Some may consider this post obscene,

[5X]

and it may be considering the day.

I almost always get asked in medical dispensaries if I am a veteran.
I am tempted to say, "We are all veterans of the war on drugs, most volunteered, many died".

[walkingman]

1. I've been saying it for decades. I always say I was a veteran of the "big war" the war on drugs.

Actually I only smoke pot so just being a wise ass. However, I did dodge the draft in '68 by enrolling in college.

[5X]

2. Hardly anybody our age wanted to volunteer for the armed services.

By '68 (and '72 when I graduated high school) nobody wanted to go to Vietnam.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

3. Yeh...some did...nt

[Hoyt]

4. Interestingly, only about 25% who served in Vietnam were drafted. Over 60% were drafted in WII.

In my area, a lot of kids believed fighting Asians was patriotic.

[5X]

5. I met many of those that volunteered after they got back,

not many still felt the same way.

[Hoyt]

6. Same experience here.

[3Hotdogs]

7. I recall, it was in the 70's. I was a high school teacher in New Providence, N.J.

middle, upper middle municipality. Few working class.

Anyway, I'm on hall patrol. Kid comes walking down the hall, singing to himself,

"I want to live a life of danger,
I want to be an airborn ranger.

interesting contrast. 15 years later, hall patrol, Jersey City public schools.

"N... be fast,
bullet be faster.


I have no conclusion to offer. Maybe just that hall patrol isn't such a waste of time if you pay attention to what's going on around you.

Come to think on it. I do have bunches of stories about hall patrol. Some day, when I have more time.

[mudge]

8. No way around it

The old man wasn't fooled back in the day. Right after the "War on Drugs" slogan
started getting pushed down our throats, he and most of his Vet buddies
railed against the entire concept. As teenagers back in the 70's old man explained
that the system was nothing more than a cash cow for the feds that would never end.
All you need to do is declare a war on an enemy that does not exist. He could never
conscience the actions taken against so many of our own. This from the late 70's early 80's.
Amazing how smart most of out parents are/were.

Mudge and the misus