From: rwojcik@bcsaic.boeing.com (Rick Wojcik)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: Was Quayle a Moral Draft Dodger? (was Re: Better Off Than Four Years Ago NOT)
Date: 4 Sep 92 17:09:45 GMT
Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle

In article 12716@anasazi.com, john@anasazi.com (John R. Moore) writes:

>Hah hah hah! First of all, Quayle served in the military. Have you ever
>done so? If so, you would realize it is a far cry from being in
>ROTC, and when you serve, you really do surrender all control over
>your future. Don't forget that some National Guard units did go
>to Vietnam, and so did some reservists (including myself).

John, are you trying to use your military record to run for public office?
Shame on you!  ;-)  I think that you are being a bit misleading here, but 
let's take a little stroll down memory lane.  Feel free to disagree with the
following assertions:

   1)  Nobody at that time enlisted in the National Guard to go to Vietnam.

   2)  The National Guard, at the time, was considered by many, if not most
       enlistees, to be a way of fulfiling a military obligation without
       going into combat.  An honorable alternative.

   3)  Quayle, like many young men at the time, used whatever influence he
       had to get himself into a noncombatant military position.  Nothing
       dishonorable about that.

   4)  ROTC graduates had a greater chance of ending up in Vietnam than did
       National Guard units.  And everyone knew it at the time.  

   5)  Because the National Guard was viewed as "safe"--not unlike a posting
       to Germany or Korea--it was difficult to enlist in it.  Quayle had to
       pull strings, an option that was not open to most men.  And he ended
       up in a very cushy job, once he got in.  An "elite" unit for jounalists.

   6)  Quayle justified his decision on the grounds that he needed to continue
       his law studies.  Otherwise, he would have been glad to go into combat,
       right?  You remember the critical shortage of lawyers in the nation at
       that time, don't you?  ;-)

   7)  Quayle has never wavered in his staunch support for that war, although
       he had better things to do than to fight in it.  The popular slang for
       hypocrites of that stripe--the Robertson/Buchanan types--is "Chicken
       Hawk."

>Yes, there were legal methods for dodging the draft, but channeling
>was not meant to send people into programs that trained them to
>be soldiers (at government expense), only to have them slip out.

That is true.  The lottery came into effect, because channeling had been
exposed for what it was.  With the lottery in place, men with high lottery
numbers were able to do what they wanted, free of pressure from the draft.
ROTC enrollment plunged.  Channeling was not meant to allow that to happen.
The military understood the political need to give up channeling.  Finally.

But it was meant to get men to enlist in the military rather than be drafted.
That is why draftees usually ended up in the infantry (albeit, much to the
relief of many, not always in combat).  The only reason that National Guard
units ended up in Vietnam, a very rare event, was to fill in for a serious
manpower shortage.  Glorious and desirable as duty was in Vietnam, they even
had to resort to drafting people into the marines and pulling sailors off 
ships for combat duty.  Makes you wonder how Quayle could stand the pressure,
doesn't it?  :-)

-- 
Rick Wojcik   csnet:  rwojcik@atc.boeing.com	   
              uucp:   uw-beaver!bcsaic!rwojcik 
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