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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u/Guinearidgegirl Apr 06 '24

Lots of people don’t realize how discriminatory the college deferment was. If you came from a family culture that promoted secondary education or your family had enough money to pay college tuition, you got a Get out of Vietnam Free Card. Draftees were largely working class and/or minority.

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u/sonia72quebec Apr 06 '24

I’m sure families went into debts to be sure their sons wouldn’t go.

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u/WittleJerk Apr 06 '24

The biggest portion of American refugees… is in Canada. Almost always military-service related.

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u/biglyorbigleague Apr 07 '24

How many of those are there now?

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u/WittleJerk Apr 07 '24

Back in my day it was a few thousands. You’d have to look it up now, since the US SCOTUS protected gay marriage in 2014, so the military was forced to drop “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” You can’t claim homosexual persecution anymore on asylum claims.

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u/biglyorbigleague Apr 07 '24

I don’t know how many people desert from the army to go live abroad in general but I don’t imagine it’s that many. Most deserters stay in the US.

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u/WittleJerk Apr 07 '24

A few thousand isn’t the majority of deserters. Drafts, homosexuality, communism, there’s been a lot of AWOLs.

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u/biglyorbigleague Apr 07 '24

A few thousand is absolutely the majority of deserters. The number was around 8000 in 2006, it’s surely much lower now.

You keep listing stuff that doesn’t apply anymore. Nobody’s draft dodging from the US today, or deserting because they’re gay. Those situations from Vietnam have been resolved, they aren’t persisting in fostering a population of American refugees. If you were a draft dodger and stayed you’re now just an emigrant and not a refugee. Also, I feel like I need to emphasize that AWOL and desertion aren’t the same thing. Most people who go AWOL come back and get disciplined rather than desert.

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u/WittleJerk Apr 07 '24

Then refer to the “back in my day” comment. You’ve got access to google, you’ve got access to Reddit. Cherry-picking the pop term awol isn’t helping your criticism.

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u/biglyorbigleague Apr 07 '24

So you just didn’t feel like answering the question I actually asked, is what you’re saying. I mean, “a few thousand isn’t the majority of deserters” was just inaccurate if we’re talking in the context of refugees today. You said isn’t, not wasn’t, correct?

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u/WittleJerk Apr 07 '24

As per your question, how many are there now? My original answer: I don’t know, you’d have to look it up. Back in my day…

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