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Into Harm's Way

Where do you not want to be? Vietnam, 1967.

The West Point Class of 1967 arrived at the United States Military Academy during the early 1960s when it appeared that America was destined for a century of unrivaled success. Four years later, when members of that class graduated and were commissioned as officers in the United States Army, the country was in the middle of a strange and unpopular war in Southeast Asia. The Class of 1967 ended up paying a high price during the Vietnam War, yet most stayed strong, bonding as brothers and as soldiers in a way that has endured through to the present.

You grow up real fast lying in a rice paddy.

Never in a million years could I understand why US Recruits would actually volunteer for military service to be subject to this amount of humiliation by gangs of psychopaths armed with Razors!... ....>>>

Haircut Time...USA Military Style:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2-EIIFmBLo

I remember in my time in the British Army we just had; "short back and sides", even on the first day!

Providing that our hair was kept clean and tidy and hidden under our Berets, there was never a problem!
We never had our heads shaved, as in the various film clips!

Paul....Ex REME... ...!

I've never been through basic training but I understand it's intentionally designed to break down an individual's persona so that he will become a more a efficient part of a working unit.

Every military has its own traditions. I think you will agree it's better than keelhauling.

The Draft number system: 365 (plus one during a leap year) dates (Ja1, JAN 2, Jan3 up to DEC 31) were mixed up and drawn. Jan 1 might have been the 40th drawn. Jan 2 night have been the 286th drawn. Etc.

My draft number was 94 and the army was taking everyone up to 105. I volunteered for the Air Force before the army could get me.


The hair cut "ritual" made absolutely no difference to me for 2 reasons. I was expecting it, and growing up in the '50s I had a crew cut every summer!

I actually thought that the training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas was fun.


As Webb says "Every military has its own traditions." You need a lot of very different people to start identifying themselves as "us", as opposed to "them".


I went to Lackland carrying one item - an empty AWOL bag.

(For those who missed out on all the fun, an AWOL bag is a simple gym bag.)

That was for the clothes on my back. I knew that they were going to give me everything that they wanted me to have. I also knew that I didn't want to have anything that they could use to single me out.

Pity the poor fools who brought an electric shaver from home. I think that we only had 1 person in the barracks with an electric shaver.


So I volunteer for military service rather than being drafted in to the army.

I shudder to think what might have happened to me if I had gone into the Army. I could have ended up like Fozzer when he was at the defence of Rorke's Drift.

These guys weren't drafted. They applied for highly sought positions at the nation's most elite military academy. They spent four years there.

They might have thought they would get nice desk jobs and climb the ladder through the ranks.

They never imagined they would be dumped into hell the day after graduation.

I wonder how the classes of 1917 and 1941 felt.

Webb wrote:These guys weren't drafted. They applied for highly sought positions at the nation's most elite military academy. They spent four years there.

They might have thought they would get nice desk jobs and climb the ladder through the ranks.

They never imagined they would be dumped into hell the day after graduation.

I wonder how the classes of 1917 and 1941 felt.

I can not imagine any military graduate of West Point, or any other military academy, thinking such a thing.

If the "Class of 1967" presented that idea as common, I would be very suspect of the intentions of it's producers.

In my case, I was "conscripted" (ie: kicking and screaming) into the Military Service, following WW II, for a period of two years in the early 1950's.

Given a choice of occupation, it was never something I would have chosen...then, or now!

One of my happiest moments, together with all of my fellow conscripts, was getting; "demobbed"!

I leave "Military Service" to those who voluntary join it, and are happy being a part of it!... ...!

Paul....A Very Happy Civilian!... ...!

I'm suspect of anything produced or financed by PBS but it's not their fault for showing a graduate kill himself rather than ship out. Maybe they didn't expect desk jobs but I doubt they expected in 1963 where they would be in 1967.