They didn't serve...
I've done a fair amount of reading about the war over many years, but below is some interesting info that I don't recall reading anywhere else (probably just missed it somehow) vis a vis the 8,744,000 in uniform during that period vs. the ones who saw no service at all but were eligible.
It comes out of:
THE VIETNAM WAR: AN ALMANAC
World Almanac Publication
Editor: John S. Bowman
1985
page 358
"Meanwhile, about 15,000,000 eligible American youth avoided the draft by gaining student or occupational deferments; an estimated 250,000 simply didn't register for the draft; an estimated 1,000,000 committed draft offenses; some 25,000 were indicted for draft related charges, but only some 3250 spent any time in prison."
I found those numbers rather surprising.
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