Raynine
Platinum Member
- Oct 28, 2023
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I remember taking an army physical in 1966. Lucky for me, I was born blind in one eye. I say lucky because without that bad eye I would have been on a fast track to Vietnam. I showed up as instructed at a designated business in Keene, New Hampshire at 6 am. There were about 40 buses there loaded with guys that did not have student deferments. There were no females at all. As soon as I got there a uniformed individual started yelling at me to go there and get in line! I followed the person in front of me and did as I was told. I had a piece of paper with some information on it and was told to present it to a giant man in US Army garb.
I was then told to go to a specific bus with a number on it. They packed us in like sardines! No one said much because we were instructed not to talk. It took a while because even in a small city like Keene, the parking lot was completely swamped with crowds of young men who did not have student deferments.
After what seemed like an eternity, the buses started moving in a long procession for the fifty-mile trip to Manchester, New Hampshire. It was December and cold, and the bus windows were translucent with the breath of the riders. This was 1966 and the buses, which were school buses, did not have great heaters.
I can’t recall much about the ride other than recognizing some of my classmates who like me, did not have student deferments. I do remember thinking that maybe I should have tried harder in school so I could have had a student deferment, but it was too late. A guidance councilor told me in school that my IQ was 121-128 and that I was lazy. He told me that because I tried to switch from college English to general English just so I could get through school. He said no, because it would give me an unfair advantage over the kids in General English. I did not tell him about the alcoholic, abusive home I was living in. As bad as things were, there were people who had it even worse, and like I said, I consider myself lucky to have that bad eye because a lot of guys with two good eyes came from homes worse than mine and ended up in the jungle fighting to stop LBJ’s Domino Theory.
We arrived in Manchester at about 7 am and there were about 400 buses everywhere as far as the eye could see. There was a lot of yelling, and I got off my bus with the guy behind me stepping on my heels. It was cold and some of the guys had thin jackets as they lined people up to be herded into one of the buildings. They wanted names and issued color-coded numbered cardboard sheets which took some time. I really began to regret not having that student deferment. As I stood there shivering, I began to wonder if things would have been better if I had done things right and got a student deferment, but that had gone by the boards, and I did not know then that my bad eye was going to help me.
Finally, when we got into a building, more yelling ensued and we were run down chutes for fast, embarrassing physical exams that were strangely dreamlike as if in another dimension. I stayed quiet and moved like a robot. I was 5’5, 120 pounds, and eighteen years old. I tried my best to follow instructions and not be like others that screwed up and were loudly dressed down before the crowd.
Then testing, testing, and more testing! Written tests, reading tests and what looked like psychological and personality tests. They must have fed us, but I do not recall that part. I’m nearly eighty so my memory is not as sharp as it once was. I do recall that a person in a uniform had handed me a folded piece of paper and told me not to lose it. I sneaked a look at it, and it read “I can’t do a thing with this man’s left eye”. The process took all day and right at the end another uniformed person took the paper from my hand, and they sent me into another room to test my eyes again. Then they sent me to an officer who was a Major. It said so on his uniform and it also said he was a medical doctor. He told me that my left eye was bad. I tried to act like I was surprised and did my best to seem disappointed that I may have failed the Army.
I knew what 4-F was and I expected that was what would appear on my draft card. That is not what happened. The doctor said: You have a bad eye, but we can still use you if things go really bad. It was then that I began to think about those German’s during World War two with one arm. The doctor said we are going to classify you 1-Y, a classification that no longer exists by the way. That means you will only climb the lottery if the Russians invade West Germany or something like that. I took it to mean I would make a great one-eyed human shield if things went south quickly.
Well, the Russians never got in tanks and invaded West Germany, and I never got that student deferment that made those that did special in some way. I stayed 1-Y for years and then one day in the 1970’s I got an envelope from the Selective Service after I had three kids. I opened it with trepidation that I was finally drafted. The notice said my classification was changed from 1-Y to 4-F.
I don’t know if I would have been an Eddie Slovik or an Audie Murphy in the Army. My brother did go and he passed a couple of tests that kept him out of Vietnam. In a way I regret not going in because my brother says it changed his life for the better. I do know that I had enough of the Army in that one day. I played in a rock band instead and I have some interesting stories to tell about that another time.
I was then told to go to a specific bus with a number on it. They packed us in like sardines! No one said much because we were instructed not to talk. It took a while because even in a small city like Keene, the parking lot was completely swamped with crowds of young men who did not have student deferments.
After what seemed like an eternity, the buses started moving in a long procession for the fifty-mile trip to Manchester, New Hampshire. It was December and cold, and the bus windows were translucent with the breath of the riders. This was 1966 and the buses, which were school buses, did not have great heaters.
I can’t recall much about the ride other than recognizing some of my classmates who like me, did not have student deferments. I do remember thinking that maybe I should have tried harder in school so I could have had a student deferment, but it was too late. A guidance councilor told me in school that my IQ was 121-128 and that I was lazy. He told me that because I tried to switch from college English to general English just so I could get through school. He said no, because it would give me an unfair advantage over the kids in General English. I did not tell him about the alcoholic, abusive home I was living in. As bad as things were, there were people who had it even worse, and like I said, I consider myself lucky to have that bad eye because a lot of guys with two good eyes came from homes worse than mine and ended up in the jungle fighting to stop LBJ’s Domino Theory.
We arrived in Manchester at about 7 am and there were about 400 buses everywhere as far as the eye could see. There was a lot of yelling, and I got off my bus with the guy behind me stepping on my heels. It was cold and some of the guys had thin jackets as they lined people up to be herded into one of the buildings. They wanted names and issued color-coded numbered cardboard sheets which took some time. I really began to regret not having that student deferment. As I stood there shivering, I began to wonder if things would have been better if I had done things right and got a student deferment, but that had gone by the boards, and I did not know then that my bad eye was going to help me.
Finally, when we got into a building, more yelling ensued and we were run down chutes for fast, embarrassing physical exams that were strangely dreamlike as if in another dimension. I stayed quiet and moved like a robot. I was 5’5, 120 pounds, and eighteen years old. I tried my best to follow instructions and not be like others that screwed up and were loudly dressed down before the crowd.
Then testing, testing, and more testing! Written tests, reading tests and what looked like psychological and personality tests. They must have fed us, but I do not recall that part. I’m nearly eighty so my memory is not as sharp as it once was. I do recall that a person in a uniform had handed me a folded piece of paper and told me not to lose it. I sneaked a look at it, and it read “I can’t do a thing with this man’s left eye”. The process took all day and right at the end another uniformed person took the paper from my hand, and they sent me into another room to test my eyes again. Then they sent me to an officer who was a Major. It said so on his uniform and it also said he was a medical doctor. He told me that my left eye was bad. I tried to act like I was surprised and did my best to seem disappointed that I may have failed the Army.
I knew what 4-F was and I expected that was what would appear on my draft card. That is not what happened. The doctor said: You have a bad eye, but we can still use you if things go really bad. It was then that I began to think about those German’s during World War two with one arm. The doctor said we are going to classify you 1-Y, a classification that no longer exists by the way. That means you will only climb the lottery if the Russians invade West Germany or something like that. I took it to mean I would make a great one-eyed human shield if things went south quickly.
Well, the Russians never got in tanks and invaded West Germany, and I never got that student deferment that made those that did special in some way. I stayed 1-Y for years and then one day in the 1970’s I got an envelope from the Selective Service after I had three kids. I opened it with trepidation that I was finally drafted. The notice said my classification was changed from 1-Y to 4-F.
I don’t know if I would have been an Eddie Slovik or an Audie Murphy in the Army. My brother did go and he passed a couple of tests that kept him out of Vietnam. In a way I regret not going in because my brother says it changed his life for the better. I do know that I had enough of the Army in that one day. I played in a rock band instead and I have some interesting stories to tell about that another time.
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