Good Doc/Bad Doc

I was sitting on a bus in downtown hometown USA.  The bus was purring at idle.  The destination plaque announced OAKLAND INDUCTION CENTER. 19 year old boys were drifting in one by one.

A couple of weeks before I came through the door from my seasonal construction job Sally called out to me, “You got another letter from the draft board.  What now?”

I knew what.  A month after I graduated from college I lost my 2S middle class, white boy, student deferment. And now I knew I was being drafted. It was 1971 and Vietnam was still hoppin.  I opened the letter, “Yeah, I am ordered to report September 26 to the Oakland Induction Center for a draft physical.”

“Oh, so what do we do if you get drafted?” Sally was worried but rarely showed it.

“I don’t know.  Let’s see what happens.”  Sal did not like the sound of that. I tried to be calm, not freak out Sally. And normally I tended to freak Sally out.  Couldn’t do it.  I FREAKED! We spent the night going over options.  Canada?  Maybe.  Guatemala?  Better, since we had little money.  Go into the ARMY.  FUCK NO!  Then we came up with a PLAN.

I applied for conscientious objector status when I was a freshman.  Nothing happened.  I had a severe handicap.  I was raised Catholic, a particular war like religion. The Crusades, the Black Ships, and, the perennial favorite, The Inquisition.  ROMAN CATHOLIC didn’t look good on a CO application.  My app was probably filed under “War Monger.” Continue reading “Round Trip Chapter 2” →