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Mike 03

(16,616 posts)
Mon May 4, 2020, 10:58 AM May 2020

Full Metal Jacket: A question that obsessed me for years

I was just out of college when FULL METAL JACKET was released. The film amazed me but I asked anybody I could find, "Was Joker drafted?" The answer was always "You can't get drafted into the Marines." So for thirty years I've obsessively wondered, Why did Joker join the Marines in the first place?

Because this question lingers, and because the Vietnam war has been on my mind because we've just crossed the number of war dead in coronavirus cases, yesterday I Googled "Vietnam drafted into the Marines?"

This time a Quora page came up where someone had asked "Do the Marines draft?" with some answers:

At the height of the Vietnam era draft, army inductees were asked for volunteers to go to to the Marine Corps. If there weren’t enough volunteers to satisfy the needs of the Marines, more inductees were volunteered.

Technically, the marines weren’t drafting anyone. Those going into the Marine corps as draftees, served a two year stint, not three as the standard Marine enlistee had to do. After completing their two year active duty service in the Marine corps, draftees were usually sent back to the Army Reserve or stand-by reserves to complete their five year service obligation. Draftees were not allowed to volunteer for the Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard.


And:

During WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, the U.S. Marines conscripted. That said, they were not drafting when I joined in the mid-60s, but they were by the end of the -60s. The Marines stopped drafting, of course, when conscription as a national U.S. policy ended in 1973.

If the U.S. were to begin conscription again, I don’t believe the Marines would have to resume drafting. The reason is that the U. S. Marine Corps, as an institution, and as a culture, has a mystique that Americans revere.

American mothers and fathers believe their sons and daughters will go through a Right of Passage into responsible Adult Hood if they join the Marine Corps, and be well cared for in the process. Sisters and and brothers idolize their older siblings who join and can’t wait to join themselves.


And:

Generally no. However during Vietnam my brother was drafted and every 5th recruit was sent to the Marines. When drafted you only serve two years so as a Marine, he was one of a few with that short of a time commitment in the Marines. It’s often three and four depending on the times. I am talking about enlisted not officers.


And:

I can 100% confirm that they did during the Vietnam War. My grandfather was drafted into the Marine Corps. His story goes something like this. He, at the time, lived in northern Maine, population in his town probably less than 1000. Last day of his senior year of high school, representatives from all the branches, save the Coast Guard, came through the school and lined up all the "military age males". There was no lottery, or names in hat or none of that junk. They went down the line and counted off, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4...1's to the Corps, 2's to the Navy, 3's to the Army, and 4's to the Air Force. The rest for him, as they say, is history.


https://www.quora.com/Do-the-U-S-Marines-draft

So the question isn't exactly settled, but at least now there is a probability Joker was drafted. Joker's a character who is difficult to decipher, due to his combination of ironic detachment and apparent lack of enthusiasm. But he also seems to be fascinated by reality, which could prompt someone to want to go to war (i.e. war as romanticized by writers like Hemingway). I could imagine him being bored with his life and thinking it might be interesting to go to Vietnam. He is asked at one point in the movie why he joined the Marines (or why he wanted to go to Vietnam) and he gives a very acerbic, sarcastic answer about wanting to meet people of other nationalities and kill them. Like many of Stanley Kubrick's characters, he is a fascinating, contradictory enigma.

Maybe many people figured this out a long time ago, but this was a revelation to me. I just thought it was interesting, in case others have wondered about it.
5 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Full Metal Jacket: A question that obsessed me for years (Original Post) Mike 03 May 2020 OP
that answer is yes. we had draftees in my platoon. rampartc May 2020 #1
This happened to my buddy at the pre induction physical mitch96 May 2020 #2
When I was drafted, one went to the Marines hvn_nbr_2 May 2020 #3
When my older brother was enlisting after flunking out of college SCantiGOP May 2020 #4
Yeah, it happened... Wounded Bear May 2020 #5

rampartc

(5,263 posts)
1. that answer is yes. we had draftees in my platoon.
Mon May 4, 2020, 11:02 AM
May 2020

and more than a few who enlisted as an alternative to sentencing.

mitch96

(13,816 posts)
2. This happened to my buddy at the pre induction physical
Mon May 4, 2020, 12:25 PM
May 2020

They told a room full of Army Inductees that every 4 th man to step forward..
Congratulation.. you just volunteered for the United States Marine Corps... He just about shit.
m

hvn_nbr_2

(6,481 posts)
3. When I was drafted, one went to the Marines
Mon May 4, 2020, 03:51 PM
May 2020

There were five of us at my draft board. They said one was going to the marines and asked for volunteers. No volunteers. They said they selected one randomly but they picked the biggest most athletic-looking of the five.

SCantiGOP

(13,855 posts)
4. When my older brother was enlisting after flunking out of college
Mon May 4, 2020, 04:04 PM
May 2020

He said the recruiter told him and a few other guys there that they could "select" where they wanted to spend their enlistment. He said he knew this was a bunch of bull, that they would all end up going to Vietnam.
He said several guys picked Germany, one picked Korea (hoping to avoid combat) but one guy actually got his request, which was for Greenland.
My brother told me he would rather get shot at in Vietnam than freeze to death in Greenland.

One other weird note was the luckiest guy I ever knew. We worked together in the mid-80s. He enlisted in the Marine Corps, and through some kind of blind luck spent his entire active duty as a guard at the US Embassy in the Netherlands.

Wounded Bear

(58,436 posts)
5. Yeah, it happened...
Mon May 4, 2020, 04:08 PM
May 2020

it also happened that people enlisted in the USMC to avoid getting drafted. Seems silly, I know, but when I was recruited I got an "Aviation guarantee" that assured me that I wouldn't be a grunt slogging through rice paddies. Of course I had to pass the schools they sent me too, but that wasn't a big problem, even with the tech schools I went to.

I know a couple of guys whose family forwarded their 'report for service' letters from the draft board in boot camp. Kind of a sick joke, but fitting.

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