Solomon Todd and his military sevice

[wendelah1]

I think there is a problem with the back story for this character. My husband is 54, born in 1953, and would have been called up the same year as Todd. However, the draft was ended and no one was called up from that draft. See this: http://www.sss.gov/lotter4.htm So what's up with that? Are we in an alternative universe? Also, even if he was drafted and served in 1973, how does this give him time to come home and graduate in 1975? I am confused. Help!

[Elizabeth Bear]

Funny you should mention that. *g* There's a thread in Todd's board you might want to check out, and there register that complaint. ;-)

[kluelos]

It doesn't specifically say he was drafted. It says his lottery number came up, which, distinguo. 

You got a much better "deal" from the military at the time if you enlisted, than if you waited to actually be drafted, so people with very low lottery numbers tended to go ahead and volunteer.

I went to high school with a guy that age who did that, extremely smart dude, name (really!) of John Smith. They posted him as a stateside math teacher rather than sending him off to Vietnam, so it worked for him. Sorta.

[Elizabeth Bear]

Ooo. Gold star.

 

[BruceCohenPDX]

It doesn't specifically say he was drafted. It says his lottery number came up, which, distinguo. 

You got a much better "deal" from the military at the time if you enlisted, than if you waited to actually be drafted, so people with very low lottery numbers tended to go ahead and volunteer.

That still has some problems for timing.  The duration of a draft enlistment in the Army was 2 years; voluntary enlistment in the Army had a minimum 3 year duration, in the Navy, Marines, and Air Force, minimum 4 years.  So going voluntary added time to your sentence and didn't necessarily get you out of the war.  When I was drafted, I knew I wasn't going into the infantry because of bad eyes and ears, but when I found out they had me down for combat photographer (all the danger, with none of the chance to shoot back), I enlisted for a 3 year hitch as an electronic technician.  That worked pretty well; I graduated from training with orders to become an instructor at the training base in New Jersey.  Then they shipped my entire graduating class to Vietnam, including 4 of us instructors-to-be.  So theory and practice don't always work together.

Here's a suggestion: Duke turned 18 in 1971; depending on his birthdate and lottery number he could have been drafted in that year, or in early 1972.  That gets him back to college as early as fall semester of 1973, and if he busted his hump he could have enough credits for a degree by late 1975.

Incidentally, there may be a minor problem with Brady's military record as well.  I don't see how he had time for more than one 4 year hitch in the Army, nor would he have been likely to be only a 2^nd Lieutenant after more than one.  And I think that means the term "Retired" may not apply, though I could be wrong.

[swampyankee2u]

It is fiction, but the nice thing is with the crew following this we can help the writing cast get these little incongruities out of the way.....

You can say "I pointed that out when.....and it got fixed" when the major motion picture comes out and no one else gets to see the full backgrounds like this....

[Barton Fender]

BruceCohenPDX wrote:

Incidentally, there may be a minor problem with Brady's military record as well.  I don't see how he had time for more than one 4 year hitch in the Army, nor would he have been likely to be only a 2^nd Lieutenant after more than one.  And I think that means the term "Retired" may not apply, though I could be wrong.



I wondered about this too. I was never in the military and I turned 18 a few yeas after the draft ended. Perhaps he was in ROTC.
I'm sure that the longer the show goes and the more we read and watch LJ   the clearer it will become for Todd, Brady, and the rest of the characters.

[BruceCohenPDX]

I wondered about this too. I was never in the military and I turned 18 a few yeas after the draft ended. Perhaps he was in ROTC.

Somehow I just can't picture Sol as a college hippie being in ROTC.  I also can't picture him as any kind of military officer at any point in his life.  Attitude, much?  Also, orders, taking of, requirement for.

[swampyankee2u]

Actually, with college or some college they were so desperate at that point that there is high likelyhood of him getting OCS straight out of basic training.

Plus, you would be absolutely amazed at how many difficulties a person can have with authority and still do okay at the LT and junior Captain levels in the Army -- so long as they are effective and get crap done....

Its senior Captain/Major when that sort of thinking takes serious chuncks out of your opportunities

[lunarsara]

The duration of a draft enlistment in the Army was 2 years;

I really know next to nothing about the military so if I'm saying something dumb here just let me know.

Sol's profile says his number came up in '73.  Could that have been early in the year?  If his tour started in, say, January and he was gone 2 years, he'd be back right near the beginning of winter semester in '75.  He'd have time for 3 (or, if he was too late for winter, 2) semesters of school and still graduate in December of '75.  A degree in 7 (or even 6) semesters isn't easy, but it's not unheard of, and maybe he earned some credits before coming to Penn State, or perhaps he was actually in school somewhere else when he claims to have tuned in, turned on, dropped out.

[BruceCohenPDX]

lunarsara,

Yes, it's doable, but awful tight; if his number came up when he was 19 it leaves more room, and doesn't require the college to lean over backwards to help him (they weren't doing a lot of that towards the end of the war, at least in my experience).

[BruceCohenPDX]

Actually, with college or some college they were so desperate at that point that there is high likelyhood of him getting OCS straight out of basic training.

They were desperate even early on; finding bodies is easy but finding willing minds is a lot harder.  I was drafted in '65, after a year of college*, and I had one sergeant spend a couple of hours trying to convince me to switch to OCS.  It's a lesson learned by junior officers anew in every war: 2nd lieutenants have the highest percentage casualty rates of any rank.  Except in that brief period between the invention of the man-portable radio and its reduction to something you can clip to a helmet,  when there was such a thing as an RTO** who trailed around after the looey.  Amazing what a great target those antennas made.

* Let's just say I wasn't as self-directed a person as I am today and leave it at that, OK?
** Radio Telephone Operator

[lunarsara]

Yes, it's doable, but awful tight; if his number came up when he was 19 it leaves more room, and doesn't require the college to lean over backwards to help him (they weren't doing a lot of that towards the end of the war, at least in my experience).

Sol just doesn't strike me as the officer type.  It's just a gut feeling based on what we've seen of his personality.  I'm just trying to come up with a scenario here that doesn't require him to ever have been an officer. 

He could have gone awol, but if he did I don't think he would have passed his FBI background check.   He's a good story teller, perhaps he found a story to tell that earned him an early discharge from his 2 year tour...  Or maybe he was injured early in his tour?  Didn't we hear somewhere that he was missing fingers?

[BruceCohenPDX]

Or maybe he was injured early in his tour?  Didn't we hear somewhere that he was missing fingers?

Ah, the magic injury that get's you out of the service without screwing up your life.  As you might guess, there was unending speculation among the draftees about what injuries might qualify; a lot of people seemed to think losing the tip of your trigger finger would get you out, but the Army needs a lot more than guys shooting rifles.  The support to infantry personnel ratio was almost 10:1 IIRC, so there was always a job for someone who, for instance, had to type with only four fingers.

He's a good story teller, perhaps he found a story to tell that earned him an early discharge from his 2 year tour... 

I'd guess that the guardians of the gates to the world have heard all the stories, and aren't moved very much by them.  Though it might make a neat short story: Duke at the gates of Hell, serenading the 3 heads of the Department of Gafiation (the army should be so cool).

[Cal]

Didn't we hear somewhere that he was missing fingers?

Yes, he is: it got a passing mention in (I think) Daphne's LJ.