Bad grades made you draft bet, but that was 40 years ago.
What U.S. SEn. John Kerry said the other day about students with bad grades winding up in combat in Iraq sounded so true. At least it did 40 years ago.
Like so many of his generation, Kerry can't kick the Vietnam era. He compares wars fought since then with Vietnam.
In the Vietnam War, a young man who flunked out of college or didn't enroll became draft fodder. Uncle Sam soon summoned him for a medical physical. If he passed, he soon received a letter of "greetings'' announcing his induction into the armed forces for two years.
It was a rule of thumb draftees went to Vietnam for a 13-month tour of duty. An example was Phill G. McDonald of Greensboro, a non-college student who was one day short of his 26th birthday when drafted.
Had he made it to 26 he would have been exempt. McDonald was killed in the fighting, dying heroically while saving others. He was awarded, posthumously, with the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest combat award.
Once a young man entered the Army or Marines,he took a battery of tests. If he scored poorly, count on it: he was infantry bound. He became a rifle-carrying ground pounder, a grunt.
Those who scored high invariably wound up in safer jobs, such as operating the primitive computers of that era or as "Reminington raiders" - pounding typewriters in an office.
Testing may still determine the military occupation of a soldier or marine today.
But the major difference between now and then is if you flunk out of college or don't even enroll, Uncle Sam can't horse collar you into combat. A non-student can go shoot pool or play in a rock bank without worry the military will draft him.
There has been no draft since the 1970s.
Frankly, judging from what military people have said, good riddance to the draft. It put in uniform too many malcontents, quitters and even lawbreakers.
An area Marine recruiter once commented that in today's modern military too many speeding tickets was enough to turn away a potential recruit. A reporter accompanying a Marine recruiter in the Asheboro area some years ago watched him reject a former Marine, who had an honorable discharge from a previous enlistment.
Afterward, the recruiter said a code on the young man's discharge papers indicated his record had blemished that had caused the Marine Corps to sour on him. They didn't want him back for a second enlistment.
Lots of factors motivate young men to enter the military today, but one thing doesn't: the fear of the draft. Poor performance in school won't result in a plane ticket to Iraq.