Who Killed Sandra Bland?

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

You know ever since Ike mentioned that your Myers Brigg type is one that needs to feel he's one up on everybody else I've been casually observing you Zeke.

And I have to say it's been amusing to watch the extent that you will resort to to feed your need.

No amount of bragging, embellishing, blovating and outright lying is too much for you. You gotta feed that monkey on your back. You can't help yourself.

Sure, sure.

But why would I need that to best you?

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

That lottery didn't go into effect until Jan. 1970.

I drew a 273 which was supposedly a good number.

But I was drafted on Nov. 3, 1969, so fuck me.

But whatever, Masaad could have enlisted. If he's such a bad assed motherfucker like Zeke says he is, surely he would have wanted to fight for his country.

The lottery numbers were drawn on 12/1/69 for the 1970 draft call. At which time I was about 60 days from starting my second year in the Corps. And my lottery number came up 306. The highest number called in 1970 was 195. But in late 1968 the Selective Service realized that they had been giving me the student deferment for 6 years and that I wasn't really very serious about my education. I received notice that I had been re-classified 1A, then called in to the AAFES center for a pre-induction physical. So I enlisted, to have some control over where I ended up.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

The lottery numbers were drawn on 12/1/69 for the 1970 draft call. At which time I was about 60 days from starting my second year in the Corps. And my lottery number came up 306. The highest number called in 1970 was 195.

So, your birthday is Jan. 7, right?

Got you beat! My number was 312.

But I'd been out for over a year and a half.

PS: Number 1 was Sep.14.

http://www.landscaper.net/draft.htm

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

The lottery numbers were drawn on 12/1/69 for the 1970 draft call. At which time I was about 60 days from starting my second year in the Corps. And my lottery number came up 306. The highest number called in 1970 was 195. But in late 1968 the Selective Service realized that they had been giving me the student deferment for 6 years and that I wasn't really very serious about my education. I received notice that I had been re-classified 1A, then called in to the AAFES center for a pre-induction physical. So I enlisted, to have some control over where I ended up.

You enlisted in the Marines to have some control?

Shit, when I got my draft notice there was a rumor out that the Marines were drafting and taking every fifth inductee! That scared the shit out of me!

That's why I beat in down to the Air Farce Recruiter and signed up!

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by Boreas

So, your birthday is Jan. 7, right?

Got you beat! My number was 312.

But I'd been out for over a year and a half.

PS: Number 1 was Sep.14.

http://www.landscaper.net/draft.htm

I just looked up my number and it wasn't 273 after all, it was 298.

Chalk it up to CRS.

Oh well, now the Chinese hackers know all of our DOB's.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

You enlisted in the Marines to have some control?

I missed that first time through.

As I recall, when I got drafted and was being processed through Ft. Holabird in Baltimore, I was offered the opportunity of doing my service in a branch other than the Army (the only one of the services which actually had a draft at the time). To do so would have involved enlisting in that branch and that would have involved serving a longer hitch. If memory serves, it was 3 years for the Marines and 4 years for the Navy and Air Force.

I took a pass.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by Boreas

I missed that first time through.

As I recall, when I got drafted and was being processed through Ft. Holabird in Baltimore, I was offered the opportunity of doing my service in a branch other than the Army (the only one of the services which actually had a draft at the time). To do so would have involved enlisting in that branch and that would have involved serving a longer hitch. If memory serves, it was 3 years for the Marines and 4 years for the Navy and Air Force.

I took a pass.

I got my order to report for induction on Nov. 3rd.

I had to show up on Nov. 24th.

So I had three weeks.

I checked all available options.

Reserves or National Guard had an 18 month waiting list (unless you were a congressman's son like George W. Bush). Same for the Coast Guard.

So the options were Army, Navy, and Air Farce.

I looked up the casualty figures for each in the "Information Please Almanac".
Didn't have no internet back then. I took the total number of deaths for each service, divided by the total number of personnel for that branch and then multiplied that by the number of years of enlistment required. The Air Farce came out the lowest, so that's were I went. As long as you were sworn in to a branch of the military prior to the date you had to report for induction, you were good.

I heard that the Navy had a two year enlistment but I was told that that was specifically for their Corpsman program. The problem with being a Navy Corpsman is that the Marines don't have no medics. So the chances were if you signed up for the two year Navy Corpsman program your ass was going to Vietnam with a Marine Corps Platoon and a combat medic is one of the first dudes to get targeted in an ambush. The LT, the guy with the radio, and the medic. That's who they want to take out first.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

You enlisted in the Marines to have some control?

Shit, when I got my draft notice there was a rumor out that the Marines were drafting and taking every fifth inductee! That scared the shit out of me!

That's why I beat in down to the Air Farce Recruiter and signed up!

It was every 10th bare ass in line at AAFES, 10%. That's right. Some bureaucrat came over to us all lined up, went to the end and started counting heads...went like this:

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-Marine Corps! 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-Marine Corps! Over and over till he ran out of bare asses. The reaction of the 10th guys was pretty universal. WHAT??????? WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting thing about being a Marine draftee during Vietnam. The DI's had no way to tell who was a draftee, or a reservist either. Everybody had an ID they were all the same. Some recruits were smart enough to lie if asked. But a few let it out to the DI's and it was the most interesting thing. To some degree the draftees received less abuse (at least verbal abuse) than the rest of us. I remember the Platoon Commander saying to one of them one time, "You draftee ladies are the only ones who didn't ask to be here."

I was a radio telegrapher in the air wing. Spent most of my work time sitting in the crypto room sending 5 character code groups to DaNang and other bases in Nam and ships at sea, and no idea what any of it said. I never went out of the country the whole time. I was fast and accurate on the key and I guess they wanted me, and a few others like me, sending this information out. The whole time at west coast air bases. El Toro, Miramar, and the old LTA Santa Ana with the big old blimp hangars where guys in green uniforms took the blades off of helicopters and put new ones on. I was never comfortable anywhere near a Marine copter after I saw that.

So yeah...I got control of my duty in the Marine Corps. And I didn't have to admit I was some wuss Air Force guy.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by Boreas

So, your birthday is Jan. 7, right?

Got you beat! My number was 312.

But I'd been out for over a year and a half.

PS: Number 1 was Sep.14.

http://www.landscaper.net/draft.htm

My memory fails me sometimes. I was born on new years day, my number was 305, not 306.

[bobabode]

Those old blimp hangers are still there but the sea going bellhops are long gone to parts south.

The old Marine watering hole, 'The Barn', was torn down shortly after they left. It's now a strip mall.