Hey, We Weren’t All Like Him!

That Michigan state senator who wants to force foster children to wear only hand-me-downs because he personally “never had anything new”?  Detroit journalist and blogger Nancy Nall has this to say about him:

Caswell is 61. He “never” had anything new. So why should anyone else? Look what it did for him: He graduated from Michigan State! Actually, his Wikipedia bio is intriguing. Graduated high school in 1967 and went to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, leaving after two years to finish undergrad at MSU, before re-enrolling and finishing with a master’s in 1976. Nowhere in there do I see the name of a certain southeast Asian country that begins with the letter V. Hmm.

Now, as much as I relish Nancy’s takedown, the man’s unfeeling remarks on foster children and his avoidance of military service have nothing to do with each other.

A lot of us … and by us I mean American baby boomer males … had, ahem, other priorities during the Vietnam conflict.  With the possible exceptions of Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh, most of us, I’m willing to bet, feel a little apologetic about sitting Vietnam out.  It’s not guilt, or regret.  Not exactly.  But the fact is always there: half our generation went, and we didn’t.

Of course the war in Vietnam was wrong, unpopular, and hated.  Most of us, given the choice, would not have gone.  A lot of us were given the choice … and we didn’t go.  But if the draft board rated you 1A, you had no choice.  With no deferment the only way to avoid the draft was to volunteer.  One way or another, you were going.

In mid-1966, with a wife and young son, I was given a 3A deferral by the draft board.  I used the time to go to college and grad school, much like that Casswell guy. My friends and fellow college students also had deferrals, and none of us were worried about the draft.  I’d pretty much lost touch with high school friends who’d gone on to serve in the military.

I never considered joining the military until 1973, after finishing grad school in California and teaching adult ed in Montana for a year.  During that year I became friends with guys my age who had served.  I felt a pull.  I decided to become an officer and pilot, and joined the USAF.

At that point direct US involvement in Vietnam was virtually over, but the war machine was still in high gear.  All over the country young men were being drafted and put through basic.  Training bases were cranking out specialists, technicians, and operators of all types.  In my case, the USAF wanted thousands of replacement pilots and navigators.  All the guys in my officer and pilot training classes … our instructors too … thought we’d wind up fighting and flying in Southeast Asia.  We didn’t, but none of us knew that’s how it was going to turn out.

I’m willing to bet that most of us who sat out Vietnam have wondered how our lives would have turned out had we fought in that war.  Would we be better men today, or just different, or dead and forgotten?  Of course there’s no point thinking about stuff like that, but still, I bet most of us have.

We’ve learned to live with it.  We had a choice and we took it.  We’re living the lives we made for ourselves.  The country is no better and no worse for it.  I’m okay, you’re okay, we’re all okay.

And then some asshole like Michigan State Senator Bruce Casswell comes along and makes us all look like jerks.  He was one of us, a fellow draft-dodger, and now he wants to force foster children to wear Salvation Army smocks!

Guys like that make me wish I’d joined up right out of high school.