Reply #65: This subthread is the truth, IMO.

[Ron Green]

It was also my experience (I served from 1966-69) that the draftees were every bit as good at soldiering as the enlistees, and that the true cross-section of Americans in uniform at that time was a healthy mix of patriots and dissenters, educated and not, rich and poor. The "hoo-aa" bullshit that accompanies a George W. Bush rally would never have made it during Viet Nam; there was too much thinking and talking going on in the hooch during off-duty time.

By late 1968 the FTA movement was pervasive at every base I visited, and this was instrumental in turning the tide against the illegitimate war.