Cooper: bring back the draft!

[Dennis]

> Some months ago there was a post on this topic on the sixties-l list,
> which mentioned the Chicago Tribune colunmnist, Bob Greene (a real
> jerk). I fwd it ot Greene just for the hell of it and got a reply
> claiming he had interviewed veterans that had been spit on. I got along
> fine with all the combat veterans I had in my classes. Incidentally, I
> have also heard second-hand tales about Vietnam Veterans being abused
> _not_ by anti-war protestors but by older vets at VFW clubs for being
> "losers." That's probably an urban legend too, but it's more
> entertaining.
>
> Carrol

If there were Viet vets who were spat on, then they were a minority, if
that. The bulk of the anti-Vietnam war movement welcomed vets into its
ranks, from GI coffee houses to the formation of anti-war vet groups like
Vietnam Veterans Against the War. They marched with American flags and in
uniform. There's a wonderful scene in Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and
Loathing: On The Campaign Trail, '72" in which Viet vets, in combat uniform,
march on the Republican Convention in Miami, silent, strong, unopposed. The
delegates drew back and let them by -- what could they say? do? John Wayne,
who was there with some pals, was told that the leaders of the march wanted
to speak to him. Mr. "Green Berets" declined, saying that he needed a drink.
I bet he did.

DP