Semper Fidelis

By December of 1969, Congress was desperate for more cannon fodder to sacrifice on behalf of Nugyen Van Theiu, the President of Viet Nam. So they instituted a draft lottery and I won third place! My lottery number was three. At the time, I was in college studying sororities and my grades were suffering consequently. I was a prime target for the draft. 

In January of 1970, Uncle Sam let me know that my student deferment was revoked and I was reclassified 1-A. I was going to be in the army in the very near future. The only control I had over the circumstances was to deny Uncle Sam his draft and enlist in another branch of service. Because I was enrolled in college, the Air Force would put me in a deferred enlistment program, allowing me to finish my semester of college and report for duty in August 1970.  I signed up.

Near the end of that semester, one of my fraternity brothers, Kent, returned home on leave from the Marines. As it turned out, his sister was getting married the week after he was to supposed to report back for deployment to Viet Nam. During our discussion, he mentioned that the Marines would extend his leave by one week, if he could recruit another person to sign up. I told Kent I would go sign up for him and I did. The recruiter arranged for Kent's extended leave, and I signed up to be a Marine ... on the delayed enlistment program. 

Kent attended his sister's wedding that summer of 1970. By the time the Marines came looking for me, I was already serving in the U.S. Air Force. Like so many people, I lost touch with most of my college friends. My career took me all over the eastern states. Not long ago, I returned to my home town to settle into retirement. I recently ran into a former fraternity brother and we began thinking about a reunion. That's when I found out, 44 years later, that Kent never made it home from Viet Nam. 

Today is Memorial Day, 2014 and I cried thinking about Kent and the other 58,000+ men and women who died in Viet Nam. However, I have never been more proud of outsmarting Uncle Sam in 1970. 

Semper fidelis, Kent. Semper fidelis.

Royal Dun