To: Wayners who wrote (832362 ) 1/25/2015 12:47:59 PM From: bentway Respond to How does one hide in the reserves? You are in the military. I was in the military, active duty and the reserves. When the fan hits, you are called up and you go, and your life is on the line along with your country. During Vietnam, except for toward the end of the war, the reserves were never called up. You could even check a box that said, "I'll never be posted overseas"! A box W checked! MANY sons of the political and wealthy classes were 'hiding' in the reserves.google.com The best historical judgment of the decision not to employ reserve component units-particularly the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard-in Vietnam is that Johnson had made an almost purely political decision. Lyndon Johnson was gradually involving the United States in a land war in Asia, yet he was disguising his every move. The short-range success with which he accomplished this goal was exemplified by a front-page headline in the next day's New York Times: "Most in Congress Relieved by the President's Course."9 There was "general satisfaction" in the Congress, reported E. W. Kenworthy for the Times, "that the President had decided to increase the draft and postpone a decision on calling up reserve units." The President had become "increasingly sensitive," reported the Times, "to the 76 possible political effects of a reserve call-up." Thirty-three House Democrats confirmed the political repercussions of reserve forces mobilization, saying that they had been getting "'heavy flak' from families that would be affected by a reserve call-up.""
