I’m asking if psychological guilt or shame were real, perceptible and acknowledged feelings for men who were not drafted in US wars (Civil War through Vietnam).
Excluding conscientious objectors, did some exempted men feel guilty that they could not enlist? Did men discuss being conflicted about serving? Did this impact the social lives of American families during any of the wars? Is this documented somewhere in the annals of American sociology ?
This is in GQ because I’m asking if this was ever something publicly discussed in the media, but also curious if people have stories about family members or others who dealt with complicated feelings about avoiding/being exempted from military duty…
Sorry, I wasn’t clear. I’m just asking in general, if men who didn’t fight in wars (for whatever reason) felt guilt/shame or some other conflicting or confusing emotions about having fellow Americans fight and die on the front lines.
Not quite a serious or deep discussion, but one of the best American films ever, Buster Keaton’s The General, has the main character dealing with being rejected for service during the Civil War. It’s more of an action/comedy but there’s a certain tragic realism to it. Though the actual scene where he repeatedly attempts to fake his way in is one of the funniest in the movie.
Just mentioning it as an example of the idea in popular culture. It’s not so much about feelings of shame that others are fighting or dying (he goes to enlist the first day), but about a sense of duty. That and the fact that his woman won’t be with him otherwise (moreover, he can’t figure out why he gets rejected).
Did not serve in the Vietnam war and did not protest. Sat on the side lines. Was exempt because of my choice of college.
Have little sympathy for the draft dodgers who only thought was about themselfs. But I have as much respect for those who protested or dodged because of their objections to the war as those who went.
I do not fell guilt about not going, but I have regrets about not protesting.
I run into men all the time that, when I mention my or my son’s service, feel a need to preemptively tell me why it was that they couldn’t/didn’t serve, even though it’s not something I ever inquire about. I don’t know if they feel guilty, but many of them certainly seem defensive about it.
On the Band of Brothers DVD set, I saw an interview with an Easy Co veteran who said that several boys from his home town committed suicide when they were classified as 4-F.
During WW II people who had medical issues sometimes went to work in factories that built planes, guns, tanks, etc. They helped the war effort in a different way.
Only fiction, but not being able to enlist during WWII is a significant issue for the main character, Bucky Cantor, in Phillip Roth’s recent novel Nemesis.
Lot’s of soldiers didn’t fight on the front lines. Personnel, Intelligence, Training and Supply. (PITS) (With exceptions, of course).
I was lucky enough to have served before Vietnam and after Korea. Didn’t feel a bit guilty. Felt bad for those who did have to go, though.
I was un-able to enlist because of a back injury, although it didn’t keep me from trying. Every branch turned me down because of the injury. Now I realize that the Gulf War was fairly small compared to something like WWII, however I have to say that I personally feel a bit guilty for not being able to serve.
I always felt it was every young mans responsibility to serve when the the Country needed us and to be left out of it does carry some guilt. Almost like you aren’t able to pull your weight. So, not an official cite, but if the way I feel is of any indication then I think that guilt or perhaps embarrassment is a certainty.
I can tell you I remember my Grandfather telling me about a few of his friends that were 4F in WWII, pretty much in the same boat that I was. And he did mention that they felt “worthless” being at home while almost every other young man was in uniform.
I had an Uncle that wanted to enlist in WWII, he was only 16 in 1941 and lied about his age. The recruiter refused him because it was a small town and he knew a. He was underage, b. he was an “only son”, c. my Grandfather needed him to help work the family farm, which was a vital war resource and d. that my Grandfather would not sign the papers.
He always felt guilty about not serving. By the time he was 19, he was resigned to staying home and working the farm. Many of his friends served and some of course never came back. I don’t know how bad it was, but it weighed on him his whole life. It didn’t help that my Grandfather had served in WWI.
I had a grandfather who worked in the chemical industry during WW2. His occupation made him classified as a worker engaged in an industry deemed essential to the war effort and ineligible for the draft or enlistment. He apparently tried nonetheless to enlist several times only to be told each time that he couldn’t.
My dad was 4F during Korea because he was missing an eye. I wouldn’t say he was guilt-wracked, but two of his brothers had enlisted in WW II and I think he did feel somewhat belittled. Can’t be any more specific than that, as he never talked about it. I just have a vague feeling he would rather have been able to serve.
My father enlisted in the Marine Corps when he was 17 in 1945. He did not make it out of boot camp before the war ended. He always felt guilty about it. He even went to inquire about being recalled for Korea but they were interested in combat vets.
If there were a way to quantify it, I wonder if there is a significant drop post-WWII. Maybe a shift from patriotic duty/defence of liberty/survivor guilt to primarily survivor guilt. Not that modern soldiers aren’t patriotic or defending liberty or that lots didn’t think that Korea, Viet Nam through to Iraq were keeping the world safe, but I (intuitively and subjectively) don’t see the guilt in not having served in Grenada.
ETA: Sorry, just hit that OP was talking about draft only and only through Viet Nam. I was thinking people who couldn’t get in even if they tried (I tried twice in two different services; didn’t make it for different reasons) or never tried to get in.
My brother took speed to raise his blood pressure so he would flunk his physical and miss out on the festivities in SE Asia. Several years later he felt guilty and joined the Navy. Of course, by then the shooting had stopped so I’m not sure what he accomplished, but he felt better.