why were lower-class white people and minorities the first to join the military during vietnam?

Question

alot of them were poor and not wanted in america by other americans! i mean like blacks, hispanics,etc.! i know alot of them got drafted but thousands of them joined out of their free will! poor white people and minorities seem more patriotic and more willing to die for their country! why is that?

Answer 1

It's for the same reason that the working poor and members of lower social classes are willing to contribute to social programs and charities more so than members of the whitebread elite who for the most part are focused more upon themselves. The working poor have a larger and fuller understanding of the word community. They are more in touch with their neighbours and families than any other social class. The widening gap of the rich and the poor has made this more and more obvious over the last 10 years.

They step up when no one else will because they feel obligated to their community and families to take care of business. It's sad to have to admit that they are the social class that allows us, the better off, to enjoy social programs and medical aid programs that are mostly paid by the tax contributions of the working poor. Think about that the next time you take your kids to school or you go to a free community youth centre. It was the working poor in your country that made that possible.

Answer 2

It was about jobs. Some parts of the country would skate around the civil rights act and not hire these people. So most looked at the service as a way to work. Others joined just so they would not get drafted. If you were rich or had connections you could pull some strings and get into the national guard as with what Bush did. Many people did this so that they would not have to go to Vietnam.

Answer 3

That is a myth. You should do some research. There were more volunteers for Vietnam than past wars.

Rich people do not need the financial/medical/dental security that comes with being in the military, so they are not inclined to join for that reason. They usually dont have any direct experience with the military, so they base their opinion off of what they think they know.

Answer 4

Some felt that it was their only way out of the life they lived. They thought that going off to war would give them a better life to come home to. Poor people don't always like being poor, and kids don't choose who and what they're born into. They want a way out and sometimes there is no way out.

Answer 5

My Dad went to Vietnam, not because he was a "lower-class white person" whatever that is, but because he felt it was his duty to serve. His father had served in WWII and Korea, my great-great Uncle was in WWI. We have a tradition of military service not of being "lower-class white people".

Answer 6

drafted, all got drafted.....the poor joined to have a job, get three good meals a day, get training in something that could help them in the real world......The rich went to school, and got deferments for that.....

Answer 7

That's not necessarily true. Ask John Kerry or Al Gore if they are lower-class.

Answer 8

They did not have a daddy who could pull strings and get them into the reserves (after enlistments were frozen) and then get them into a no-show unit in Alabama.

Answer 9

The less educated are conned easily, manipulated easily (the age-old honor, freedom bla bla) and of course could use the pay...

Answer 10

like john kerry and bill clinton?

one rich - joined
one a poor bastard child - dodged the draft

???