If my Pap went to war...
27 May 2023, 3:23 pm
Memorial day is approaching and so I'll make a post of a what if.
A long time back, I watched a video about a first person point of view of a soldier going AWOL during Vietnam. I posted a comment about how my Pap, as in my grandfather, was in the military around the time of Vietnam and he was never drafted, but all his friends from high school ended up on the Vietnam memorial. I got over a thousand thumbs up since then and many many replies. One comment stood out asking if I'm proud that my Pap never served in a tone that implied not being drafted was shameful.
There's a lot of things to consider.
First, my mother was born in 1972.
Second, my Pap could've been drafted before or after that year.
Third, he could've been MIA, KIA, or came back to an antiwar America that would spit in his face.
Fourth, he's not the kind of person to go AWOL.
If he was drafted before 1972, I wouldn't exist.
If he was drafted after 1972 and got killed, I would never have known him as well as I do now. I would never know his sense of humor or have many childhood memories of him raising me.
If he did return, would the experience of war change him? Would he still be married to my grandmother? Would he still be same Pap I know now?
Maybe I am proud my Pap was never drafted.
_________________
I am sick, and in so being I am the healthy one.
If my darkness or eccentricness offends you, I don't really care.
I will not apologize for being me.
27 May 2023, 6:19 pm
Your grandad DID serve in the military, but volunteered instead being drafted. Is that correct?
He served in the Vietnam era, but did not serve in Vietnam itself. Is that correct?
The US groundwar was between 1965 and 1973 (so the US was pretty much out of the ground war in 1972 anyway.
Volunteers get some perks that draftees dont get, as I understand it. He might have volunteered out of patriotism, or might have volunteered to avoid being drafted. But I dont think being drafted vs volunteering made any difference as to whether they sent you to Vietnam or not.
I do get it that that person is asking an unanswerable question by asking if you're "proud that he didnt serve".
One of my grandads (dad's dad) served as an infantryman in the trenches of the first world war. My mom's dad was in basic training and was going to be sent "over there" but the war ended before they sent him, and he didnt hafta go.
I dunno. I guess I am little bit proud that one grandad served, but I am not ashamed that the other one got out of serving because of reasons beyond his control.
