A question?

[t-bob]

I was a OC - 1969

When I didn’t go to the army - viet nam

I still can’t remember what the words “OC”

Thanks

[Dub]

Do you mean CO?

[t-bob]

Dub,
CO!
What’s the names please?

[james]

Conscientious Objector?

[t-bob]

Now I can relax now that I remember it - CO

There’s so many ‘abbreviations’
It must be my ageism

[Dub]

I wrestled with the idea of registering as a CO but didn’t do it. My brother two years younger did it. He did all the work, wrote the papers, documented his conscientious beliefs, had letters from clergy and community leaders verifying his position, the works. But the Des Moines draft board would have none of it. They weren’t going to allow any yellow Commie COs to come through their draft board no matter what. This was 1962. He appealed again and again until his appeals were exhausted. His student status kept him out of the draft but finally, during his senior year, he was so distracted by the whole process that he dropped out of school to become 1-A again and face it down. His draft notice showed up almost at once so he reported as required to Fort Des Moines with the intention of refusing induction and going to prison. When he got there some sergeant told him to get into a line and pointed. My brother explained that he intended to refuse induction so there was no need to go through the process. If he was to be sent to prison, they should just send him straight there. “Get in line!” the officer told him. So he went through the whole routine (somehow avoiding the Group W bench) and got to the doctor and the physical exam. The doctor looked through his extensive folder that included all his CO history and proceeded to examine him. Finally, the doctor explained that my brother had a condition or disease that would prevent his serving in the armed forces. He wrote the Latin or scientific name for the disease on the form, classified him 1-Y, and sent him home. When my brother got home he spent some time trying to understand what his disease or condition was. By this time it was probably 1966 or ’67 but you still had to go to a library to find information like that. What he learned was that it was basically a five-hundred dollar word for dandruff. The doctor had realized he was a sincere CO and should have been classified as such. He also knew that the draft board wasn’t approving any CO applications. So he had a disease name hat he knew no one in the Army would understand or question and gave my brother a pass.

Now my youngest brother was a whole different story.

[Cornflake]

That's cool, Dub.

I thought I might be 4-F. I spent nine months of my childhood bedridden with kidney disease (nephritis) and was under a lot of restrictions when I wasn't confined to bed. That lasted from age seven until I entered high school. The problem seemed to be gone by the time I reached draft age but the doctors weren't really sure about anything. I never found out if the Army would have taken me because I got a high lottery number.

That war caused a lot of not very religious guys I knew to enroll in seminaries.

[Russell Letson]

The official designation for conscientious objectors was 1-O. My 1-O status was granted in early 1971 after I'd received a draft notice in mid-1970. I was surprised, since my central New York home board was not notably liberal or anti-war. On the other hand, by the time they got to my case, I'd turned 26 and was no longer of draft age, and they might have decided I'd make a lousy soldier anyway.

[TKennedy]

I had a college and medical school deferment but everyone was drafted out of their internship as a general medical officer. Two months before my internship ended in 1972 they cancelled the doctor draft.

I always kind of regretted not serving but the guys that did get drafted did not consider it the highlight of their lives except for a couple of friends that got posted to Germany.