“Saving Private Ryan by getting Private Caparzo, Medic Wade, Private Mellish, Private Jackson, Sergeant Horvath, and Captain Miller all killed” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as a movie title.
I can speak to this topic from personal experience during the Vietnam era.
I enlisted (after being drafted) in the US Army, but not before I took an audition to qualify me as a musician. Since I passed with flying colors, I was guaranteed service in the Army Band, somewhere. I could have been guaranteed a location for at least a year if I requested it, but since I didn’t have a clue as to the best location, I decided to take my chances. It turned out to be a lucky break.
Every person who entered the Army had to attend the 8-week basic training, even ones with prior experience but a service term that had lapsed. There was no distinction between recruits for the basic training; some, like me, were guaranteed an occupation (MOS) and a location, draftees were not. After Basic, most were sent to a specialty school where they were supposed to learn a special skill, like radio, tank driving, artillery, intelligence, whatever. That “special skill” might be advanced combat training, which was bad news if you didn’t want to be sent to the front lines.
However, there were rare exceptions for the follow-up training. I can only guess why, but I think it might have been related to how full the schools were and how immediate the need was for some skills, both of which meant you might bypass the special training.
In my case, I bypassed the 6 month music school, and was sent immediately from Basic to my first permanent party assignment in Oakland, California. I was never told why, but I suspect it was due to several factors; perhaps the exceptional score I received at my audition was one of them. I didn’t even know that everyone else went through the band school in Little Creek, Virginia, until months later, when other guys asked about my military background and we compared them.
Al Gore spent a short time in the Army in Vietnam as a journalist.
FUBAR for Private Ryan.
It was a solution to a problem, he couldn’t be seen to be avoiding military service, but no one wanted a Senator’s son killed, including his political opponents.
I recall one article about his service which said he was the “most unusual Private in the Army, starting with the fact he was allowed to remain a Private at all”.
To clarify, this all was done without his knowledge.