VIETNAM VETERANS GET MEDALS FOR HEROIC ACTIONS...

[karynnj]

35. I never disagreed with that - and like 95% of the people at my college,

I was against the war. (There was a campus wide vote sometime around 1970. )

The vast majority of the people who avoided going suffered NOTHING - certainly the case for those who avoided it by enough college deferments, marriage or parenthood, or through a job that came with an exemption. Those who avoided it through the National Guard did not suffer and ended up with a resume enhancer. (At the highest level, note that going and being a genuine war hero, did not help John Kerry -- it likely resulted in him entering Congress 10 or so years later than people like Biden, who did not serve.)

I do respect the people like Mohammed Ali or Joan Baez's husband, who were willing to go to jail. They were heroes.

However, just as not everyone who served was really a hero - no matter how often many say the opposite - not all who avoided going were heroes either.