Those of you old enough to remember that war, and the associated protests and events that took place in the 1960s and 1970s may still have deep feelings about those events. Young men were drafted by lottery, according to their birth date. Those unfortunate to have a low number in the lottery were called into action. The “lucky ones,” with higher numbers, were not called. Casualties were high in Viet Nam. Thus, many viewed their being called as a death sentence. Surely some volunteered for service, but from my perspective, that would have been a minority.
A friend from my church, who attended one of my Bible studies, had served in Viet Nam. His job was an infantry machine gunner. While he had survived the war, and had no readily apparent physical injuries, he was deeply wounded emotionally. He would never talk about his experiences in that war, except with a closed group of Viet Nam vets and counselors which met every week (if I remember correctly). Of course we were not part of that closed group, so were left to speculate on what horrors he may have experienced during his tour of duty. &n ...