Why was conscription necessary in Vietnam war?

Answer 1

Was there conscription in the Vietnam War? Does Bayer make little white aspirin pills? Unless "conscription" is one of those words I've misused for nearly 60 years of living, the draft existed, in fact --overwhelmed-- the lives of all of us who were within the eligible age bracket. This is a trick question, right? A concurrent phenomenon was the fact that by official policy, reserves were NOT, repeat ***NOT*** used, for all practical purposes. And the policy was one--in my personal opinion, doesn't have to be yours--reflected the cowardice of leaders at the time--Tricky Dick Nixon, his VP forced from office with the title Convicted Felon, Spiro Agnew, etc. They didn't want to use the reserves because some folks would think this Vietnam thing...was growing and getting really serious. Which, of course, it did to the extent of killing over 58,000 of my contemporaries. Because the reserves were not used--and EVERYONE, repeat EVERYONE, with more than two working brain cells knew it--there was a RUSH by people like Georgy Bush to get into limited reserve spaces. Soon, because of the life-saving nature of getting these limited, reserve "billets," only rich people like the Bushes could get into the reserves. Not 100% in all states at all times, but to an overwhelming extent. It is particularly commendable then, that another filthy-rich, Yale, privileged fellow, John Kerry did NOT dive into the reserves but, instead, volunteered for the "brown water Navy"--widely considered some of the most dangerous duty there was. The precious value of getting in to the limited reserve safe-havens made it particularly reprehensible that Georgy didn't even live up to his contractual obligations; and, again, "we all knew...just KNEW..." in our age group, for example, that unless you had political pull, money, etc., if you failed to get to your reserve meetings, there were threats such as being shipped out to the Army in-country, in Vietnam. (On the other hand, incidentally, Kerry's joined many democrats in having back problems--i.e., lack of back bone--in our current national quagmire; but I digress.) Good luck. Keep your mind open. Talk in person with 40-50-60 year olds, asking the same question. E.g., find out the difference between American Legion members and Veterans of Foreign War; (hint: Georgy is ineligible to join the VFW.) Don't depend on our national news media any more other than Air America Radio. And support the impeachment of Georgy, Rumsfeld, et al, Georgy having now capped his reservist-turned-chicken-hawk war atrocities with negligent homicide in New Orleans. Good luck to getting this published too. I shall now rest from my typing exercise because I don't have faith that this hard truthful message will see the light of day.

Answer 2

Approximately 3,403,100 US servicemen served in Southeast Asia during the war; 2,594,000 in South Vietnam itself (In Country). In addition, US servicemen were serving in South Korea & Europe (Germany), as well as Turkey, Italy, and the US itself. Many of these servicemen were also conscripted. See: Statistics About the Vietnam War. Recommended by the History Channel. Be advised, that "volunteers" were classed RA's (Regular Army), drafted personnel were classed US (United States conscription). MANY RA's were originally US, then were given the opportunity to "enlist" (volunteer), in the hopes of getting a better job or better "choice of duty" (e.g. not Vietnam). Those "volunteers" will show up as NON-Drafted men.

Answer 3

Conscription was NOT introduced during the Vietnam War. There had been a peace time draft ever since WWII ended in 1945. This was due to the ongoing COLD WAR that commenced the same year (1945). As a highly publicized example: Elvis Presley was inducted into the US Army in 1958. He was a M-48 Patton tank crewman, assigned to the 1/32 Armor in Germany (See film: "GI BLUES"), he honorably discharged in 1960. President Kennedy didn't send the Special Forces (Green Beret) to Vietnam until 1961.

Answer 4

Without it, we would have had to fight the war with mobilized (activated) military reserves...a cold war "trigger" that would have put the USSR and Red China on an alert status; they would have mobilized THEIR RESERVES. The cold war could've gotten warmer. "Hot" would be a shooting war.

Answer 5

Able bodied US males registered for the draft, by law. They were notified in the mail when and where to report.

Answer 6

All nations, including the enemy, North Vietnam, utilized conscription; except New Zealand. New Zealand's artillerymen were volunteers. Conscription for the US was from 1945 until about 1973.

Answer 7

Conscripts, or soldiers, marines and sailors who were drafted into service for two years, did fight in the Vietnam War.