Were you properly classified upon initial entry in military service?

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 09:26:32 -0500

During draft days, it was not unusual to be classified "according to the needs of the service"...volunteers actually had choices, yet even those choices might not be the best match....what's your story?

Response by CPT Zachary Brooks made Dec 9 at 2014 9:29 AM

CPT Zachary Brooks — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 09:29:49 -0500

I got the branch I wanted, but I was initially branched Engineer. Just made it clear I wanted to learn the Intelligence side of things and they switched my initial schooling before I commissioned. Worked out for me!

Response by SSG Tim Everett made Dec 9 at 2014 10:03 AM

SSG Tim Everett — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 10:03:25 -0500

I scored ridiculously high on the ASVAB and got to choose my MOS, and the Army in its infinite wisdom gave me a contract that basically said "don't screw it up and this job is yours, broseph."

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Dec 9 at 2014 1:33 PM

CPT Jack Durish — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:33:09 -0500

I volunteered for the Infantry. I trained for the Infantry. I spent a year at Infantry School: BCT, AIT, Infantry OCS. Then I was commissioned in the AGC. Sure it made sense. I was a college graduate with an advanced degree and several years older than my fellow candidates. Sure I could have fought it and been commissioned into the Infantry and avoided the survivor's guilt I live with today. But, I just didn't know better. Few do when they're swept up into the military regardless of whether they enlist or were drafted. It's an alien world with alien rules.

Let me tell you a story...

I can't certify that it's true but it seems likely. It certainly fits the circumstances.

I heard of a draftee who was training at Fort Ben Harrison to be a mail clerk until one of the staff NCOs learned that he had been a test pilot for Boeing before being drafted. When asked how he had slipped through the crack, he said that he was told to never volunteer for anything, never volunteer any information. Who told him this? Friends and family before he was carted away.

Maybe this story is just a metaphor for how the Army assigns people according to the needs of the service without regard for anything else. Still, like most things I heard about the Army before I joined and later learned that they bore no relation to reality, this seems possible.

BTW, the story ends that this person was given an immediate Honorable Discharge and sent back to Boeing inasmuch as his skills applied there served the national interests more than the needs of the Army for another postal clerk. (Now I bet there are those who will believe the story itself but not this ending)