That would not happen today, which is another factor of the unlikelihood of another draft. The need for training is extremely high today. There is no combat occupation in which someone untrained would not be a far greater danger to the mission than it would be to leave that hole in the ranks.
Moreover, unlike those days the US stays manned for a certain level of warfare--active duty, reserves, and Guard are all calculated into the Total Force. If there were a war of such sudden ferocity that the Total Force could not prevail, we would either withdraw or go nuclear.
To clarify, During the Vietnam draft, NO draftee with a professional designation was assigned a position outside their general professional designation unless they wanted something elsewhere. No doctor, lawyer, CPA, PE etc would just be assigned some lower position when drafted. Did not happen! Now, you did have many who volunteered or who asked for something else or was refusing to work within that professional field, they would be assigned outside their professional designation, but that was their decision, not the military.
Wrong. see post 22. I knew this guy personally...…...he asked to not be sent to cooks school and they told him sorry that was where they needed people at that time...……...
Our youngest son is in the US Army as a Helicopter Aviontics Tech. His unit went to the Middle East 2 weeks ago. His units Helicopters are all functional so he was loaned out to a National Guard unit [out of North Carolina] when he arrived with this Nation Guard unit he found that their helicopters are fully functional also. So he had the option of sitting at camp waiting for a helicopter to get shot-up before he could work on it, or, ... he volunteered to be a rifleman going out on the daily patrols with this National Guard unit.
Every soldier is a rifleman, and while they may be trained to a 'higher' level of MOS, they still have the option, each day of volunteering to function that day as a basic rifleman.
[just don't tell his mother that he has done this]
Wrong. see post 22. I knew this guy personally...…...he asked to not be sent to cooks school and they told him sorry that was where they needed people at that time...……...
He's BSing you.
Professional designee such as attorneys, MDs, PE's, etc were all assigned to those groups unless the individual took action not to be assigned to those units. The US military did not arbitrarily assign those professional group draftees to lower meaningless jobs. When draftees were being processed through AFEES during the Vietnam War draft, those with professional credentials were identified and flagged for a separate process. Growing up, I met a number of PE's in the Air Force that were drafted during the Vietnam war but were separated out due to their professional credentials (and yes, DOD did verify it) and given the chance to accept a credential position in any of the branches. All branches had opening in that credential profession. Now, the person was free to decline and would be sent back to AFEES line like a normal draftee for whatever job they were given. If you decline, you were just another draftee.
The draft was primarily for infantrymen. If you wanted to avoid being drafted as infantry, you joined for the field you wanted. But if you played the odds and lost, you were primarily going into the infantry.
Now there is the DoD "Fairy godmother" department in the basement of the Pentagon staffed by a crew of six elderly GS-5 women all nearing retirement. Every now and then, one of them wakes up and smacks the top paper on her desk with her magic wand, then falls back to sleep. But that's not something anyone can count on.
This information is only from listening to interviews. But, I've listened or watched a few interviews with Vietnam Vets that kept their head in the sand with denial about the draft; I don't recall any lawyers but I do recall interviews with bright and qualified people that took no personal initiative in managing their career in the face of inevitable conscription, who were almost surprised to find themselves toting an M16 through the jungle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dane_in_LA
Gentleman rankers still exist, it appears.
Silly aside: I do recall reading a book on the Paris Gun and how Krupp essentially built the gun and a number of replacement barrels, then shut down that part of the plant - there would never be a second one built. The German Army immediately drafted the workers as gun crew, and the historian writing the book commented on how rare it was to see a military bureaucracy not only spotting a chance of fitting round pegs in round holes, but acting on it.
A friend of mine from college is that sort. He actually left college and enlisted, spent some time in a "door kicking" type MOS, now flies helicopters as a warrant officer. He comes from substantial means, too...
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