Is there anyone on DU-3 who lived through Vietnam War Era..whose life was changed by the DraftWar?

[flexnor]

16. Breathtaking change of culture from 1965 to 1968

Last edited Mon Feb 20, 2012, 09:09 PM - Edit history (1)

1965 is the first year i can remember

life in midwestern small town USA seemed like the greatest time and place of all time, even the music was totally upbeat 'surfin USA' and mildly patriotic. Older people listen to stuff like herb alpert, and that's just as cool

new cars were really cool, and you couldnt wait to grow up and be a teenager, even though being a little kid was a blast, hanging out at the pool with your friends listening to 2-3 minute long pop/1 hit wonder songs from AM radio over the speaker. (hard to beleive 4 year old kids could run around unsupervised like that badk then, but it was great)

within less than 3 years, you've got 2 (more) assasinations (i had been too young to remember or be told about JFK), a president too demoralized to enen 'seek or accept' his party's nomination, and the teenager you couldnt wait to become growing their hair long, going from 'Mod' to 'Hippie' and protesting that they were going a long way to die or be maimed in a war for war machine profits. The music went from happy and upbeat (Monkees were the last gasp of the era) into dark lyrics in drugged out voices to what sounded like a lot of distortion

after a primary where a member of the nation's favorite family and most likely winner had his campaign vetoe'd with a bulllet, you have a new president (who you didnt know is from the past), who everyone seems to hate immediatly.

for what seems like 15 minutes, in 1969, the astronauts go to the moon and back, and it feels like 1965 again. but the feeling doesnt last. they go to the moon and back 3 months later, and it's like nobody even notices

the war seems to get worse and worse, a couple of years later in 1970 you hear about soldiers shooting college kids on a campus, prices keep going up and up, you hear about a wage price freeze, and they you learn about these missiles that will kill everyone and that you will probably die in a nuclear war, and in the slim chance that doesnt happen we will poisen ourselves with polution. you keep hearing about a 'cold war' but nobody can seem to explain what it is or why it is, just that everyone will die because of it

but for whatever reason, this president everyone hates and makes fun of gets relected in a landslide. but you start hearing about 'watergate'. not long after, this war that tore the country apart begins to end, but people are so caught up in watergate that nobody even notices. then there's energy shortages and you begin to wonder if there will be any gas the day you turn 16 and can drive

finally, they firce the president to resign - everyone wanted to get him, they did get him, but everyone feels like crap

anyway, that's my recollection of national American life 1965-1974. National sustainability and avoidence of all *unnecessary* wars are the values I take from that period that define me today

I simply did not understand how anyone could not have anticipated the problems of the iraq war - i was really depressed watching the country be propagandized into the slide into another stupid war - just like we are doing another 10 years later with Iran

I know this question was intended for those who were draft age, and it's a little presumptious for someone who was a kid to answer, but it changed me in that i have never had any illusions about how bad war could be even if i didnt see it firsthand, and only saw it on the news