Do you think the Vietnam War would have gone differently if the draft had been fair?

Question

One of the factors that contributed to the unpopularity of the Vietnam War and not having as many troops as was needed was the unfairness of the draft. There were many ways that people could get out of it, such as being in college and marriage.

In these senses the draft targeted lower class people.

During the drafts in World War I and II, these exemptions didn't exist.

Even if you supported the war, you still have to admit it was unfair that only certain people be required to fight it. The draft exemptions basically said that a person's life was worth less than another's.

Answer 1

The problem of the war in Vietnem was not who was sent there, it was the flawed policy decisions by the people that got us involved in it in the first place.

Answer 2

The marriage exemption was discontinuted the day before the draft lottery wasre instituted. That's why so many people got married sooner than they should have. And assuming it WAS still in effect, how would that have targeted minorities? Lots of white people got married on the eve of the draft to get out of the draft. Are you suggesting minorties cant get married?

The S-1 exemption applied to anyone in college. It applied to community colleges, state schools and other extremely low tuition and in some cases free tuition institutions. Now it may be true that at the time there were more minorities out of school than not, but the exemption was available to them. And often, college was free. That was a choice not necessarily made by the government. Often, it was a choice made by the individual.

The draft exemptions had rational attached to them. To say that they put more value on one life over another is simply absurd. ANYONE could have taken advantage of those exemptions in theory. In practice, perhaps not. Since I had friends of all "classes" killed in the war, I resent the characterization that the draft targeted "lower class" people. It struck with surgical synergy. And those who were too "lower class" to get out were no more or less heroes than those of "higher class." That's an insult.

As for the reasons for unpopularity of the war, sorry. But this was not a big one. In all war, certain races are disproportionately represented. In some wars, "lower class" people complained because they didnt get to go to the front. In others, "higher class" people joined because they felt the need to.

You need to review your history my freind.

EDIT: DEZ

Where there is a draft question, there is a lunatic who thinks Clinton ( a legitimate deferrment) and Bush ( a deserter) are somehow the rule. They are not. Every system is subject to abuse. To condemn the entire system because of an abuse and a political obsession is lunacy.

Answer 3

Your question is a simple one and deserves a simple answer. The draft was unfair during the war in Vietnam and the burden was bore disproportionately by those who were not so well connected that they could escape the draft.

And the pertinence of your question to the present is that if the burden was spread equally among all the classes of the USA society, there would probably be more reluctance by the government to engage in wars like the war in Iraq.

Answer 4

No and there is no way we can ever win a land war in Asia. We can only win with superior fire-power which was not allowed until 1972 when Nixon sent the B-52's in to bomb the North for the whole month of December. It was called the Christmas bombing and the North asked for peace talks to settle up because they were taking such heavy loses. Guess what? The South Vietnamese General did not like the conditions and the war went on. We left in 1973. The war went on for two more years and ended in April of 1975. I am a Vietnam Veteran. A war of attrition with Asians is impossible. And one more thing to add is that the Vietnamese people are some of the meanest toughest people in the world. Ask China and Japan about them.

Answer 5

Vietnam, like Iraq, was political stupidity to the extreme and doomed to failure. If the draft had been fairer – meaning that more middle- and upper-middle class kids had been killed sooner – then the war would have ended sooner.

It was not the social/political anti-war movement so much that brought the war to an end as it was the increasing number of affluent draftees. These were the sons of parents who had the resources and inclination to start complaining to their representatives when their child was either drafted, drafted and killed, or facing being drafted.

As their numbers grew, Congressional leaders began to pay attention until, ultimately, they were forced to bend to the will of their constituents, the American people. Since Congress controlled the financial support for the war, it forced the executive branch to move toward ending America’s involvement.

Answer 6

All drafts have been unfair. Someone with $500 could buy his way out of Lincoln's draft.

All those who couldn't get student deferments, or assigned to a champagne National Guard unit (George Bush - who went AWOL from, then sent them to Iraq), had a physical condition, (like a pimple on his butt - Rush Limbaugh), or had a sudden great desire to do missionary work, or didn't show up at the induction wearing a dress or displaying, claiming homosexuality, becomecriminals (toke a mary jane, go to jail, miss out on Vietnam), or suddenly join a seminary, got drafted.

It wasn't the soldiers on the ground, it was the national politicians micro-managing military operations for short term political objectives, while safe in 'Merca - AKA "rear echelon mother F&^%&$^ers" that made a joke out of military strategy.

Everyone with a brain knew that at the time the goverment was 'stopping the spread of 'commynism' ;-> while they were still trading with and selling to communist countries. So, as usual, it was on the behalf of someone's private interest$, or something else was at $take - mebbe an oil field off Vietnam?

It surely wasn't to save "democracy' - South Vietnam wasn't a democracy. So, literally ♫"What the hell are we fighting for?"♫ Was it to save the Vienamese ppl? Why didn't they just evacuate those who wanted to leave - as we ended up doing half-a$$ in the end anyways .

Answer 7

While you made a valid point, about going to school, the
deferments. The majority of the soldiers in Viet Nam did
volunteer especially in the first yrs. of the War. Now, toward the end it was somewhat of a different story. The
problem(major) was that by the time a soldier got over there and figured out the do's and don'ts they were rotated, then the unit,company or whatever had to start from scratch, "with green recruits." and the South Viet Nam Govt. and Military was CORRUPT!!!! If Harry and Ike had listened to their Intelligence. Gave "Ho" the supplies he wanted (to fight the French) they would not have went RED. After all they were our allies against the Japanese. "Ho" actually tried to get an audience with the US President to no avail. Then the French ended-up leaving in 1954, after Dien Bien Fu(not sure about the spelling) Then Ike sent in the
"observers" and by this time they had went RED!! Kennedy was elected not about to come out by this time
("HOT" Cold War) and the rest is history. Politics make some strange bedfellows HUH!!

Answer 8

I think that the draft was only one of many, many reasons that the Viet Nam war was so hated. Soldiers usually come from the lower classes, draft or no draft. Enlisting is touted as a way to create a career, go to school, etc. etc. This appeals to many who would otherwise not be able to attend school or job training.

Of course this is just the carrot dangled in front of the people that the "higher ups" have deemed "collateral" anyway. The poor will always be in the front lines, and the rich will always find a way to buy their way out.

I'm a rabid Liberal, and I have long felt that EVERYONE should be required to give a year or two to the service of their country---but they should be able to choose what form of service--the military, office work, teaching, inner-city mentoring, etc. etc. (But, the way the government is now...forget it! They don't protect our rights, they don't honor the Constitution, and they deserve nothing but getting kicked to the curb!)

Answer 9

"During the drafts in World War I and II, these exemptions didn't exist."

And just where did this line of bull come from? During the second world war, there were many, many ways of those to get deferrments to avoid military service, and believe me, a great deal of people took advantage of these reasons, and this was also true of the Korean war and Vietnam.
The main problem of both the Korean conflict, and Nam, was we actually had no good reason to be there, and we had just gotten through with the second world war. People in general were war weary, and had enough killing.
Like the war in Iraq, neither war was winnable, you can beat a military army, but not a civilian population.
To Davy Jones:
America wasn't in WW1? what cave did you just emerge from? get a book and learn your history, and to think you might even vote, scary !

Answer 10

The draft was more fair than the current volunteer system, as now there is a much higher percentage of poor and underpriviledged people in the military.

The Viet Nam war would not likely have gone any differently, because, like Iraq, the soldiers often couldn't tell who the enemy was. Both conflicts share the same distinction of being fundamentally unwinnable.

Answer 11

I think they should not have had a draft at all. World Wars 1 and 2 really did not need a draft, they would have gotten more than enough volunteers. Don't forget that at the start of World War 2 most major league baseball players (such as Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams) stopped playing baseball and volunteered for military duty. How many of today's pro athletes would do that??