The War We Couldn’t Win
Freshly out of World War II, the world is faced with another war. The United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics begin the Cold War. Tensions between nations were at an all-time high, and the world watched as they competed against each other. The U.S. and the Soviet Union indirectly fought each other through proxy wars, one of them being the Vietnam War. It was a conflict based on two different ideologies, capitalism and communism. On March 8, 1965, the U.S. sent their first combat troops to Vietnam (Tucker). The U.S. shouldn’t have been involved in the Vietnam War. The Domino Theory was not correct. Before the U.S. started combat in Vietnam, there was the First Indochina War. France had colonized Indochina …show more content…
At age 18, males were eligible for Selective Service. Males 18-25 were randomly selected based on birthdays. Some draft-age men found ways to avoid being drafted. As writer, Donald W. Maxwell explains, “They could avoid service by trying to get deferments for being married, having children, or being in college or graduate school” (“Young Americans And The Draft”). If the draftee did not meet those categories, they used other ways to avoid being shipped off, as the author adds, “They could get or act hurt in order to flunk the Selective Service System’s physical and psychological examinations to determine fitness for military service. They could elect to go to jail for up to five years” (Maxwell 37). Many men opted for these alternatives, some even left the United States to other countries to escape the draft. Most Americans did not want the U.S. to be involved in Vietnam, and did not want to be forced into a war they did not believe in. As a consequence, the numbers of the draft were unfortunate, during the Vietnam War there were 570,000 draft offenders and 563,000 less-than-honorable discharges from the military (Maxwell 38). Men went to extreme lengths to avoid going to Vietnam, because they knew that there was a large chance that they would not be able to return back
Freshly out of World War II, the world is faced with another war. The United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics begin the Cold War. Tensions between nations were at an all-time high, and the world watched as they competed against each other. The U.S. and the Soviet Union indirectly fought each other through proxy wars, one of them being the Vietnam War. It was a conflict based on two different ideologies, capitalism and communism. On March 8, 1965, the U.S. sent their first combat troops to Vietnam (Tucker). The U.S. shouldn’t have been involved in the Vietnam War. The Domino Theory was not correct. Before the U.S. started combat in Vietnam, there was the First Indochina War. France had colonized Indochina …show more content…
At age 18, males were eligible for Selective Service. Males 18-25 were randomly selected based on birthdays. Some draft-age men found ways to avoid being drafted. As writer, Donald W. Maxwell explains, “They could avoid service by trying to get deferments for being married, having children, or being in college or graduate school” (“Young Americans And The Draft”). If the draftee did not meet those categories, they used other ways to avoid being shipped off, as the author adds, “They could get or act hurt in order to flunk the Selective Service System’s physical and psychological examinations to determine fitness for military service. They could elect to go to jail for up to five years” (Maxwell 37). Many men opted for these alternatives, some even left the United States to other countries to escape the draft. Most Americans did not want the U.S. to be involved in Vietnam, and did not want to be forced into a war they did not believe in. As a consequence, the numbers of the draft were unfortunate, during the Vietnam War there were 570,000 draft offenders and 563,000 less-than-honorable discharges from the military (Maxwell 38). Men went to extreme lengths to avoid going to Vietnam, because they knew that there was a large chance that they would not be able to return back