# Vietnam war: Why weren't conscripts drafted into the Navy or the Air Force? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 14, 2014, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vietnam-war-why-werent-conscripts-drafted-into-the-navy-or-the-air-force/698464 "2014-09-14T08:37:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vietnam-war-why-werent-conscripts-drafted-into-the-navy-or-the-air-force/698464/81 "2016-10-18T19:44:14Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > My grandfather was in the UK merchant marine in WW1. He survived four sinkings and his ship hitting a mine. It always seemed like the worst duty in the war, worrying about U-Boat attacks, being thrown into icy water, covered in oil and then seeing the rest of the convoy have to tear on ahead without you. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vietnam-war-why-werent-conscripts-drafted-into-the-navy-or-the-air-force/698464/82 "2016-10-18T23:50:36Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > If you were of draft age (18 to 37), you couldn’t volunteer. If you were outside the draft age range but were still eligible for military service, you could still volunteer. > > The Marines were supposed to pull from the same draftee pool as all of the other branches of the military. However, everyone knew that the Marines only wanted people who wanted to be Marines, so the local draft boards often went out of their way to only send them men who wanted to be Marines. When my father got his draft notice, he went and volunteered for the Navy. The recruiting sergent wanted to send him to the right, down the hall to the Marines. He had some kind of test result (“the navy wants anyone who can pass this technical test”), so he iwas able to insist on Navy, and he went down the hall to the left. He also had a couple of months of University, so the Navy sent him to college, then some kind of officer conversion training. At Officer training, he did really really well on his exames, but his CO thought he was gay and blocked his commission. So he graduated a day later than his graduating class, and for a couple of months was the most junior officer in the USN. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vietnam-war-why-werent-conscripts-drafted-into-the-navy-or-the-air-force/698464/83 "2016-10-19T14:05:24Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Pretty much, unless you were a Seal, assigned to the Swiftboat force, or were a Seabee (probably in that order). Actually, being on a Swift was probably the most dangerous of the three. As a Seabee, I was on the ground, but assigned to a Marine rear echelon supply base. Even so, we had four or five guys that were WIA in a rocket attack. Not all Seabees were in the rear, of course. A lot of them worked at forward bases, building helo pads and other facilities. [FMF](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_Marine_Force_insignia) Corpsmen probably had a pretty high risk, considering they’re downrange with the Marines. Incoming fire doesn’t care if you’re a Marine or a Sailor attached to the unit, and corpsmen are legendary for (A) being indistinguishable from a Marine in the field, except for the uniform insignia, and (B) aggressiveness in going out to injured Marines during hot action, exposing themselves when even the Marines are fighting from cover. The Navy Hospital Corp is the most decorated group in the Navy and the US military: > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Whether they are assigned to hospital ships, reservist installations, recruiter offices, or Marine Corps combat units, the rating of hospital corpsman is the most decorated in the United States Navy and the most decorated corps in the US Military, with 22 Medals of Honor, 179 Navy Crosses since World War I, 31 Navy Distinguished Service Medals, 959 Silver Stars, and more than 1,600 Bronze Star Medal’s with Combat "V’s for heroism since World War II. Twenty naval ships have been named after hospital corpsmen. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vietnam-war-why-werent-conscripts-drafted-into-the-navy-or-the-air-force/698464/84 "2016-10-19T15:31:06Z")
A bit of a tangent, but I have a question. Any difference in how the National Guard got it’s members in 1969? My dad was drafted about then, and went into the National Guard. Definitely not form a rich family. Just luck of the draw? I think he once said they stopped sending National Guard to Vietnam after he got his notice, but before he finished training. But I may be misremembering, as I heard this as a child. He never fought, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vietnam-war-why-werent-conscripts-drafted-into-the-navy-or-the-air-force/698464/85 "2016-10-19T17:56:29Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > [FMF](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_Marine_Force_insignia) Corpsmen probably had a pretty high risk, considering they’re downrange with the Marines. Incoming fire doesn’t care if you’re a Marine or a Sailor attached to the unit, and corpsmen are legendary for (A) being indistinguishable from a Marine in the field, except for the uniform insignia, and (B) aggressiveness in going out to injured Marines during hot action, exposing themselves when even the Marines are fighting from cover. > > The Navy Hospital Corp is the most decorated group in the Navy and the US military: :smack: How could I forget the real heroes of the battlefield? ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vietnam-war-why-werent-conscripts-drafted-into-the-navy-or-the-air-force/698464/86 "2016-10-19T17:57:59Z")
I got out of the US Navy in 1965 after three years, but they said I still owed them two years in the Navy reserves. Then they called up the reserves and I said, “no way” and joined back up again for the bonus mostly. Heck I didn’t know a war was going on till I got back in. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vietnam-war-why-werent-conscripts-drafted-into-the-navy-or-the-air-force/698464/87 "2016-10-19T18:24:11Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > [FMF](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_Marine_Force_insignia) Corpsmen probably had a pretty high risk, considering they’re downrange with the Marines… > > The Navy Hospital Corp[s] is the most decorated group in the Navy and the US military: There’s a new movie about a much-decorated Army medic (and conscientious objector) in WWII: [Hacksaw Ridge - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacksaw_Ridge) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vietnam-war-why-werent-conscripts-drafted-into-the-navy-or-the-air-force/698464/88 "2016-10-19T18:32:10Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Thanks, Corry El, I had thought it was much higher. That’s the USMC PR machine at work. They’d have you believe that they singlehandedly won the Pacific theater, and suffered more casualties than anyone else doing so. In reality, the USMC lost fewer men than the USAAF bombing offensive did in Europe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vietnam-war-why-werent-conscripts-drafted-into-the-navy-or-the-air-force/698464.md?page=4)