Who Served in Vietnam?
Approximately 2.5 million Americans served in the Vietnam War, but this figure tells only part of a complex and controversial story. At issue in the controversy is whether men were unfairly sent to Vietnam on the basis of class and race. During and immediately after the conflict, accusations were made that a disproportionate number of African Americans and poor Americans of all colors had been drafted.
Statistical analysis reveals that some of these claims are only partially true. Proportionately, rural areas lost more men than did urban areas, but Selective Service drafted both urban and rural people almost equally. Race-focused studies have revealed that African Americans did serve in disproportionate numbers, especially in the early period of the war. African Americans made up 20 percent of early combat deaths although they made up 11 percent of the population, but the number of deaths later leveled out to just over 12 percent.
Geography and race had less to do with who fought than did class in what is sometimes called the poor man's war. Across the service branches, the socio-economic backgrounds of those who served are remarkably similar. Roughly 80 percent came from farming families or working class households. Explanations for these class disparities vary. Young men from working class backgrounds found opportunities for professional and educational advancement in the military and many signed up because of them. Others had been imbued with a deep love for their country and had few experiences to make them question their loyalty. As programs to assist low-income disadvantaged youth, such as Project 100,000, came into existence and military admission standards were lowered, many who had no plans for college and liked the idea of new opportunities found that signing up was an easy choice to make.
Those who came from privileged backgrounds had more options, as did those who sought to avoid military service. The military allowed medical exemptions, college students and those heading to college received student deferments, and those who could win conscientious objector status could avoid direct combat. Some joined the antiwar movement, publicly burned their draft cards, or went to prison rather than be drafted. An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 draftees left the United States to seek refuge in Canada.
Other statistics are debatable. In total, the accepted figures include 47,244 battle deaths and 10,446 deaths from accidents, disease, and other causes. Total combat losses have been calculated at 58,159. Prisoner of war (POW) and missing in action (MIA) figures also stand as lingering and divisive issues. For years after the American withdrawal, reports of POW sightings in Vietnam as well as rumors of Vietnamese efforts to hide POWs strained relations between the United States and Vietnam well into the 1990s. Such reports have not yet been verified.
Popular images of the Vietnam soldier continue to be that of a poor, low educated male drafted against his will and forced by circumstance to fight a war that he may have questioned. Although the image is not entirely incorrect, it lacks the nuance necessary to convey the diversity of the situation. Many factors converge to account for who served and what motivated them.
Grunts; Military Families; Rotc; Selective Service; Vietnam Veterans; Volunteer Army and Professionalism.
Bibliography
Appy, Christian G. Working Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.
Baskir, Lawrence M., and Strauss, William A. Chance and Circumstance: The Draft, the War, and the Vietnam Generation. New York: Knopf, 1978.
Flynn, George Q. The Draft, 1940–1973. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993.
Foley, Michael S. Confronting the War Machine: Draft Resistance during the Vietnam War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.
Westheider, James E. Fighting on Two Fronts: African Americans and the Vietnam War. New York: New York University Press, 1997.
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