SAYING NO WAY IN HELL TO THE WAR IN VIETNAM

An Essay by Paul Abramson.

Two days after my 18th birthday, I received my military draft card. That was in 1967 and the Vietnam War—known in Vietnam as the Resistance War Against America—was already a full throttle mess. Forever throwing caution to the wind, Richard Nixon, the Chief Racist Demigod that he was, then decided in 1969 to secretly bomb Cambodia, too. One witless move apparently deserved another.

Compulsory conscription notwithstanding, I immediately got a student deferment because I was already enrolled at the University of Miami. When I graduated in June of 1971, that deferment evaporated. Though in fact there was a draft lottery at that time—not everyone was going to be selected to serve in the Vietnam War—I had the misfortune of drawing the number 119. Young men who drew numbers above 125 could, if so desired, take a rain check on the train wreck destined for Hanoi.