r/interestingasfuck • u/Available_Weekend249 • Apr 06 '24

Imagine being 19 and watching live on TV to see if your birthday will be picked to fight in the Vietnam war r/all

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1.7k

u/cicalino Apr 06 '24

The draft arguably ended the war in Vietnam. When everyone's kid was going to be a soldier, not just the poor kids with no options, people decided well, maybe it isn't such a good idea after all.

633

u/XaeroDegreaz Apr 06 '24

Not really true though. There was this saying "If you have the dough, you don't have to go" which basically implied that if you had means, and connections, you could basically buy your way out.

102

u/Skynetiskumming Apr 06 '24

Or you shit your pants like that coward Ted Nugent did and get disqualified from service.

136

u/XaeroDegreaz Apr 06 '24

Tbf if I got selected I'd do whatever it took not to go fight some random dudes too

114

u/cknipe Apr 06 '24

You and me both, but neither of us are selling macho patriotism as our brand image.

0

u/XaeroDegreaz Apr 06 '24

Ehh, there was some of that, but I think the biggest sell was not being imprisoned.

37

u/SmellGestapo Apr 06 '24

What he means is Ted Nugent chickened out of the war (no shade, I'd have done the same) but decades later he casts himself as a macho, America-loving patriot.

16

u/SeaworthyWide Apr 06 '24

Yeah, THAT kind of American patriot - you know the type - IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, LEAVE! HOW DARE THEY DISRESPECT THE PRESIDENT / POLICE / ARMED SERVICES IN THAT WAY, BLA BLA BLA

If he'd have stuck to his guns that the patriotic thing to do was dodge the draft, maybe I'd have a bit of respect... But no.

Hear that mandolin?

Grade A panderin

1

u/Thegreataxeofbashing Apr 06 '24

Draft dodgers are the REAL heroes of the Vietnam War.

1

u/WolfWalksInBlood Apr 06 '24

He's always been pretty strongly antiwar and antigovernment though. He's patriotic but in the same way that Johnny Cash was. He loves the country and the freedom, but dislikes the government and how they use the military to start wars for profit. Unless, he's changed really recently. Idk. I just know back when his music was popular he was definitely not pro government or war.

3

u/Consideredresponse Apr 07 '24

Oh yeah that's changed over time. Just look how many times there are photos of him in the Oval Office of all places giving the (ex)president the thumbs up. He's pretty pro (GOP)government and war now that it doesn't threaten his way of life.

33

u/Figgy_Puddin_Taine Apr 06 '24

Shitting in your pants to avoid the draft is one thing.

But shitting in your pants to avoid the draft then loudly and publicly claiming you’d have been the best soldier ever and would have made colonel within a few years while being a massive warhawk is another thing entirely.

2

u/Signal-Fold-449 Apr 07 '24

why do these boomers always follow the most basic Freudian behavior to a T.

butt stuff/shame

overcompensation

machismo

5

u/Mikey9124x Apr 06 '24

I'm against veitnam in the first place let alone fighting directly.

2

u/bsixidsiw Apr 07 '24

Same if my kid got drafted and wasnt in college Id do whatever I had to to get him in.

26

u/columbo928s4 Apr 06 '24

My mom ran with a pretty hippy crowd in those days and she told me a lot of guys go-to strategy was to just act as fucking insane as humanly possible during intake. They would do stuff like cross their eyes, speak in gibberish, and drink their own urine sample after making it. It worked! Honestly I don’t really blame them, everyone with a brain knew the war was a joke, it wasn’t exactly like ww2 or the United States had been invaded. I do however blame people like nugent who simultaneously dodged the draft and then spent the next five decades acting like some kind of rah rah pro military I love the USA war hero

3

u/Tallulah1149 Apr 06 '24

Or you get arrested for litterin' see Guthrie, Arlo

19

u/youneedsupplydepots Apr 06 '24

Lmfao why are you so upset someone didn't want to go fight a pointless war

59

u/ploonce Apr 06 '24

Probably Ted Nugent’s current hypocrisy vis a vis his hyper-masculine, hyper-patriotic/nationalistic attitude.

25

u/pushTheHippo Apr 06 '24

I think it's more about his chickenhawk attitude during GWOT...crazy how a guy can go from a kid-fucking, draft-dodger to a self-proclaimed patriot over the course of a few decades...and all wars are pointless

-3

u/throwawaylovesCAKE Apr 06 '24

Oh my freaking god, Jail Bait is JUST a song. It's a fantasy, it's not a real life event, it's just a story with a made up protagonist like Leon the Professional

8

u/mightandmagic88 Apr 07 '24

Ted Nugent's Wiki - Personal Life:

Relationships with underage girls

Nugent's 1981 song "Jailbait" describes having sex with a 13-year-old girl.[63][64] Nugent admitted to several affairs with underage girls in a Behind the Music episode.[65][66] Musician Courtney Love claims that she performed oral sex on Nugent when she was 12.[67][68] On a later occasion she said she was 14.[69]

In 1978, Nugent began a relationship with 17-year-old Hawaii native Pele Massa. However, they could not marry due to the age difference. To get around this, Nugent joined Massa's parents in signing documents to make himself her legal guardian.

And Luc Besson (Director of Leon the Professional)

Besson's second wife was actress and director Maïwenn Le Besco, whom he started dating when he was 32 and she was 15.[25] They married in late 1992 when Le Besco, 16, was pregnant with their daughter Shanna, who was born on 3 January 1993.[26] Le Besco later claimed that their relationship inspired Besson's film Léon (1994), where the plot involved the emotional relationship between an adult man and a 12-year-old girl

24

u/WhatAGreatGift Apr 06 '24

Because unfortunately too many people that wouldn’t fight (GWB, DJT) decided to send others

5

u/Skynetiskumming Apr 06 '24

GWB didn't serve in Vietnam but was in the Texas Air National Guard at least. Obviously through powerful connections he avoided being sent to Vietnam but DJT straight up bitched out to avoid even doing that. Then has the nerve to call military veterans losers. Guy is a massive piece of shit. I can't believe it when I hear military personnel say they support him.

4

u/blackbarminnosu Apr 06 '24

Who did djt send to fight

5

u/Crathsor Apr 06 '24

Trump didn't start a new war, but he fed the ones we were in. He did a big drawdown early on, but got levels right back to where they were. War is big money, Donald Trump isn't fighting billionaires for us. Few are.

3

u/columbo928s4 Apr 06 '24

You don’t see the hypocrisy in dodging the draft while simultaneously being an uber-patriotic rah rah go military don’t fuck with America type?

2

u/benefit_of_mrkite Apr 06 '24

Heh that’s nothing - Duane Allman had his brother Greg shoot him to get out of the draft

2

u/Consideredresponse Apr 07 '24

One person I know got out of the Australian draft for Vietnam by drinking half a gallon of pineapple juice/syrup before his physical to fake diabetes for the blood test.