pbel
Gold Member
- Feb 26, 2012
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"most of the people during the vietnam era that were drafted came from poorer families, as far as i could tell. i detested those who attempted to evade the draft. many of them, who were so anti-war when they were draft eligible, as soon as they were deferred, could have cared less."
My husband AND his two brothers of similar age were each drafted. Their family was hardly 'poor' by any standards short of a millionaire's (PhD Chemist Dad worked for a large 'blue chip' chem company). Two did serve, one exempted for medical reasons (3 times).
I can only agree with you about the draft dodgers.
i implied none of what you seem to suggest i implied. most of the people i was with were about what the average civilian population was, intelligence wise.
I didn't mean to suggest that you per se had implied that. Very many effete 'liberal intellectuals' can and do imply and state such things outright. My husband and his brothers, like their Phi Beta Kappa parents, test 'in MENSA territory' (150+) and are far, far from 'average' by virtually any measurement except clothing sizes.
that middle class tradition usually comes from tthose whose ancestors came from poverty. many irish, native, and latino kids are in that category.
That's another subjective impression. Virtually everyone who went through the Depression was impoverished, lol! My husband's kin were 'gentleman farmers' who in the '30's and '40
's were sending their daughters to college. But the people to whom the military presented an unparalleled opportunity were like a couple officers we knew: one was a sharecropper's son who got his first pair of new shoes from the Army and collected all the education he could. Another grew up living 'Angela's Ashes' only in Brooklyn - and went to med school care of the military. Neither of those gents was near 'average' - though such stories are far from rare.
i enlisted in the middle of college myself. a lot of factors come into play. as far as i can tell, an e-1 today makes more than an e-1 of the vietnam era, adjusted...way, way, more.
But a person's only an E-1 through Basic.....or if they get busted down to that for selling off the food from the recruit's mess hall! When DH was serving in the Gulf, our military pay (E-8/over 16?) was only 2/3 of his nice civilian salary. It was tolerable, just barely, even with the tax-free status. He retired as an E-9/>30 which would be something like $72K/year as a full-time SALARY these days (NOT including the BAQ, which is probably another $1K/month)
By contrast, as an E-4/>2 we were making $7 too much per month to qualify for food stamps in Hawai'i about 35 years ago (but it was worth it to be there!!!!!)
Geez, I go on a Vet's thread and Large Marge is blabing away...Shouldn't you be in the coffee forum chewing on doughnuts ?
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