Has anyone actually done what the Doonesbury comic strip’s character BD did, and serve as an enlisted man (or draftee, for that matter) in Vietnam, Gulf War, and Iraq war?
One would need to have been in one’s early 50’s (late 40’s maybe?) about the time Iraq war started, to do that particular hat trick.
I am going to say yes just out of the ammount of people we have in the armed forces. I figure if someone has done this in Iraq they were probably either an officer or an NCO
I personally know someone who served in both Vietnam and the Gulf War. Had he stayed in the ranks past the mid-1990s, he could easily have been deployed apparently regardless of age when the current war began to drag.
Thanks for that!
My dad’s headstone shows that he served in both WWII and Korea.
Victor “Brute” Krulak died the other day. WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He was passed over to be Commandant of Marines, but his son made it.
With all due respect to those who served in both WWII and Korea, the gap between those two wars was only five years. I’m sure there were many people who were veterans of both wars.
The gap between the end of the Vietnam War and the start of the Iraq War was twenty-eight years (and that’s stretching it; most American troops had been withdrawn by the official end of the Vietnam War in 1975).
I worked with a Psych Nurse a few years ago who enlisted in the closing days of Viet Nam. He did three years and got out. He got his degree and came back many years later as a Commissioned Officer during Desert Storm. I met him during OIF, so that is one that I can account for personally.
SSG Schwartz
A more comparable spread would be those (such as Douglas MacArthur) who served in World War I, World War II, and Korea.
I am currently serving with a few National Guardsmen who were in Viet Nam and are now currently in Iraq.
My brother has a sgt in his guard unit who served in a combat unit in Viet Nam and Gulf I, and has deployed at least once in Gulf II. The guy is a bad ass, and has somehow kept himself in combat units all these years- I assume he has turned down promotions that would move him to a desk?
B.D., like several of the original characters in Doonesbury (including Mike Doonesbury, Zonker Harris, Mark Slackmeyer, Bernie, and some others who haven’t appeared in a long time), entered college in 1970 when the strip began. Unlike most comic strips, characters in Doonesbury age normally, so you can take that as indicative of his real age. Someone who entered college in 1970 who didn’t skip any grades in elementary school or high school and entered kindergarten at the normal age would have been born somewhere between October 1, 1951 and November 30, 1952. (There are differences in various states about when the date is that one has to be 5 when one enters kindergarten. In some states it’s as early as October 1, if I recall correctly. In others it’s as late as December 1, if I recall correctly. So B.D. is 56 or 57 at the moment. Someone of that age could have been in combat in Vietnam. Someone of that age could be in the National Guard and stationed in Iraq at the moment.
Doonesbury hasn’t always been realistic in its characters’ aging. As you mentioned, the main characters started college as freshmen in 1970. Their graduation occurred during the hiatus in 1983 and 1984. Trudeau started following a more realistic timeline after that.
Quite a lot of folks actually if you expand the “service” definition a bit. Many of the civilians I work with over here (govt and contractor) are Vietnam Vets who did the 20 years and retired and came back to deploy as civilian workers. A few have died from indirect fire at compounds or direct fire on convoys.
I don’t come near but there is a story. I was second year AF ROTC in 1969 when the deferments ended and the draft lottery began based on birthdays. Turns out I failed my physical (blown out knee) and that tossed me from ROTC as well. I did Desert Storm I, swore I’d never come back to this sand pit, and have since been three times to Iraq (current location) and twice to Afghanistan (looks like again this fall) all as a civilian.
By realistic, I mean physically possible in our universe. I don’t mean that it’s particularly probable. The characters in Doonesbury are aging normally. They’re also pretty much all Peter Pan types who never grew up. Such people exist. Zonker Harris is the most obvious case of this. He is also 56 or 57 years old, but he acts like he’s still barely out of college and wandering around looking for a job. He has never had a significant relationship. He took a dozen years to finish college.
Mike Doonesbury also took a long time to finish college (and is also 56 or 57). He finally got a job working in advertising and married. He had a daughter and then got divorced. He’s now remarried. I expect that he’s going to be having another kid soon. According to the story line of the strip, his wife Kim was born in 1975. She was a Vietnamese orphan who was the last baby carried out of Saigon just before it fell. She was adopted by an American couple.
Bernie is supposed to be a nerd (and the same age) who has made a lot of money in computers but has never had any romantic relationships
B.D. is actually the most plausible of these characters. He’s had careers as a motorcycle cop and a football coach. He got married late (to Boopsie, who’s probably a couple of years younger). Boopsie was probably in her early 40’s when their daughter was born.
I live in an area (near New Paltz and Woodstock) where you can see aging hippies like Zonker walking around. There have been occasional mentions in the strip by other characters to the discrepancy between Zonker’s maturity level and his actual age.
For the record you can stay in the National Guard until age 60. On active duty you would probably hit some of the promote or get out roadblocks long before then. I have seen a few get waivered past 60 if they need the extra time to get enough years to retire (20). Usually that is for people who had a long break in service. A few of them that I knew were Viet Nam vets. There are other exceptions to the 60 year old rule. Certain doctors for instance. Probably more that I don’t know about.
Ah yes, the “I am NOT doing this shit again (or am I?)” dilemma. My brother is going back for a third “warzone vacation” in Iraq later this month. His Afghanistan adventure was with the Army, though.
My father fought in the Pacific with the Marines through WWII and then again in Korea and in some small dust-up in Dominican Republic and then Viet Nam in 1968. I only went to Viet Nam ('70, '71, 72).
Years after the fall of Saigon, he and I were watching a television program on that subject and he turned to me and asked: “Why is it that every one we send you to we lose ?”
Yes, I know I have told this story here before but it’s a good story and probably new to at least some of these readers.