I'm a Draft Dodger?

[@Hickok45Talks]

I've noticed a few people commenting that this is obviously preying on my mind or I feel guilty about this and am rationalizing. Must be the reason for doing this video, etc, etc. Actually, you cannot imagine how little it's ever even crossed my mind through the years. As I say, this was definitely not a 9/11 type of thing, exactly the opposite. I don't recall even ever hearing anybody back when I was 17 -22 talk about WANTING to join or that it was their duty, etc. Nobody at my age, as I recall, knew anything about Vietnam or even why we were at war there. Maybe I was just more isolated in Northern Kentucky and possibly way more ignorant and unaware than I should have been, but it was just this distant thing, and most of us were busy with our lives at the time. It's not like it's been bothering me and I needed to talk about it. :-) When thinking about things to talk about on this Hickok45Talks channel, I often just use comments as a springboard for topics. So, even though this "draft dodger" accusation rarely comes up, it's so crazy that it gets my attention. I just thought maybe there were quite a few people who have no idea how different things were back then and have this notion that it WAS like the aftermath of 9/11, where young men were upset enough about it and ran to join the military. So, this is just my feeble attempt to educate folks a bit about the times. Believe me, it was just an idea for content; I've not wasted more than a second in my life being concerned about not fighting in Vietnam. So, now, somebody can add this long comment to the fuel for their fire that I feel guilty about it and am further "rationalizing" about it. :-)

[@americanbigfoot7881]

Hickok you know the internet is full of good and bad people. Ignore the negative people! I wanted to join the Army as a kid but as I’ve grown older and seen how corrupt our government is I lost the patriotic feeling of “I’d die for my country” As of 2024 I wouldn’t put my life on the line because I don’t trust our government. If we were to be invaded I would put my life on the line to defend our home country but I refuse to get sent overseas by a corrupt government for most likely corrupt reasons. If that makes me un-American so be it.

[@KoKuKr]

yup yup yup

[@BobDingus-bh3pd]

You’re a big channel. Some people get a kick from the thought of dragging it down. No use trying to justify yourself to those kinds of people.

[@tomsemrau2584]

Why on earth would want to open up old wounds about the Vietnam War? Just for something to talk about! Here you were so disconnected at that time and never gave the war one ounce of concern. And on the other hand try to educate people what the times were like during that war. As I watched and listen to you, I've come to the conclusion, You could care less about the people who served fought and died in that war, very sad!

[@ExcitedSolarSystem-jr2rn]

Im being serious. Shame on u

[@robertyoungman3175]

I graduated from High School in 1968. Three guys from my class were drafted soon after. All three were dead within one year. I enlisted; in the U.S. Army. In March of 1969. M0S 45B20 Smallarms Repairman. Got my orders for Vietnam. Jungle training. Issued my "Jungle Junk". Went home on 30 days leave. My Mother was a wreck. I left home three days early because she wouldn't stop crying. I reported to Fort Dix ready to shipout. At morning formation the Topkick called five names. I was one of them. "You five men have a change of orders. Turn in your jungle junk and report to the quartermaster for new uniforms.". I spent the next three years patrolling the border between West Germany and the Communist block. Whew !

[@EdwardSnortin]

Love reading these stories in YT comments, thank you

[@eb1684]

Did you go to the pubs in Vilseck?

[@xlerb2286]

My 10 year older cousin also graduated high school in '68 and had a similar story. Except he went to Vietnam but wound up driving a supply truck because he had experience working with equipment on a farm and they needed truck drivers when he showed up. He still saw some nasty stuff according to his dad. But he's never talked about those years and I've never asked.

[@alfredpaquin3563]

You didn't miss a darn thing! Thanks, Utube, for cleaning up my "French. "

[@BigSamWin]

God truly blessed you

[@czgunner]

People are awful. I'm a combat veteran, and wouldn't "wish it" on anybody. Social media is probably one of the worst things to happen to humanity.

[@Vule34]

Precisely!

[@michaelwarenycia7588]

​Indeed. It's such a weird thing to be angry and resentful towards someone for not fighting in a war of choice, which there's plenty who served in it who think the country had no business being there, and especially if said war happened before the critic was even born . Just let it be @@11235but

[@oldArmyVet]

💯

[@ProcyonDei]

People like those have always been around, but social media just allows them to talk smack without having their teeth knocked out...

[@Scanlon1981]

Funny/sad they want to ask all the questions and only want to listen to the gritty shit but don't care when they hear lesson learned or shared experience and warnings of the comings but sheep gonna go baaaaaaaaa

[@XDWX]

Everyone should be a draft dodger. Let the politicians go fight.

[@bffoxjr]

War Pigs

[@quinn1606]

Last just fight the US was in was WWII

[@scavulous6336]

@@quinn1606 even then it was questionable

[@quinn1606]

@@scavulous6336 i mean our reasoning for joining was questionable but it was certainly just in the end

[@stephenclemence5856]

@@scavulous6336 Really after they bombed Pearl Harbor, and everything, you don't think we should have been in that war ?

[@richb.4374]

You can't be a draft dodger if you were never drafted.

[@tribeval]

@@veteranoutdoorsman9978 do us all a favor and never think again.

[@Tardenglobe2346]

@@veteranoutdoorsman9978 And good on all who dodged it.

[@Tardenglobe2346]

@@tribeval I'm convinced he never has. 😆

[@Robert-gb7ex]

I registered and was never called up, so I guess they dodged me

[@WastedTalent-]

@@Robert-gb7ex My father went to the recruiting office to enlist and they turned him down because he was going to school and had a wife and baby. They dodged him right out the door.

[@1990hondarc30]

My Dad served with 1st Batallion 9th Marines "The Walking Dead" 66-67 in Vietnam. He had severe PTSD from his combat. He became a fireman/Paramedic for Orlando and had a flashback on a call in 1980. The city fired him. We lost him to suicide in December of 92. He shot himself at the dinner table. Vietnam screwed our family up. I'm glad you didn't go. It was a pleasure meeting you at the knife store a couple weeks ago.

[@r.f.pennington746]

I'm sorry for your family. I had my time...and my demons. My children had to witness my wife of now 46 years fish me out from under the dining room table, buck naked, in the middle of the night or some such episodes. My oldest son joined the Army as a medic and was quite upset that he never got to deploy as he kept being attached to units that were returning. After three years he got out and was still complaining. I told him I was never so thankful that he never left the States and reminded him of all the screaming at night I did. He finally got it after some cooling down. Hang in there. Your Dad was the Unsung Hero. You'll see him again.

[@1990hondarc30]

@r.f.pennington746 Man, thanks Brother. We all definitely went through some crap. I really appreciate you and your comment. If you and o could talk, the storied we could share. Love you Brother. My name is Bobby Carpenter.

[@electricjoke]

I am truly sorry for your loss. I really feel very bad for the torture your father had to go through . God bless him and you.

[@1990hondarc30]

@electricjoke thank you very much. We all have our battles, I was 20 when it happened, I'm almost 52 now. Time heals, God forgives. I appreciate you guys.

[@whiskeythree1622]

Sorry for your loss, for sure. Prayers out for you & the family. Appreciate your Dad's Service. Give us a shout if you need -- here for ya.

[@timothythompson4036]

We lost 60000 men in Vietnam just to leave in 1975. Vietnam was all for nothing.

[@LordDucarius]

Think about the vietnamese, losing millions of civilians, having their cities destroyed and forests burned down just for.... Nothing! And then consider who was thousands of miles away from his home doing the war😆

[@Jebeling710]

My neighbor is a Vietnam Vet who fought in the battle of Ia Drang. He doesn't like to talk about his time other than what he did as a forward observer (i believe that was his position as he radio'd in artillery) and won't even kill a fly or bug in his house. Such a nice, gentle person forced to go to be in such a brutal situation. We never should have went there.

[@DontThinkso-kb9tc]

All wars are. War is a racket. There's no wars of freedom. wars are there to make politicians Rich.

[@American_ZeR0]

Korea, vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, were all the same. Politicians and the military industrial complex wanted to make a ton of money. I dont regret my service. I regret the sacrifices made for ungrateful people. And I absolutely despise the govt for all their lies. You want to hate someone? Hate the machine. Not the soldier.

[@braveryatitsfinest1569]

@@Jebeling710 Artillery and mortar fire accounts for most causalities.

[@craigt5990]

I am a Vietnam vet. Graduated HS in ‘67. Didn’t really want to go to ‘Nam so I went to college. In ‘69 my grades slipped to a C- and our uncle sent me a letter. Drafted on 1 April ‘69 standing in Vietnam on 1 September, MOS 11C (infantry, mortar) wounded on 11 October , back in the states late November. Discharged from hospital mid January ‘70 assigned to a typewriter for the remainder of my 2 year obligation . You didn’t miss a thing.

[@Ananias03]

Thanks for serving sir!!

[@lusiusquietus7510]

Crazy what can happen in not even a year

[@kentuckybowl-o-sticks]

Yep... Vietnam was a sick joke. People avoided it for various reasons, but some were just plain _smart_ . As for me, the way it ended cured _me_ of _my_ military aspirations... _at 13 years of age_ . Swore I would never participate in such a farce. Seems some others were slower to learn the lesson... or maybe they never even _heard_ of Vietnam.

[@LuvBorderCollies]

@@kentuckybowl-o-sticks My dad was in the Korean War and he was absolutely against foreign wars or foreign interventions and that's a gross understatement. He was prepared to move our entire family to Canada if the war/draft got close to me. But as it turned out I was 3 years too young. Later I found out I would not have been drafted because of an injured knee. Horse tried to buck me off and couldn't so he body slammed us into hard dirt. It worked and I was on the ground for a while gathering my senses. The Navy would've taken me but my completed paperwork package got stopped because of downsizing.

[@Wellh0wrya]

Yes let me voluntarily go to Vietnam and fight for…… oh wait… what was it again? Oh ya the military industrial complex…. What a waste, I would have encouraged anyone to dodge that pos war… I have sympathy for those who were forced to fight in that mess created by corrupt politicians. In fact people would be more patriotic starting a militi@

[@exstacc1886]

People don't realize that college students were exempt from service. Its a major reason that "I aint no senator son" is such a hard line, none of them got drafted.

[@swojal1493]

senators*

[@rogueandvagabondrabbit5837]

Actually, at least one senator’s son served in Vietnam. Senator Gore’s son, Al, served. I’m certain that he was the only Private in the U.S. Army that had a bodyguard assigned to him. True story.

[@ronaldlee2376]

If their grades dropped they were re classified to 1A, no longer exempted.

[@exstacc1886]

@@rogueandvagabondrabbit5837 so yet again even the singular senator's son who served had his own soldier to protect him lol

[@rogueandvagabondrabbit5837]

@@exstacc1886 Yep. I mean, it’s really incorrect to say nobody in the political world had kids serve in Vietnam but it was rare. And when it was truly a senator’s son, he was assigned a bodyguard.

[@BlueWingedRino]

I enlisted in the Army when I was 17 but never signed up for the selective service. A little time after my ETS date I got a letter threatening imprisonment if I didn’t sign up. You just got to love the government.

[@Harikarikillboy-fs5vl]

Lmmfao! I enlisted in the navy when I was graduated from high school at 17. Went thru boot, sub school (BESS), thru 32 weeks of “A” school, was in 16th week of “C” school when I turned 18, receiving the same threatening letter just a few weeks later lmmfao! Really? Y’all had no idea where I Was at for almost a year? It was the mid 80’s, we had computers, it wasn’t like it was the 50’s lol.

[@nickhayden2299]

Yeah I'd like to see them try ro draft me though😂 Id end up on a bodycam footage

[@MarkJones-sk6vk]

I'm a vet. The fact that you aren't, doesn’t bother me at all.

[@hwalter5432]

It only seems to bother people who never enlisted, never served, never wore the uniform and have zero knowledge of how the draft worked back in the day!

[@alfredpaquin3563]

If anything bothers me at all now, is when someone uses that lame cliche "Thank you for your service. " It's right on up there with have a nice day. They have absolutely no idea what they are thanking us for.

[@snookmeister55]

What would you prefer to thanks? We can't help the VA, the PTSD, the suicides, etc. I'm serious, what do you think is appropriate?@@alfredpaquin3563

[@davids.9834]

I'm technically a vet as well but have never seen a battle field or hostile enemy. In fact I have never left the country. People think all Vets are heros, have PTSD, and served in combat. Nope...... USAF water treatment operator. 1993 Keesler AFB..etc.. and still a water treatment operator to this day for the local municipality. A decent life. Im not some grizzly combat veteran and hate when I am asked to stand with them because I did not go through what those guys did. You know, when they asked for all vets to please stand and someone that knows you calls you out. It just makes me feel guilty being put on the same stage as real combat vets.

[@Dr._Ghost]

i am currently serving and it also does not bother me at all, sometimes life just takes you on a different route like whatever

[@Blgtn43]

Very rare. Will you ever hear a veteran call someone draft dodger. My experience is that people calling someone a draft dodger have never served themselves.

[@nevadacario2000]

Yeah

[@j.s.7366]

Bullshit, I hear it constantly amongst the Vietnam vets at the Dallas VA when talking with them.

[@quagmoe7879]

Real veterans don’t give people shit for not serving, especially War vets. I know a Korean War veteran and he’s directly told me never join the military and that it’s not worth your life to fight a foreign War overseas.

[@AZTLANSOLDIER13]

Must be why vets seem to support ole heal spur

[@gmd5911]

Naw I’m a vet I call them out

[@Rensune]

"The Vietnam war was Evil!" Same people, I'm not even kidding: "Draft Dodger" Tf

[@huguesdepayens807]

Yeah that's weird

[@aidanacebo9529]

even a broken clock is right twice a day. in this case, they got one thing right. we should have never been involved.

[@Rensune]

@@aidanacebo9529 except they're so consistently illogical. "We want High minimum Wages!" but also "We want Open Borders!" (you can't have both).

[@JacobS-yz7py]

​@@Rensunemost people in person you know like outside right now around town don't really believe one political party to the core they pick one that's "mostly" a fit. I personally don't identify with things I don't agree with so both flavors of wing nut tend to assume I'm the one they're not because I'm not saying the same things they want to hear. Think for yourself it's still allowed right now. Wouldn't it nice if that lasted ?

[@Hambonebodi]

All war is evil and belongs to the devil.

[@philippiscatella7816]

Graduated HS in 1966, failed out of college after my first year and lost my 2S deferment . Enlisted in the Army in March 1968, served a tour in Vietnam 1969 - 1970 have no regrets, nor do I have any negative feelings for the people that didn’t go. My only negative issue was how we were treated when we returned home.

[@michaeldamore8979]

Thank you for your service

[@controlled-pairs]

Thank you. Welcome home.

[@RandA1220]

Could you share how you were treated when you returned home?

[@uraigroves7898]

The poor treatment started in earnest right after the news of my Lai broke in late 69. Up til then it was more of simply ignorance and indifference. It obviously wasn't fair to brand all soldiers as war criminals as only one in ten were even trigger pullers. But then my Lai hit and suddenly the public saw them all as war criminals. Similar thing happened right after the photos of the maltreatment of Iraqis in that prison (abu grahb?) and suddenly that war became unpopular. The media is quite powerful and people are reactionary and dumb.

[@johnpelszynski6646]

SAME HERE. NOW . I'M 100 PERCENT T AND P. SO THE ONES THAT WERE MEAN TO ME ARE NOW PAYING ME. HA HA HA

[@MajorT0m]

Bear: "Stay absolutely still. There's a Hickock right there."

[@rpmorrisjr]

Great comment

[@Evirthewarrior]

it's a boar.

[@MajorT0m]

@@Evirthewarrior That's bearly noticeable.

[@markbonner1139]

What's 1 letter

[@butterfinger4393]

​@@Evirthewarrior it's a bear now

[@The_Custos]

Would dodge, duck, and dive, and don't want my sons to die for the corrupt powers either.

[@DougPoulton]

I was drafted and went to Vietnam. When people tell me "thank you for your service" I tell them don't thank me, they hauled me away kicking and screaming. If you want to thank someone find somebody that volunteered.

[@MichaelMoore-rc7ch]

@@DougPoulton my oldest brother volunteered in about 1966 and he was sent to France. He got lucky!

[@classicgunstoday1972]

You still did one of the hardest and most dangerous jobs on earth. Also, when some guys ran and let their neighbor go in their place, you didn’t. (That’s why my dad joined the USMC before they even started drafting. The idea if you don’t sign up, somebody else might get drafted in your place. That’s why draft dodging is frowned on) Thank you for your service, Sir.

[@badwizard1312]

But we went. In that way we should be thanked more.

[@TeensierPython]

Just say “thank you” or “appreciate the support.” At least they aren’t spitting on you and calling you baby killers anymore.

[@TeensierPython]

@@badwizard1312nobody should be thanked “more.” Just accept the thanks and move along.

[@floridadad2817]

Hickock hasn't dodged any draft. We just haven't declared war on 2 liters yet.

[@alexander1902]

He's still a shill for any bidder

[@georgewashington3393]

🤣he was too busy smoking pots🤣

[@loopymadethatbeat]

You think if vietnam vets had a crystal ball and could see the war crimes they would be subjected to commit and endure, they *wouldnt* dodge the draft themselves?

[@noahmcabee2534]

michelle obama did lol

[@DJNaija]

All skills, no kills.

[@tb7771]

I'm a combat veteran with 14 years active duty ( Afghanistan). You are one of very few gun enthusiasts that I love to watch and respect. I don't care what you are, or what you did or did not do, you have my utmost respect. God bless you sir.

[@SmokeNGunsBBQ]

Respect for what? Shooting guns for a huge paycheck?

[@tb7771]

@@SmokeNGunsBBQ Better than making anqueefa signs in your mommy's basement. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@anthonyacuff236]

@@SmokeNGunsBBQooh that one fell short didnt it. Why click on the video if you dont like him? Just to start drama?

[@anthonyacuff236]

@@SmokeNGunsBBQwith a veteran of all people??? The amount of disrespect coming from you is wwwiiiiiilld

[@loopymadethatbeat]

You think if vietnam vets had a crystal ball and could see the war crimes they would be subjected to commit and endure, they *wouldnt* dodge the draft themselves?

[@trikesquatch1217]

I didn’t even have to do the physical. I was 7’2” at the time when I had to register. When I walked to the desk of the lady that was taking my information she was already filling out the paperwork for a 4-f classification. She said nothing would fit, clothes, bed even vehicles .

[@jonathangriffiths2499]

You were the Army Basketball team’s biggest regret

[@pdxyyz4327]

My co-worker is 6' 8" and had to get a waiver from the Navy to enlist. His father was Navy so he was going into the Navy. Don't have a clue how he was able to sleep in a bunk when he was shipboard.

[@jshepard152]

It would've been difficult to keep your head down.

[@johnscott5662]

My college roommate lost his 2Sand went in for his physical. He came home drunk and happy he was 6’6” and was to big to fight.

[@lunarflares2659]

@@pdxyyz4327 dude must've been in the fetal position in them damn coffin racks

[@datxspartanxdj3580]

I have zero faith in the US government at this moment, so I would 100% dodge a draft or spend the entirety of a war locked up.

[@blazinpuffs]

Wouldn't even let them lock me up.

[@Mr50403]

I worked in a prison. You would not like that. I call bllsht.

[@nickhayden2299]

​@@Mr50403doubt the draft will ever return. If it did the draft dodgers arent gonna be as peaceful as they were back in 69 i promise that💀

[@optobob]

I graduated from college in 1973, 2 months AFTER the draft ended. My draft number was 74, my roommate's was 69. He actually got called for a physical but wasn't drafted. Taking a "student deferment" and having a high draft number is NOT a draft dodger.

[@bertkilborne6464]

I graduated HS in 72 and I got my draft card Showed up for the physical and I was 1-A The lottery had already begun and my lottery was over # 300 . Do you think I was relieved ? At that time the physical came before lottery drawing. Not sure why. I went to a Navy recruiter a few months later and I was tested and told I was qualified for sub duty... I decided against that also.

[@bertkilborne6464]

People born in 54 or later were really lucky I knew people who were a year older than I am and some had polio and others were drafted. But we were spared of that. A few guys I knew came back messed up. There were 3 guys who were a couple years older who were 'Bad Boys' in high school and they got busted burglarizing a home and the judge told them they could take jail or Vietnam. I think that was in 69 The guys all survived and came back to finish their last year of high school So we had three 20 yr old Nam vets in our graduating class ! I think the teachers were scared of those guys - You didn't want to foul those dudes playing basketball in gym, as I recall. Good Times !

[@billderinbaja3883]

Unless your deferment is fake bone spurs, in a falsified letter from a rich daddy's doctor... that is a very clear draft dodge. Hickok's honor is fully intact.

[@bobhayes8750]

I graduated from HS in '71. As an 18 year old (born in '53) freshman at university, 2S (student) deferments had been eliminated. All of us freshmen went through the lottery. I was #29. . All the upperclassmen had their deferments, my roommate's number was in the high 200's so he didn't worry - it was weird. Viet Nam was an extremely unpopular war - Hickok is exactly correct. Bear in mind that not a single son or daughter of a US congressman or senator ever served unwillingly in Viet Nam. Minority kids were getting killed and wounded disproportionately to the demographic and in response there was a direct effort to even out the casualty profile. I took the pre-induction physical and was 1A. Ultimately "tricky Dick" (Nixon) and "Henry the K" (Kissinger) came up with a "secret plan to end the war" and none of us born in 53 were drafted. I went to work in the defense industry after graduation and encountered many combat vets who had served in Viet Nam. I felt almost ashamed around them - but I remember one - Wally - who had been very seriously wounded in combat - he told me "you didn't miss a damn thing".

[@garytodd5605]

I went into the Navy at 17 in 1972. I never had to sign up for the selective service. I was in for 6 months by the time i was 18. I have and had several friends that were drafted and enlisted and served in vietnam. You were not a draft dodger. Draft dogers went to canada after they were drafted to avoid the service Bill Clinton. None i ever known that served had any animosity toward every day dudes that went to college instead of going into the service. A draft doger was one that left the country and burnt their draft cards in protest. A looser calling you a draft dodger probly wasn't even alive during the Vietnam years. And evidently doesnt know what a draft dodger was.

[@BV-yz4bp]

fighting a war of attrition with a conscripted force against a determined adversary on their home soil, with no clear concept of the path to victory, lions led by donkeys. a shameful waste of American manpower.

[@jonosterman2878]

Watching Ken Burns Vietnam doc makes me angry af 😂 such a stupid stupid war

[@TheFatNumpty]

@@jonosterman2878agreed, that documentary is excellent in every respect, doesn't hold back or sugar coat anything

[@MattH-wg7ou]

Burns' Lewis and Clark expedition documentary is outstanding as well. Maybe a bit slow, but has a calming feel and really good overall.

[@rickcimino5483]

manpower...money, resources and most of all lives

[@Almost_Made_It]

The even more shameful part is that to hear our ruling class talk, it seems as if they couldn’t be more eager to do it all over again, or more indifferent to the inevitable consequences.

[@edwardsmith9801]

My Dad served in Vietnam two tours, he's gone now, unfortunately. But he wouldn't condem you for having other aspirations & goals , love the channel.

[@poireauer6517]

It s one thing dying to defend your country but a much different thing to die for the agenda of the powers that be

[@anthonymartinez4780]

Which is funny because 10 years ago you would've been calling those same draft dodgers cowards.

[@poireauer6517]

@@anthonymartinez4780 I don t think so Time has nothing to do with what you think Unless of course , specific info makes you see things differently with time .....

[@citymorgue8462]

@@anthonymartinez4780How do you know he wouldn’t be calling them “baby killers”😂

[@bigcrackrock]

Even in what we think of as just wars that's usually the case. There's usually little to no effort to even try to negotiate a peaceful resolution, and leaders are instead champing at the bit to have obscene amounts of their own people killed while they're safe at home.

[@Waynebruce234]

Bro just summed up every war in history

[@FrankP846]

I am a draft dodger. I graduated high school in June 1965. Turned 18 that July. In September, guys I went to school with that were a few months older than me told me they were getting draft notices. Well, I didn’t want to get drafted into the Army and just become canon fodder, so I jumped into my trusty old ‘56 Mercury and traveled thirty miles with the intention of talking to a Navy recruiter to see if I could enlist for Naval Aviation. Well, the Navy recruiter had just gone out to lunch and who knew when he would return! So, I’m standing there and the Marine Recruiter says “What are you doing here, boy?” So I told him I was in tin Naval Aviation. He said “Well, the Marines have aviation too. In fact we go to the same school. If you enlist, I can guarantee you Marine Aviation!” So, with that guarantee, I enlisted in the Marine Corps and dodged the draft!

[@keith125]

I remember my Drill Instructor asking kids on Parris Island "who wants to be a pilot" so of course a few hands go up.....he hands them an e-tool...."ok, see that pile of dirt over there.....pile it over here"

[@TyTy_TheGuy]

Mission Failed Successfully? 😂

[@Davie-jx4rh]

That’s one helluva story! I’m working towards my PPL too, albeit I am 16 not 70

[@FrankP846]

@@Davie-jx4rh I am color blind so all I could do in the Marines was be an Air Operations Specialist (clerk). But I did start my PPL when I was seventy. But unfortunately had to give it up before getting my ticket.

[@Davie-jx4rh]

@@FrankP846 ah that’s unfortunate, still, guys on the ground are the unsung heroes of aviation

[@cjames9320]

There's nothing shameful about dodging a draft for a foreign war on foreign land for foreign interests.

[@ohsweetmystery]

Drafts should be illegal. If you feel a war is just, join the military. If not, don't join.

[@samuelbekele3601]

​@@ohsweetmystery The draft should only happen if our country is under serious threat. War of 1812, Civil War, and WW2 are the only wars we should have had drafts for. I don't care if someone dodged Vietnam unless they're a war hawk... Then I'll call them a chicken hawk.

[@fignewtoneater]

Yes, there is. You don't get to choose where to fight and for what when your country calls on your for duty.

[@cjames9320]

@loganfignewton it isn't your country calling you for duty, it's your current presidential administration.

[@fignewtoneater]

@@cjames9320 Correct, the commander in chief of the armed forces. The person elected by your fellow countrymen to lead. If congress declares war and your commander calls you to action you better respond. It's your duty as a man.

[@busbystandup1337]

I consider myself barely a veteran... I only did 4 years and the only place they sent me was Korea, then completed my enlistment stateside. A soldier is sworn to defend the Constitution, and I'll stand up to say you've done more for the 2nd Amendment than I have. So thank you for your service! You're the consummate professional, and an incredible ambassador for our community. People are called to serve in many different ways... a uniform isn't the only way to find honor. And as always, you're one heck of a shot!

[@MrTangolizard]

U would have gone if u were needed so u can call yourself a veteran

[@lesliepopoff5347]

Before I get started this is not a photograph of me, but of my wife of some time ago. The difference between 1963, when I graduated from high school and 1968, when you did, was immense. Our fathers had pretty much all been involved in WWII, and we knew that we would be drafted. I didn't see anything wrong with this because I knew that I, too, owed this nation some service for what it had given me. I enlisted right out of high school for four years. In 1965 things began to change. I reenlisted, and it was then that I was sent to Vietnam on my first set of TAD orders. For those who don't know, TAD meant that they could send you anywhere for up to six months. So I spent my first six months deployment there, followed later on my another TAD stint. The first time I was happy to go. The second time not so much. You see, I saw the corruption there, and but for the Grace of Christ I would have died there at least three times. Later on I also realized the lie that they told us about Agent Orange, from which I do suffer. Then, as well, I saw that our government did not want us to win that war. All those lives wasted and/or changed for virtrually nothing. People our age calling us every name in the book when we returned. Nevertheless, I do not respect draft dodgers. They were fundamentally gutless. In 1972 I received orders to Vietnam again. Within two weeks they were rescinded, and I went to Guam instead. The reason they were rescinded was we were pulling out of Vietnam by that time. I bring all this up for two reasons, Hickok. First, by the time that you got out of college the chances of you going to Vietnam were slim. And, the draft was essentially over. Second, I no longer trust our government, especially now. In short, you have nothing to apologize for, nor should you have to justify your actions. You love this nation. That is so plainly seen. Furthermore, I wish to thank you for your wonderful videos, from which I have learned alot. May the Good Lord watch over you, and bless you and yours. Karl

[@robvog8134]

Awesome story Karl, thanks for sharing.

[@demapples6580]

Draft Dodgers weren’t always “gutless,” most of them were like you after you were drafted, they knew that the government didnt care about them, take agent orange for example. Muhammad Ali is who you would call a draft dodger, but I would not call him gutless, he had his reasons to not submit to being forced to fight a war by the corrupt government, like most do.

[@kreynolds7544]

Nooo you can’t dodge the draft you have to fight for Israel goyim and other foreign countries!!!

[@DrewHanks2083]

The Lord was definitely watching over you. 😊

[@zachariah85]

Hey boss. I know you didn’t ask me, but I’m gonna say this anyway. You don’t need to explain yourself to anyone. You don’t owe any of these dorks on the internet any sort of explanation as to why you didn’t go to Vietnam. People can be idiots, especially when they have anonymity. The internet is full of cowards who’d never disrespect you in person. My uncle and grandpa were both Vietnam vets, and they never looked down on anyone for not going. And I speak on this as a combat veteran myself from the Global War on Terror. You didn’t miss much from not going. And had your number been called, you would have. That’s all that can be asked. God bless 🥃🇺🇸

[@Independentthinker-d5q]

It’s hard to dodge a draft that didn’t call you to serve . Vietnam was a senseless war anyway.

[@middle-agedmacdonald2965]

Every war is, but a patriot goes to war for his country when told to. Some people have bone spurs, and rich daddies.

[@hwalter5432]

Most wars are!

[@Independentthinker-d5q]

@@hwalter5432 WW1 and WW2 were not , not for the allies anyway

[@hwalter5432]

@@Independentthinker-d5qCould disagree-both were started by kings and oligarchs who were no longer relevant, but knew war would keep them in power-actual reasons, justifications for both are pretty lame

[@riflemanm16a2]

@@Independentthinker-d5qWWI quite literally had no point. An assassin killed a royal of another country that had just taken his over and through a series of alliances, every country started killing each other out of obligation.

[@gator7082]

Most Americans didn't serve in Vietnam. It's a non issue. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. All pointless endeavors that served no purpose. I lost the entire decade of my 30's due to being over in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wish I could get that time back. Until the U.S. learns to use its resources properly, I wouldn't recommend the military for any young person.

[@vik.1903]

This. And nothing else.

[@CollaborativeDataAccounts]

It's all troons and women with two mommies from California now. I'm glad they got the bare minimum from me.

[@rogerthat4545]

Being a draft Dodger is a felony

[@wakuwakusonicpartolcar]

the only correct answer

[@binderfan436]

They sure helped the Military Industrial Complex.

[@Min8man-r5z]

I’ve had nothing but appreciation and enjoyment from what you have shared with us these many years. I feel badly for you that this even ever has been interjected into the comments. I graduated from High School in 1975, after Vietnam was all over, and after college was a pilot in the Air Force for a career. A great number of my slightly older peers that I looked up to had become pilots through Air Force ROTC, or OTS because they did not want to be in the meat grinder. Who could say that was any different than going to college with a deferment? Keep doing what you do, and realize you have and continue to add to a lot of veterans, a nice escape into your hollow and range for a few minutes.

[@Justin_Holland]

Even if you did dodge the draft, I wouldn't blame you. These wars are fought for their interest, not ours.

[@nevadacario2000]

Yeah

[@Moped_Mike]

Nah, only Vietnam

[@_DMNO_]

​@@Moped_Mike GWOT was a justified war, until it went on too long. It just became a way for politicians and businessmen to line their pockets with blood money after awhile. Same with Vietnam, except I only disagree with how it started and ended. That war twisted from wrong to right, and back to wrong so many times.

[@SmokeNGunsBBQ]

It was fought to try and stop communist expansion and save all those people from going to 'reeducation camps'.

[@RenjiMaili]

Young men have been sent to die all over this world in wars or other military actions, like the Rangers who died in Africa just a few years ago in an ambush, and none of if was done in their interest or ours. Men and women in expensive suits, with expensive "friends" who fill their pockets dictate that these things and not right or wrong, not some affront to our country that must be met or anything else. Even Iraq and Afghanistan. It surprises me that anyone continues to pretend otherwise.

[@thomascain4107]

at 18 years old I registered for the draft,required for U.S. citizens, was never called to serve. NEVER dodged !

[@ticklicker11]

Same here.

[@ZiddersRooFurry]

Nobody really cares.

[@bendover4154]

​@@ZiddersRooFurryI do.

[@the_gilded_age_phoenix8717]

None of these foreign wars are of national benefit. I have more respect for those who dodge than those who "serve." Actually, those who "serve" are helping the government waste taxpayer money.

[@ZeroTolerance-tk9ce]

Same here. I would have gone if they'd called me.

[@jessgatt5441]

I was there and all I have to say is this; I would have been in college if I could have, but I joined to do the thing at 17. So what? it makes no difference if you went or didn't go, the quality of a man's life hinges on work, not on if and when he partook in killing. I wish to God I hadn't gone. I see you as a decent man and that's all one needs to be.

[@rds978]

Not being called up is not the same as "dodging" the draft. A lot of people who were eligible to go did not get called up. My oldest brother did not have any exemptions or anything. When he graduated high school, he just went through the draft lottery. He drew a number that was well above the cutoff for who they took that year. One of his friends went through it at the same time and drew #1. A lot of the time it just boiled down to luck as to who they did or didn't take.

[@robvog8134]

My older brother missed the draft by a few months. They called it off just before he graduated high school.

[@jonosterman2878]

My dad was one of the lucky guys that was drafted and served in peace time in Alaska between Korea and Vietnan wars, and missed getting on the bus by like 6 months. So grateful he lucked out.

[@mindeloman]

My dad said that if his number was called he would've gone, but his number never got called. I find it sort of sad/interesting that I have yet to meet a male Boomer from that period who did not remember his draft number. It's sort of a brand they carry. I bet severe dementia patients will still remember their draft number.

[@DJ-xl8xh]

Totally agree … An incredibly different time. We knew very little about what was going on, I had the student deferment, graduated in ‘71, lottery number 359, was married. BUT we had great respect for our friends who served ….

[@mikebrumbelow887]

I was a senior in high school in 1969. Our entire class of senior men were taken to Maxwell Air Force base in Montgomery, Alabama for our Army physicals. We all passed, funny how that happened. I went to college for two years and hated it. Lottery came up and I got number 62. My dad was a World War II sailor in the south Pacific so I enlisted. The month I graduated from high school, over 450 guys were killed in Vietnam. I watched Walter Cronkite give the body count every night on tv. Kids today have no idea the pressure we were under and some didn't make it back. Our war dead are the true heroes!

[@garydouglas9413]

Entire senior classes of males were not given medical exams.

[@mikebrumbelow887]

@@garydouglas9413 In May 1969, the class at Coffee High School in Florence, Alabama was loaded onto a bus and taken to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery for their draft physicals. It may not have happened where you were, but it did where I was. I spent two years after that in Army ROTC in college and then six years in the Navy, but I will never forget that trip to Montgomery. While there in Montgomery, my blood pressure was elevated and I had to have it taken by my family doctor twice a day for three days after returning home. Of course it was normal each time it was taken. But, yes, it did happen to my class!

[@bamacopeland4372]

Growing up I did hear about Vietnam vets getting physicals at Maxwell. Now they do them at Gunter. I was one of them.

[@johnrusso1435]

This video made me laugh. Some people out there are pretty crazy!! Thanks for the humor

[@Boneyard44]

I registered for the draft when I turned 18, required by law. 1975. I was never called and had no interest in military service especially after hearing all the horror stories from friends and family that did serve and were lucky to return.. I have nothing but respect for all that have served and are serving.

[@howitzer8946]

I am a proud Vietnam Vet. Joined right after H.S. Dont really care what you did or didnt do. Any Vietnam Vets listening, welcome home.

[@williamfranz8313]

welcome home brother, Pleiku 66-67

[@Skyhawker6177]

Add my Welcome home, Brother. 2 tours and still wonder "why not me instead of them"?

[@jeannieheard1465]

When in HS I calculated that every 22 years USA was in a war. I went to The Citadel 18 straight months studying chemistry, transferred to Mercer and finished in chemistry. I had finished R.O.T.C. and was, therefore, an obligated volunteer. Our unit (Ordnance Corps) arrived in Vietnam the last day of 1965, being the last of the first 150,000 to get there that year. My MOS was basic signal officer, Signal Corps. When my year was up I went directly to a seminary where I was asked by a number of students if I, like themselves, was there to beat the draft. And when I left the seminary and went to work in a munitions plant I was asked once why I was not in Vietnam. To tell the truth, those years after being in that country I was incredibly busy and had no time to watch TV news. I thought by 1968 that it would end soon and didn't want to think of war. When at the seminary I encountered a young man who told a social worker and me that he had served, when in fact he was a con artist and sleazy liar. I never figured out what he wanted. He was "lost" in Louisville, KY, and we gave him enough money to take a bus home.

[@romeysmith1004]

I was drafted , I went, I come back, I respect you for your sharing your truth, thank you from a 101st airborne 501st Vet. Remember you cant fix everybody's lack of knowledge.

[@billfisher6708]

Vietnam vet, boots on the ground, here. I graduated from a very small town high school in 1965. There were about 20 guys in my graduating class, 14 of us ended up in the military over the course of the next few years and 12 of us ended up in Vietnam in various branches of the service and luckily we all made it back home, some of us injured to one degree or another, but mostly okay. I ended up enlisting and I volunteered to go to Vietnam. I had friends who joined the national guard and/or did other things to avoid the draft and I never held it against them for a second. I am proud of my service and that I went, but it was just another useless, unnecessary war our Country likes to get us into that 58,000 of my brothers and sisters in the service died for and in the end they died for absolutely nothing because 1) we had no clear definition of what victory was (sound familiar?) and 2) our illustrious congress backed out of agreements with SVN and gave it up (also, sound familiar?). The only draft dodgers I despised were those who booked up to Canada and I despised Carter for pardoning them. There is absolutely no good reason why we should expend blood and treasure in wars where we are not threatened or attacked first. And if it's that bad, then just nuke them off the face of the earth.

[@thebugaboo]

The fact that you can both feel proud of your service and think that it was "another unecessary war" at the same time means the machine is working well.

[@billfisher6708]

@@thebugabooI disagree with your statement. If anything “the machine” wised a lot of us up, especially considering the last couple of fruitless “nation building” wars. Perhaps you are suggesting we should be ashamed of our service? I certainly hope that is not what you meant.

[@danbgt]

I graduated from high school in 1969. I didn’t go to college right away. I was drafted in late 1969. However, I am a polio survivor. Polio kept me from playing sports in school, and it kept me from going to Vietnam. I had several friends that served in Vietnam. Some that didn’t survive it. I also had friends that got married to avoid the draft. And friends that joined the National Guard trying to avoid active duty. My older brother spent most of 1968 and part of 1969 in Vietnam. He was never the same afterwards. It was a different world.

[@cosyfoot7867]

This is what makes me mad when I see people who never served or from my generation (30) critique people as draft dodgers like they had skin in the game. Even if you were physically alright, it wrecked many thousands of people mentally. I’m glad you did not see combat in Vietnam and you shouldn’t be ashamed. As the video said, it’s not as if it was an imminent threat or responding to an attack on the country. It was a bad luck move to have to go there anyways and probably the vast majority that were unlucky enough at the time didn’t want to either. It’s a sad situation that no one should criticize someone for since you’d be hard pressed to find many people looking back to see a point to being there in the first place.

[@KClouisville]

@@cosyfoot7867 It was a shameful waste of many lives.....for virtually zero effect. We should have learned the futility of the whole undertaking by looking at what happened to the French there before that. Subsequently, the incursion into Cambodia during the war totally destabilized that country and made it easier for the Khmer Rouge to take power...which resulted in a genocide that left over a million people dead. The whole war was one of those cases where something snowballed into a total morass. If you ever want to read a good book on some of the reasons that happened and how, check out David Halberstam's The Best And The Brightest.

[@cosyfoot7867]

@@KClouisville What bothers me is the fact it’s still so divisive. Instead of blaming the morally corrupt leaders who allowed Vietnam to happen and then continue they blame “draft dodgers” or others for not fighting a useless fight. It’s hard to blame someone for wanting to enjoy and live their only life. You’re exactly right about it spiraling into a larger mess. The only foreign war the U.S. has ever actually succeeded in while not further weakening a region or country is World War II with the Marshall plan how well we rebuilt Europe and Japan. Now we think we can just conquer a nation (usually of extremists) and then leave and a democratic utopia will arise. Our foreign policy has basically been the wasting of trillions of dollars since the Korean War. I understand why we had to go to Afghanistan due to 9/11. But we didn’t have to stay 20 years to achieve our mission of killing Bin Laden and unraveling his terror cells.

[@KClouisville]

@@cosyfoot7867 And even in the case of Afghanistan, we were, in a lot of cases, fighting guys we had previously armed when they were fighting the Soviets in that country. That's been the CIA's logic in regards to the dozens of coups they've played a part in during the last 3/4 of a century......"They might be a bad guy, but they're our bad guy". Reminds me of a line from a song by the old punk band The Minutemen: "We lend out knives, to borrow trust".

[@YorkPickeroo]

Gee. I had polio in my legs in 1955.

[@markhookom5371]

I've always been an isolatioinist, why exactly are we fighting there? And are we in it enough to win? Let's just stay out of it! Love ya Hickok34!

[@SushiiiFish]

My grandfather was in the Pacific. When my father got drafted for Vietnam, he was told, "I fought to end all wars. leave.". His response was, "I can't leave; I have a life here. I'll never be able to come back." He stepped on a landmine, but made a full recovery. He was given the Purple Heart and upgraded to SP4.

[@roliver7773]

A lot of people, like myself, simply got a higher draft number in the lottery and were not called.

[@gusthomas]

Mine was 49, and supposedly, anyone 100 or less was getting drafted. But that was a few months before Nixon ended the draft in '73. Whew!

[@playhouseinthewoods6103]

Mine was 360 knew I was not going. Not dodger just didn’t get the call.

[@raifcluster]

Back in those days, VERY few people that I knew volunteered, some got drafted, so many of us had high numbers that we never got called. It just didn't happen. Vietnam was a s**tshow that even very patriotic people weren't thrilled about, so there were no lines like we saw after 911.

[@mikegraves6070]

Mine was 246. Slightly older friends who had been to Nam told me not to voluntarily join. We are not holding the ground we take was the reason they gave me. I took their advice.

[@tapeo1]

Some people were even lucky enough to have the money to pay off a doctor to write a fake diagnosis for something like bone spurs.

[@monarchist1838]

Has Hickok ever described his time as an auxiliary police officer? He mentioned serving time in the Sheriff's Department in an old video when he was a teacher. I hope Hickok will talk about his policing days.

[@livincincy4498]

DUDE ‼️ There is a bear behind you !!!

[@Biscuit7102]

I thought it was a wild boar! 😂

[@arch3088]

That is a hog.

[@wakuwakusonicpartolcar]

omg

[@Harley.Davidson]

😂

[@donwayne1357]

It's called a 'bar' here in Tennessee.

[@phillipmcguire7677]

It would be hard for someone not there to understand. I was in Vietnam 1967. Had a lady ask why I went. I had no school deferment. My choices were go to the Army, Go to Levenworth, Go Canada or Sweden and never see my family again. Also I had uncles that served in WW2, They were gooid men . What would they think of me , We all make decesions in life we live with. You Sir are not a draft dodger. Draft Dodgers are those who ran away.

[@benfutrell6047]

Excellent talk. Your description of those times brings it to light that it was an entirely different back then with no twenty-four hours news cycle and instant communication, cell phones. I was ten years old at the height of the conflict and I remember listening to the evening news and the anchor saying that there would still be American troops in Vietnam ten years from now. So as a ten year old, I started picturing myself shipping off. Kinda scary thoughts for a ten year old. Different world with only thirty minutes a day of national and world news. I know folks that went, I know folks that didn't. I have respect for both. What matters is being a good person no matter the situation. Thanks.

[@Farwalker2u]

I also had a 2S deferment to attend college in 1970. The lottery for those born in the year I was born occurred, and my birthday was a very high number (over 330). The media was portraying the Vietnam War in the worst possible light. A draft dodger in someone who was drafted, but ran to another country to avoid being physically present.

[@7cavvet1]

Very well said about a draft dodger.

[@robertclark972]

"The media was portraying the war in the worst possible light " ? Most of us understand that today's media is biased , but to portray the reporting back then in that way is pretty disingenuous . By 1970 the news was out about My Lai , and then it had already been suppressed by the Army for at least several months. T he Ellsberg Papers exposed what was being hidden prior to that .Media was a friend to young guys back then .

[@ObZenGuy]

My dad narrowly missed the draft. He had a high number. Said they would select draft numbers on the nightly news. He lost many friends to that pointless war.

[@The_Custos]

My uncle went and came back, very glad my father wasn't forced into it.

[@richardweiner6405]

They didn’t select the numbers on the nightly news, they announced them. There was a lottery based on your birthday. The reason for the lottery is that people got tired of guys who were politically connected not getting a draft notice while everyone else in the neighborhood did. The lottery was supposed to make it more fair. I know, because my birthday was drawn #9 of 366.

[@jamesrossmusic6013]

Things worked out for the best for you my friend. Because you did not go perhaps you wouldn't be here today. That would have been a major loss to many people as you have inspired us all and brought immense joy to many just by being your natutral self in the instructional videos you produce. Divine intervention... Who knows?? Perhaps!!! Thank you for this very frank and inspiring story.

[@aaronwilcox6417]

Wish my dad wouldve dodged the draft for Vietnam. He was drafted and served in 68'-69' in A-sha valley at firebases or what is know today as FOB's. It was heavily defoliated and they lived in those areas. Long story short is he ended up being expose to to agent orange defoliants and afterward suffered from rashes, tumors and ultimately Parkinsons that finally did him in. It was total denial and lies from the US Govt and VA system until the last few years of his life. Bottom line is that it wasnt worth it and it was all a package of lies.

[@jerrypauling7809]

It took my Dad also.

[@stephensuter7242]

Saddened to hear this!

[@georgedykes5533]

I was exposed to agent Orange when I was in Vietnam. It has racked my body for many years. 58 thousand were killed in combat and 345,000 have died from Agent Orange exposure!

[@KyleCowden]

My dad made it to ninety but we lost him last Summer. He was ravaged with Parkinson's, various cancers, etc. from his agent orange exposure. Being a flier, his exposure was minimal compared to those trudging through the defoliated jungles but enough to make his last 20 years a series of worsening illnesses.

[@michaelshannon5324]

I served at the end of Vietnam was 17 in navy also served for 10 yrs was right thing for me to do but for those that didn’t go I was okay with , but not with those that disrespected us

[@josephwillis665]

Only lottery I’ve ever won in my life and I’m 72😅 I drew number 49, beings I was going to be drafted. My father was a World War II Navy vet. I decided to follow his steps, join the Navy and served four years. I don’t regret it. It was an enjoyable time proud to have been able to serve.🇺🇸🙏🏻🇺🇸

[@stevec6723]

Joe, same here I also won the lottery with #66, got my Army physical notice and promptly went to the Navy recruiter (Dad was WW2 Navy), spent 1.5 years in Western Australia and 2.5 years on the USS Paul Revere, anchors aweigh!

[@tomc.7520]

Well sh*t boys, looks like it's Navy time. Seventy-one here, USS LaSalle (AGF-3) and USS Dale (DLG-19). Saw the world, well, half of it anyway.

[@jason200912]

Whybdid they give you the option of joining navy if you got drafted?

[@Leavingthisworld]

344 here! Thank you God❤

[@josephwillis665]

When the army sent me my induction letter, I went to the Navy recruiter and joined for four years versus two years in the army, hope that answers your question. I have no regrets. Hooyah 🇺🇸🙏🏻🇺🇸

[@DizzyGrave]

Sir i can tell you now, I am divert glad you weren't there. My grandfather was and the gases they used on those people killed him in his late 60s or 70s in 2018. It caused leukemia and took him not long after, maybe 4 or 5 months. Happy you're still here Hickock!

[@KurtG-nn2cz]

Great summary of the situation. I am 3 years younger than you and was in college when Nixon ended the draft. My father was a navy combat veteran in WW2 and the most patriotic person I knew. He was a life long Republican and I remember him quietly listening to the casualty reports on the news. He never discussed Vietnam until several years after the war. I was shocked one day when he told me we should have never sent "our boys" over there to fight in that war. He had nothing but praise for the men who fought there , but he disliked the fact that the government had sent them there to fight . Back in the day WW2 vets did not talk about their experience much. They were fighting for a cause and were proud of their service. They also valued the lives of our servicemen . I think finally the Vietnam vets are getting the respect they deserve . Many did not get that when they came home.

[@lightreign8021]

There was no way for him to know and he did what was honorable at the time but your dad fought for the wrong side and we are paying the price.

[@spazemfathemcazemmeleggymi272]

​@@lightreign8021 We laugh at the Soviets but we and the Soviet are pretty much the same. Both our countries were sent to kill our brothers for the sake of a parasite.

[@neilmoreland5476]

Wow,,I agree with everything you and your Dad said in your words here.. I'm 68 now,,while still in High School,,1973 to 1975,,, here in Ohio,,I received my draft card,,#72,,classification,,1A,, While at my HS Vocational School,,I had tested for the Air Force who had recruiters there for enlistment,,I wanted to fly. Draft ended and I didn't enlist.. My older brother did get drafted in 1967 but got orders for Nuremberg Germany instead of Nam..My brother-in-law had got back from Nam in late 60s,,was Army infantry,,bout killed numerous times on the ground,,he volunteered to be a Huey door gunner,,shot down three times,,just minor injuries,,said he still felt safer in the air..He told me to enlist in the Air Force vs being drafted by the Army so I was doing so. And yes,,even though I was young,,I remember Walter Cronkites evening News talking daily and at weeks end,,usually announcing,,,865 American soldiers killed in Vietnam this week,,which number wise was a general occurrence,,a awful lot of dead soldiers weekly..And I too was watching and listening to Cronkite.. I totally agree with your Dad,,we should have never sent troops to Vietnam...Wars where our Homeland is in imminent jeopardy,,like WW2,, is totally different and I totally support our defense of same under those conditions...And thank you to all that have served for all our freedom and country!!!

[@m1358]

95 percent of American wars are useless, well put sir, your service for gun safety and traing is most valuable today

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

Useless is a stretch.

[@thebugaboo]

@@WALTERBROADDUS you're right, their use is to extract wealth and crumble democracies

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

@@BrazenCaballo2212 I suppose it's how you look at it? They were not done looking for empire or economic value.

[@SlearBlaneheart]

​@@WALTERBROADDUSOf course they were. Don't be a fool.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

@@SlearBlaneheart that's just your personal opinion. and please lose the derogatory replies.

[@cheekymonkey444]

I graduated high school in 1970. Was drafted October 5, 1972. Was stationed in Germany in the 1/11 Armored Cavalry Regiment. I was a field artillery gunner on a 155 mm howitzer. Put my time in and came home. Could have easily wound up in Vietnam. My draft number was 70. The estimates were going to draft only as high as 65. As it turns out they went to 125. The next year, they picked the numbers but never drafted anyone. I developed a severe hearing disability from the concussion of the big guns during firing missions. No hearing protection was provided. We were told to use cigarette butts. Not only did I give two years of my youth but also most of my hearing. I don't regret it. I did my duty.

[@richarch45]

Your education and accomplishments proved to be more important than going to Vietnam. Do not worry about it. I served in the USAF for 24 years and 5 months and retired in 2000. I am not concerned about you serving or not. Not everyone is cut out to be on active duty and being drafted does not change who you are. I think you are a great man and you are living a great life. Be happy and ignore the small minded people.

[@Cap10VDO]

Somebody threw a draft beer at Hickok. He dodged and said, "I prefer longnecks, thanks." This is how rumors start.

[@StarCityFAME]

Alice's Restaurant Group W bench! LOL. Glad you're here with us Mr Hickock45!

[@JohnShea-d2x]

I have terrible luck in games of chance. It held true for the draft lottery. My birthdate drew number 357. Losing the draft lottery meant that almost every other person in that year's draft pool would have to be taken before they reached for me. "Losing" the draft lottery meant no service and Vietnam for me. My father volunteered for WW2 service with his best friend. He got WIA after six weeks of combat in the Vosge Mountains near the French/German border on the day after his 19th birthday. His best friend got KIA in the Vosge two days later. My father spent almost a year in hospital and walked with a limp for the rest of his life. He could not reach and tie his left shoe. One of my brothers was a Ranger who never saw a combat deployment. Another brother saw two deployments to Iraq and never got wounded. He retired as a lieutenant colonel. In my experience, combat veterans rarely speak about combat, but may talk about non-combat related occurrences. My father said that the local sportsmen's club range in the Winter among the pines reminded him of how cold it was in the snowy Vosge pine forests in November of 1944. Most of the WW2 veterans I knew said they were just doing their job.

[@bertkilborne6464]

My # was over #300 It seems like I should try to look it up to find what the # was, because I forgot.

[@RonL-y3v]

355

[@menachem2521]

You can't be called a draft dodger if the government gives you an opportunity not to be drafted by going to school.

[@rogerthat4545]

Yes you can. I worked for a guy who was in college for 7 years during the Vietnam war just so he could inherit his daddy's business

[@IDoBeSmarter]

​@@rogerthat4545What does his dad's business have anything to do with the original comment? It sounds like you're jealous of the opportunity that guy got. Good for him lol

[@rogerthat4545]

@@IDoBeSmarter he didn't need a 7 year degree to inherit something.

[@Tardenglobe2346]

I could care less if he is, good on him for avoiding that.

[@Tardenglobe2346]

@@rogerthat4545 Hey, can you shut up?

[@robertslusser6753]

I graduated from high school in 1968 and a week later I rode the bus unto Parris Island, SC and became a US Marine. I was young (still 17) and dumb and wanted to go save our country from the communists. The Marines trained me as a COBOL programmer and I never made it to Vietnam although I spent a year serving on Okinawa. I didn't get my draft card until I was discharged after three years active duty. If I had it to do over again, I would have gone to college as I had been accepted at our local state college and got my $35.00 registration money back in boot camp. Some people seem to think that if you didn't serve you were a draft dodger. Don't worry about it.

[@Rational_thinker_212]

As 1973 HS grad, I had a lottery number in the 80s meant that i would almost certainly be going. I was mentally prepared for my "senior trip" because in my culture there was no other choice. Luckily for me it ended a few months before graduation. I ended up going in the Air Force later with a plan to see some of the world and get the GI Bill college assistance. For a lot of complex reason i kept re-uping until I realized I was almost half way to a retirement. When Desert Storm/Desert Shield hit, I was an E7 in a critical cold war position and was exempt from overseas deployment so I sat it out statside. Shortly after that I was put in to Air Force Space command to monitor the military contracted space launch program until retirement. So -- 24 years active duty, never carried a weapon except for ceremonial or minimum base defense training. I consider myself lucky and my thoughts align perfectly with Hickok45's When I visit the local military posts and the young guys at the gate in full battle rattle say "thank you for your service" I smile and say, "thanks for serving now"

[@tommissouri4871]

Nixon ended it all in January 1973. Our college dorm was packed around the TV as he announced it, as many of us lost our college deferments for having not been (college) students in 1968. Most of us were high school or junior high school students in 1968, but that was the logic of the military. Also, no one was being called with a lottery number higher than 50 as of the '71 graduating class. Most of those were never called back after physicals. Those under 50 weren't even called for physicals in the '72 graduating class. And after January 1973, war was over and no one was being called. It just took until 1975 to wind down with existing troops and to get chased out of Saigon. With a lottery number of 80 in the Class of '73, you were as safe as a babe in his mother's arms.

[@geoffkeahey2651]

I grew up in the 60s. You've got a couple of years on me. During that time, anyone with a lick of common sense used any deferment that was possible. I was 15 when the draft ended, and I remember my mother got down on her knees and thanked God. Three years later I enlisted, mainly to get out of my life that was going nowhere. As a veteran, I would in no way consider you a draft dodger, but a lucky man that didn't have to go.

[@harjac2301]

Who wouldn't "dodge" dying for men who would unplug your life support to charge their phone?

[@aroundthebend721]

Smartest comment here.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

Many South Vietnamese would disagree.

[@thebugaboo]

you know he's talking about dodging a war that happened over half a decade ago right? Yknow... before even home computers existed.

[@harjac2301]

@@thebugaboo The general message still stands, the men who start the war never fight... they leave it to the poor.

[@aroundthebend721]

@@thebugaboo That's every war genius.

[@bobsterit]

I was in the Army in 1971-1975. tried my best to get over there. had a stupid notion of that was what I owed this country. Today a peoson has to be stupid to Service after what we have become. Guy once told me " He used to be willing to die for what America stood for. NOW He would die to protect his family from what it has become"

[@PolPotsPieHole]

great comment

[@jameslewis8227]

That’s one of the most abjectly horrible things I’ve ever heard from someone claiming to be a veteran of the U.S. armed forces. That said, your comment doesn’t say you served in the U.S. Army. Maybe you meant to say you served in the Russian Army? In that case, it would be stupid to risk or sacrifice one’s life in defense of Russia.

[@jameslewis8227]

@@PolPotsPieHoleNo, that’s not a great comment. It’s an unjustly anti-American comment that’s disrespectful to all of our sisters and brothers in arms who have served with honor. In other words, it’s a disgrace.

[@xsommer8558]

I agree with you 100%! One thing that is obvious James Lewis 8227 never served, he is one of those classic keyboard warriors with blue hair...

[@jameslewis8227]

@@xsommer8558 Exactly who are you trying to troll with the “never served” and “keyboard warrior” comments?

[@bobpiec]

Doesn't fizzz me, I'll keep watching. Like your Videos!

[@kmtabq617]

Very well put! People today don't understand the differences between Vietnam and the more recent wars. I started in college in '66, and everyone I knew wanted to keep their grades up so they wouldn't have to go. I later got reclassified because I was stupid enough to damage my hearing by shooting without hearing protection. My ears have been ringing since July 4, 1966. I went to work for a company that developed radar jamming technologies for the RF-4 reconnaissance aircraft, and I know of at least one person who was saved using our equipment. That made me feel good.

[@jackdelvo2702]

I am a proud draft dodger, when I received my draft notice, being someone that does not like being told what to do, I showed them, I went down and enlisted.

[@johnpelszynski6646]

B R A V O

[@riveramaximino]

Me Too! #14 for 1972

[@jackdelvo2702]

@@johnpelszynski6646 Best thing was those folks at the draft board were one down on their quota and the Sargent down at the recruitment office was one up. The Sargent picked me up at the house the day I was to be inducted, we stopped and had breakfast then he drove me down to the induction center and personally walked my paperwork through. He offered to do this to help convince me to sign up. It was 1970 and pickens were getting mighty scarce.

[@larryroach8970]

Me Too #19 for 71

[@TyTy_TheGuy]

Mission Failed Successfully? 😂

[@willcook4174]

Running into folks who lie about military service is more common than it should be. Just a few months ago I had a kid trying to tell me about what all he did in the marines. I’ve been in the military for 23, longer than this kids been alive. In the military we can smell our own. Doesn’t take but a few words for me to know. Thank you for clearing the air and addressing this. I enjoy your content

[@garypic4083]

Unpopular War nobody wanted to to serve in that war that's why there was a draft, the only lottery I ever won

[@dw7094]

There was always a draft up until 1973. Hell, Elvis Presley was drafted in 1958.

[@kxd2591]

Don't speak for other people. Some of us saw it as a clash of civilizations, a fight that was worth fighting. And we didn't use the "I was but a child, a mere, very busy child who just wanted to play basketball and write themes and had no idea of what was going on in the wider world because I was a child".

[@garypic4083]

@@kxd2591 I guess you got drafted

[@rabbitholereviews]

That enormous chip on your shoulder must be getting really heavy. Vietnam was one enormous lie--as was GWOT. And yeah, I served.

[@garypic4083]

@@rabbitholereviews Chip on my shoulder?

[@dadams1947]

I'm 77 years old and graduated High School in 1965. I went to college as I and my parents had always planned for me to do, so I had a student deferment. When the lottery came out my draft number was 273. After I graduated in 1970 with a double major I was moved to 1A, but the war slowly winded down and the draft never got to me. I would have served had I been in line to do so. Trump's draft number was 356. Draft dodgers were guys that were actually drafted and left the country to avoid going into the services.

[@JerryRamsey-i8n]

okay found your new channel ive been a Fan for probally 7 years and yes I subscribed

[@hvrtguys]

Don't ever mention Jane Fonda around a Vietnam vet.

[@johngaither9263]

Many non-vets don't care for her either. Opposing the war is one thing but giving aid and comfort to the enemy is treason.

[@babalugats3540]

I'm a Vietnam era vet, 72-75, who doesn't like Jane Fonda one bit. I couldn't hardly care less about her stance on the war in those years. What I don't like is that she is an awful actor and has probably the most annoying voice I've ever heard.

[@moebadderman227]

...crying about what an *actress* said more than fifty years ago?!

[@smugwendigo5123]

​@@johngaither9263you a Christian by chance?

[@Tommy-rr7ez]

​@@moebadderman227You wouldn't understand!

[@justinmaine4932]

My grandfather served in Korea and Vietnam. They got attacked on Xmas. I saw pictures of the beautiful village that got burned to the ground, they were stationed by. Horrible unpopular war. My father was an Air Force brat and all his young life, He was going to join the military. Vietnam changed all of that. like most kids of undrafted servicemen, he got bullied stateside. Everything was fine when they were in Germany, but when they came home, everything changed.

[@grantschuehler2959]

I knew you were from down somewhere in Kentucky but hearing you mention Florence and Covington hit me out of nowhere! I'm a recent Marine Corps vet, recruited out of Florence and grew up around here in the Northern Kentucky area!

[@lunaticred1277]

I learned to shoot the 45acp in the National Guard pistol team. And you shoot just like the Master shooters we had on are team. Kinda hard to learn to master a 45 acp without a old shooter training you. It was great fun going to state shoots to get qualified to go to the National shoot in Little Rock, Arkansas. Sure injoy your video's. You are a legend.

[@robertjolley8715]

Hickok, I respect you for who you are and for your wisdom, knowledge, and honesty. I do not care if you served or did not serve. It is not a question that I would ever ask.

[@JimC1702]

Good talk. I graduated HS in 1970. When I registered with the draft I was initially 1-A but I got a high lottery number (the only lottery I ever won) and was changed to 1-H (Eligible to serve but not likely to be called). Not a draft dodger, just lucky. I did serve 25 years in law enforcement.

[@crushlife5243]

I was a young kid that grew up glorifying war. Thought it was bad ass. Got my chance and flew helicopters in Afghanistan twice. Let me tell you folks, you can’t change a couple thousand years of culture. It was damn pointless. My Dad got the deferment in the 60’s. Thank God. His draft number was right up there.

[@MikeJames-kt5dw]

You can through a thing called...internet. Islam won't survive the internet era.

[@dw7094]

Got that right. Instead of letting us go in and kick ass, they came up with "Vietnamization" in order to win their hearts and minds! We rooted out the VC and drove the NVA out of the south, but Nixon was content to let the NVA move south through Laos and Cambodia to infiltrate the south. Then unelected Gerald Ford just quit on us.

[@johngaither9263]

Well actually you can but our government refused to destroy the Afghan race by genocidal actions against every man, woman and child. Genghis Khan proved that it worked. The Brits, Soviets and US tried halfheartedly to subdue the Afghans but failed because none of us were brutal enough.

[@johnnyjohn-johnson7738]

I wonder how things would've turned out different if the government had appointed an American military governor to control Afghanistan instead of letting them have their own joke of a government, had the Afghan Army under the sole control of western officers, and if they instituted a policy of compulsory state atheism? The atheist movement has destroyed thousands of years of Christianity in the west (speaking as one myself, who had no option but to let go of my absurd former faith once I gotten into an argument with a pompous atheist on the internet and realizde that I had nothing to stand on to prove him wrong) so I'm sure it could work in the Middle East against Islam.

[@andrewdriver3318]

Actually the Taliban have proved that you can change a culture. Afghanistan of the pre-Taliban days was the most liberal of the Middle East. It had bars and discos miniskirts, movie theaters. Jalabad itself was known for having a Paris-like bohemian culture. It was an extremely popular party destination spot on the Hippy Trail.

[@nighthiker8872]

If Vietnam conflict never took place, you would have seen, young people after HS, getting married, and focus on a family future. A lie got fool into the conflict. Our economy would not have been floating in the toilet after, 1964. And never recover.

[@Airborne-80]

We don’t choose the timeline of our lives. I joined the Army in 1980. The Vietnam War had ended 5 years prior. America was sick of war. So I was a highly trained and fully combat ready paratrooper who never saw combat. I am just as proud of my service as all who served should be. We all have choices in life. What’s great for me might suck for someone else. You did nothing to be ashamed of. I’m very happy that you took the path you took. You give us all a lot of gifts with your skills and wisdom.

[@brabhamfreaman166]

1:38 You’re probably thinking of Don Shipley, amongst others. His is the name that springs to mind

[@ipbthunder]

Imagine being upset that someone didn't want to go fight a pointless war for a government that doesn't care about them.

[@KeithDickey-p2z]

I graduated HS in ‘71. My Dad was carrier Army and went to ‘Nam in ‘69. He got a Bronze Star while there and as you can imagine he was a hero to our family. He hoped we wouldn’t have to go. As it turned out my brother and I both had high lottery numbers. I needed a college physical so Dad got me into an induction physical. At the end a Colonel Dr. said he needed to talk to me. He said I had the best hearing they had ever tested. He really laughed when he found out I wasn’t being drafted. I’ve always wondered what I missed out on. Thanks for your many videos.

[@ThubanDraconis]

My father dodged the draft in WWII. He found a little loophole in the laws of the time where you couldn't be drafted if you joined this thing called "The United States Marine Corps." And it worked, they never did draft him. (He, knew exactly what the Marine Corps was when he signed up. He was trying to get into the fight, not stay out of it.)

[@Texas-Chris]

My Grandfather went to a military college. He was one of the first “civilian,” students that they admitted. His best friend was part of the ROTC and he did serve in Vietnam. They are several years older than you are Mr. Hickok so they were at the beginning of the conflict. My Grandfather told me that he was almost drafted, despite the fact that he was in college, the one thing he had going for him was his ability in math. So they were going to send him to OCS, (he had one year of college left) but he did have a relatively high draft number because of his family situation and that ultimately kept him out of the war. He finished his degree, and then came back and got a Masters which became his ticket to teaching. And when I first learned about the war in was about 11 or 12 and I saw the memorial in Washington and he showed me the names of his students that died in the war. Full circle now as Iraq and Afghanistan have happened and I’ve had my own classmates over there as well as my brothers. And I love shooting military weapons, I have a M4, the M1 Garand is one of my favorites also the M1A, and Life is Definitely Good !!! Love the Bear !!! And God Bless !!!

[@warriorowl]

Well said. You conducted yourself in full compliance with requirements of the selective service act in effect at the time. That is most certainly NOT "draft dodging."

[@kendelvalle8299]

Joined the Navy and 3/64, and served to 2/68. Corpseman and served with a marine combined action platoon. Six months. Another six months. And then 13 months. The Gulf of Tonkin incident was in 8/64. I had been in for five moths. I have three purple hearts. Most of us realized there was no sense to that war within a month or two of being there. We were there for each other. We never looked down upon anyone who was not there due to legitimate draft deferment. We sort of figured they had done the smart thing. No one should ever think of you as a draft dodger. PS. I came back and got a BA in English Lit. then law school.

[@dyson9422]

During the early part of the Vietnam war, mother worked on a ward at a VA hospital. She would tell me about the maimed young men. The number of men needed to fight in Johnson’s, McNamara’s, and Westmoreland’s Vietnam war “escalated” and Congress authorized a draft. When my friends who returned after their tour in Vietnam told me about the conduct of our solders like getting kids run over by truck convoys by dropping candy and cigarettes behind trucks rather than the side of the roadway. I knew that I wanted no part of that. I did not see a way of winning a war when our side had so little regard for the people we were sent to help. But just after my eighteenth birthday in 1965, I got a letter from the Selective Service, instructing me to get an SS physical. The physical was an assembly line with about twenty other guys. We did vision, hearing, hernia (turn your head and cough), hemorrhoids (bend over and spread your cheeks), weight, heart and lung sounds, pulse rate, and blood pressure. One of the guys I worked with was disqualified from military service (4F) due to high blood pressure. I strained every muscle I could while trying to look relaxed to raise my blood pressure. The guy listening with a stethoscope on my arm and relieving the pressure in the arm cuff said that I was nearly disqualified because my blood pressure was on the borderline of being too low. The SS physician congratulated me and told me to expect a letter from the draft board within thirty days. I had visions of slogging across a rice patty to attract hostile fire so that someone could figure which tree line to napalm. I had several choices which I list in order of preference: Find a girl to marry and have my baby in thirty days; Go live in Canada; Enlist in the Air force; Coast Guard; Navy; National Guard; Marines; or the Army with a guaranteed school that teach me a skill that would be needed but which would not be needed in combat. There is no record of the number of deaths of those men who went to Canada. For those that served in Vietnam, the causality rate was: Air Force 1%; Navy 2%; Army 2.7%; and Marines 5%. Each of the military services has a qualification test. The army test qualified me to take any of their schools. The better schools taught skill not needed in rice patties, but they required more active-duty time. I got a perfect score on the Air Force test, but the waiting list was over a year. I should have taken their test as soon as President Johnson said we were sending troops to fight not just advise. The Navy enlistment was for six years of active duty, but the Navy Reserve was one year of active reserve, two years of active duty, another year active reserve, and then two more years inactive reserve. With just two years of active duty my exposure to being a causality was just 2/3%. The active reserve was one night a week and two weeks a year of active duty for training. But again, there was a year waiting. The National Guard was probably similar but seemed too risky since active duty might meant that rice patty thing or shooting college students protesting the Vietnam war like at Kent State. Company D (Long Range Patrol) 151st Infantry Regiment, Indiana Army National Guard, was the only National Guard Infantry unit to serve in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, 76 Army National Guard units were called up to active duty, it is estimated that 13,000 Army National Guard members were mobilized during this time. Canada was looking good except for abandoning my family and friends. I was considering whether it was better to serve with well-trained Marines or Army draftees when the phone rang with the news from the Navel Reserved recruiter that they were allotted more enlistments. This was very good news! To me, this meant a warm dry bed, good food and being out of range of angry Asians trying to kill me. I hated the idea of serving in the Navy for two years, but it was much better than the available alternatives.

[@j.s.7366]

You should really hit “return” or “enter” when typing long comments like this to help make them more readable. I.e. break the long paragraph down into two or three smaller ones.

[@Mr.SharkTooth-zc8rm]

70 year old checking in. I never served in the military. I DID try to join when 9/11 happened but no one would take me. Too old. I admit that Boot Camp would have been tough in the beginning but I would have adjusted. I was in good shape. Anyway, Every man I know, EVERY single one: Army and Marines mostly, every single one said they wish they hadn't gone over there. Of course we now know that despite the US head-butting at the time with the Soviet Union and China to an extent, it was a war with so much bull-sh*t on OUR side associated with it. Had JFK not been murdered by the CIA the US would have been out of there!

[@drsnooker1776]

9/11 was done by our government

[@drsnooker1776]

The first event in 2001 was done by our state

[@Mr.SharkTooth-zc8rm]

@@drsnooker1776 More likely than not...

[@Olivehollow]

My uncle was a Cobra helicopter pilot during Vietnam. He has some wild stories, good and bad.

[@chaseme9860]

I wouldn't say "draft-dodging" is even shameful. Anybody with any sense would try to get out of a draft. If you wanted to be in the service, you would already be in the service.

[@JohnSmith-7n8]

It’s definitely shameful if it wasn’t then we would not be discussing it. Especially when those draft dodgers like a good chunk of congress is voted for war as they did with Iraq

[@edmaguire1012]

US Navy 1962 to 1968. Radioman. Volunteered for Vietnam. My captain wouldn't let me go!

[@RedRuffinsore]

For years, every single Vietnam vet I have run into was either (ostensibly) a sniper, or a Huey door gunner. Never a clerk/typist or accountant or in logistics. In my case, they cancelled the draft during my senior year in high school.

[@Vule34]

Very true, but clerks and logisticians get killed too from IEDs, convoy ambushes, artillery, rockets, mines, and small arms fire. Logisticians seem to get forgotten sadly.

[@johngaither9263]

Worked with a guy who was a lineman in the signal corps. He said both sides shot at you when you were up on a pole. Another was an artilleryman who annoyed an officer and was made a forward observer. A third actually was a Huey flight engineer (door gunner) and a fourth who guarded Rudolph Hess in Spandau prison. My brother in law did two tours in the marines in Vietnam. During his second tour his job was rounding up marines who went AWOL in country from the corps. They always left with weapons and resisted being taken back. Gary led a reinforced squad to convince them with and could call for artillery, air strikes or naval gunfire to subdue them.

[@cuttnhorse2013]

Mr Hickok, I live just North of you and a few years younger. I served in the Army. Don’t let those that think they know or have a need to make someone look bad. Your life is what it is, just as mine has been. We all have been down different trails! God, Family, health, and Guns! Don’t let the people that don’t know you, affect you in any way. It’s none of their business! Ronnie, Oneida