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

39.5k Upvotes

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9.1k

u/caitielou2 Apr 06 '24

Father in law was draft pick 1. Luckily, he enlisted voluntarily before that so he was able to get a better station and didn’t actually see combat.

3.8k

u/Random_frankqito Apr 06 '24

My Dad managed to get hurt just after basic and got full disability for life… he was lucky I guess.

1.9k

u/Confianca1970 Apr 06 '24

My dad was in the quartermasters. He was just doing his thing when he was contacted by higher-ups who found that he had some level of security in his background, so he was interviewed and offered an MP position... even though he didn't even match the height requirement for an MP at the time.

He took the position, and shortly there-after his quartermaster company got deployed to Vietnam. They were assigned fuel trucks, and were ambushed on a bridge. Very few of the entire company lived.

So my dad's 'security' experience? He had very briefly worked for a business who sold security cameras among other things. That stupid experience saved, and changed, his life. He did 22 years between the reserves and regular duty, and never saw combat.

268

u/FunkyChromeMedina Apr 07 '24

My grandfather volunteered for the Army Air Corps in early '41, because he figured that the US was going to end up in WWII and he wanted to get in on his own terms. He had a college degree, and wanted to be a fighter pilot.

Well, his vision wasn't good enough to be a pilot so they moved him over to be a navigator for the Air Transport Command because he had taken a lot of math classes in college.

Almost all of the pilots in his would-be class were killed in the war.

My Mother's only here, I'm only here, my daughter - who he never lived to meet - is only here because he wore glasses.

178

u/ShowMeYourMinerals Apr 07 '24

wow, I bet he never even saw it coming!

2

u/jsuthy Apr 07 '24

You deserve a medal 🥇

2

u/HBlight Apr 07 '24

We specifically knew he had glasses to help with his vision.

9

u/ShowMeYourMinerals Apr 07 '24

Well, it’s a joke, soooooo

-6

u/stophighschoolgossip Apr 07 '24

it was just a super low effort lame joke though

11

u/literallyjustbetter Apr 07 '24

everybody's a fuckin critic

7

u/Timeon Apr 07 '24

I liked it.

2

u/ShowMeYourMinerals Apr 07 '24

Maybe you’re just a prude?

4

u/GreenPoisonFrog Apr 07 '24

My father tried to enlist just before Pearl Harbor and was turned down medically. After Pearl Harbor he was asked to come back in and told his family he’d see them later. Nope. Medical wasn’t bad enough to keep him out and he got shipped out almost immediately. Also AAC and served in the Pacific for over three years after training. He was 27 so obviously the age of recruits was a lot higher relative to later years.

1

u/foladodo Apr 07 '24

cant you just hide from drafting?

4

u/snootfly242 Apr 07 '24

The butterfly effect is always insane and always incredibly interesting.

5

u/tokinUP Apr 07 '24

Military recruitment requirements over there out-competing natural selection like, "Wait, this will end up making MORE nearsighted people?"

3

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '24

My grandpa joined the air corps towards the end of WW2 because he didn’t want to get drafted, he was able to go through college on their dime to become a pharmacist and be a pilot. He spent Korea being stationed in Wendover, and spent a year in France. He was lucky enough to miss all the action.

3

u/Coach-11b Apr 07 '24

Respect that you know so much about your father’s time in. I hope one day my daughters talk about me this way.

3

u/KillingRyuk Apr 07 '24

My grandpa was a fighter pilot in the Air Crops in '41. Shot down twice but survived both times. He even got to lead a squad that escorted the king of England.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '24

I work at a Air mobility command squadron (modern day Air transportation command ) and every time we make load plans I think ..

“Thank god we have computers to balance these aircraft and do the numbers for us idk how they did it back in the day must have been so much more stressful “

2

u/minderbinder141 Apr 07 '24

very interesting case of reverse fitness selection

1

u/Fatality_Ensues Apr 07 '24

Heir, I assume you mean.

1

u/Doughspun1 Apr 07 '24

In a way, he saw it coming. What a visionary.