The Draft

References: <201120032331509380%jmerk06@Invalid.earthlink.net>
Posted by: "John‰]*
************************************************** *************"
>> If you had any balls, you'd have been born in the Truman
>> administration.
>>
>> Jones
>
>...speaking of balls, remind me to tell you about 21 beehives at Fort
>Rucker.
>
>It's a bee story--you'll like it.

Oh, alright.

Jones

"Al Zeller" wrote in message
news:3FBDF865.52EE672C@nscl.msu.edu...
>
>
> Don Thompson wrote:
> >
> > Nah. I enlisted as soon as I was 18.
> >
> 17

Oh, a "mine is shorter than yours" contest!

Rita

"Boz" wrote in message
news:bpjq9c$kpv$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk

> Did everyone of relative age get a 'Draft letter'?

Yes, but I think you misunderstand what it was - it was a notification
not to report for enlistment, but to report to the local Draft Board
for consideration.

> Did some people 'get away' with it because they had 'important'
> jobs or were 'students'.

Of course. That has been a part of the Draft since it was reinstituted
in WW2. If you have an "essential" job such as skilled draftsman in a
tank factory, they don't want you; you're more valuable to the war
effort staying at work than carrying a rifle. If you are a full-time
student, your eligibility is deferred until graduation.
Do you have a problem with that?

"!Jones" wrote in message
news:828rrv0s45edrnmb2rf7u791645m67dpu4@4ax.com
> References: <17oerkyfyx2ow$.dlg@lemming_militia.com>
> Posted by: Yeff
>> On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 01:45:11 -0000, Boz wrote:
>>
>>> Did everyone of relative age get a 'Draft letter'?
>>> Did some people 'get away' with it because they had 'important'
>>> jobs or were 'students'.
>>
>> I avoided the draft by going to school...
>
> I avoided the draft by going to Vietnam.
> If you had any balls, you'd have been born in the Truman
> administration.

Fucking idiot! I was.

"John?]
" wrote in message
news:201120032331509380%jmerk06@Invalid.earthlink. net
> In article <828rrv0s45edrnmb2rf7u791645m67dpu4@4ax.com>, !Jones
> wrote:
>> References: <17oerkyfyx2ow$.dlg@lemming_militia.com>
>> Posted by: Yeff
>>> On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 01:45:11 -0000, Boz wrote:
>>>
>>>> Did everyone of relative age get a 'Draft letter'?
>>>> Did some people 'get away' with it because they had 'important'
>>>> jobs or were 'students'.
>>>
>>> I avoided the draft by going to school...
>>
>> I avoided the draft by going to Vietnam.
>> If you had any balls, you'd have been born in the Truman
>> administration.
>
> ...speaking of balls, remind me to tell you about 21 beehives at
> Fort Rucker.
> It's a bee story--you'll like it.

There aren't any ducks in it, are there?

"Mike P" wrote in message
news:zXevb.1116$MF.659@nwrddc03.gnilink.net
> "Don Thompson" wrote in message
> news:Nmevb.8802$n56.4065@newsread1.news.pas.earthl ink.net...

>> Nah. I enlisted as soon as I was 18.
>
> I got my draft notice while in VietNam. Went something like Your
> friends and neighbors have elected you to serve in the Armed Forces
> of the United States. You could have floored me.

I know one Marine who got his in a mail delivery at Hue. He spent the
next couple of months trying to convince his Gunny that it was an
"order" to go home to report to his Draft Board, until the Gunny
threatened to shoot him.

"Al Zeller" wrote in message
news:3FBDF865.52EE672C@nscl.msu.edu
> Don Thompson wrote:
>>
>> Nah. I enlisted as soon as I was 18.
>>
> 17

20

>Did everyone of relative age get a 'Draft letter'?
>
>Did some people 'get away' with it because they had 'important' jobs or were
>'students'.
>

Boz,

Only the ablest and most fit got notices. Students and people in important jobs
were not qualified. It was one of those trigger puller/ pencil pusher things.
The fortunate ones selected were rewarded with a once in a life time
experience. Some of them still talk about it to this day.

Greg [who remembers pedal pushers too]

>Nah. I enlisted as soon as I was 18.
>

Don,

I volunteered for the draft at 18, but the regs said you had to be 19. I railed
at the injustice and staged a one man protest at the Armed Forces Examining &
Entrance Station here in Seattle. Damnit! it didn't do any good, for all my
whinning, bitching and bellyaching those bastards wouldn't budge. I'm still
pissed, the unfairness of it all. Gawdamn 17 year olds (and maybe younger)
could enlist and go and I fucking had to wait until I was freaking 19. It burns
my ass to this day. I should probably get some counseling for my Pre Draft
Stress Disorder. I still have nightmares about the war being over before I got
there.

Best Regards

Greg

In article <1k1srv4oqdak30lrvn0fr7298mjnadjhat@4ax.com>, !Jones
wrote:

> References: <201120032331509380%jmerk06@Invalid.earthlink.net>
> Posted by: "John‰]*
> ************************************************** *************"
> >> If you had any balls, you'd have been born in the Truman
> >> administration.
> >>
> >> Jones
> >
> >...speaking of balls, remind me to tell you about 21 beehives at Fort
> >Rucker.
> >
> >It's a bee story--you'll like it.
>
> Oh, alright.
>
> Jones

Well, if you insist....

The aviation school at Rucker leases 40 or 50 "LZs" from farmers within
a 100 mile radius. The range from a ten acre pasture suitable for
formation landings to a tiny "hover hole" requiring a near vertical
approach and departure. The farmer only leases landing rights; he
retains use of the land for agricultural purposes and once in a while
you have to pass up a particular LZ because there are cattle grazing on
it.

....then there was "LZ Beehive". The farmer had 21 behives lined up
along the treeline on the north side of the LZ. Before you could go in
there, you had to fly a couple of circles around it and give your
students a "bee briefing". All approaches had to be planned to the
south side of the LZ, because if you blew over a beehive with your
rotorwash, your day could turn to shit in a hurry. There are about
20,000 bees in a hive and they can fly 22mph, so they can get across
the small LZ in a hurry. Even if you didn't disturb the hives, when the
bees are doing their seasonal swarming, they might just come after you
for the hell of it. The student sitting in the back was assigned as
"bee guard" and was not to take his eyes off the hives until we were
out of there. If the bees came after us, the instructor has the
controls, will execute a maximum performance takeoff, and will fly the
aircraft out of trim on takeoff to blow the bees out of the aircraft.
I knew one guy who had the bees come after him and he got out of there
with three or four stings. He said that trying to fly a helicopter
while bees are stinging you can be a real challenge.

Since you are such a bee lover, I thought you might enjoy this little
story.