Chapters 14 & 15 Summary

Chapter 14, E-Z Boy War (Big Shep, 1991) reveals more of the details behind Shepley Walker's emotional distance from his family at a time when his children needed his protection. In 1965, at the height of the Vietnam War, Big Shep was appointed to the draft board in Garnet Parish. The other board members were doctors and lawyers. The harder Shep tried to fit in, the less it worked. At first he assumed that the war in Vietnam was justified. Later, he began to have his doubts.

Nineteen-year-old boys come before the board, trying to avoid being drafted. In many cases, Big Shep personally knows the farm boys and their families. Still, the draft board has a quota of 400,000 soldiers for the year to meet, and most of the appeals are turned down. Then in 1967 Chaney's younger brother Lincoln Lloyd was drafted. Lincoln is a high-school...