Questions For Wazza
 

I saw on your profile that you were drafted and that your dates of service spanned 3yrs.. Was this the required legnth of service for draftees? Were you in the Army? Was that the only branch taking draftees? How long is an enlistment? What was your MOS [job title]?

Our draftees did a 2yr. hitch. Most went to the Army, but some were given to the Marines. I don't know the ratio on this, but I think it was comparatively small. An Army enlistment [me] was for 3yrs.. The other branches, Marines, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard were all 4yr. enlistments. My MOS was 11B2P, infantryman/paratrooper.

Question For Frisco-Kid

Hey Frisco-
I'm trying to get information about the Bay Area from the 60's. Santa Clara particularly. Any way you can assist?
Jane

Tom,
The Marines did (don't know about now) have a three year enlistment in '65. About a half dozen in my platoon were in on that and maybe ten in on the four year - the rest were 6 mo. reservist. The D.I.'s were not overly thrilled with the make-up and since we're a team, we all got continually reminded of it.
Sometime in Nov., our fearless leaders informed us that there was a platoon of much censored draftees a couple rows over from us. This was a development obviously designed to mess up "their Marine Corps", they were beaucoup ticked off, wanted to take it out on somebody, and here we were.... Use your imagination.

Tom...
 

When I joined The Army for 3 years in 1955 in New Jersey, was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas for Basic Training. There, coming together with all the other of 150 and 100% Volunteer Recruits (from all over The Country), we made up the new 10th Recon Co. of the newly re-activated 10th Division, at times called: 10th Mountain Division.
The other 45 personnel of a TO&E strength of 195 were Cpls, Sgts and Officers, which were our DI's. Plus, We went to Germany for 28 months with Our Recon Teachers.

Regardless, and to sort-of answer your question, of the 150 snot noses (myself included) and/or volunteers,...there were more than a few that enlisted for 4 years. When asking them why(?), they all pretty-much said: "What's-the-big-deal"? "It's only an extra Year". Naturally, when many of us were being discharged after 3 years of 70 to 80% Field Duty (Division Aggressors, Czech/West Germany Border Patrol, Test Battalions at Graf),...most all had a different perspective on the matter.

So, I guess that depending on the expertise of The Gunny or Sfc Recruiter, one can volunteer for 3, 4, or 6 years (maybe even more, if recruiter looking for a bonus?).

Neil

JANE
 

Fire away. I'll try to help, if I can. I lived in SF until '64, when I graduated from high school. Then my family moved to San Carlos, down the penninsula between San Francisco and Santa Clara. I joined the Army in JAN66 and was pretty much out of the area, except for a few leaves, from then on through the 60s.

My Dad was born in Buffalo, NY. His father was a French-Canadian from Quebec, and his mother was an Irishwoman who had immigrated from Dublin. My Dad was the first of 7 kids, but the only one born in Buffalo. The 2 youngest were born out here.


TIM: When I raised my hand and took the oath at the Oakland Induction Center on 10JAN66, with 50-60 other guys, they put us in a formation and had us sound off in 3's. They told all the 3's to step forward, and told them that they were all going to be Marines. You could see the color drain from some of their faces :D . A couple of them were like myself, Army enlistees, so they were given back to the Army group. The rest became Marines.

NEIL
 

That's a true story. They had all kinds of different packages to offer you, depending on how many years you wanted to sign your life away for. I was talking the basic, no frills, enlistment. I had a friend that enlisted in the Navy. By the time they had guaranteed him all of the schools he was interested in, he was in on a 6yr. hitch. He lasted 3. They found him sleepwalking one night on the USS Enterpise :D . That ended his Naval career.

Jane & Fricso - sounds like we (me included) have a Buffalo thing going on here! :D

Tom,
Sleep-walking on a carrier!? Definitely not a career "move".
My son's(#3 honorably) girlfriend got turned down by the Air Force for a history of sleep-walking. Can't have her wandering about a B-52, bumping switches and buttons.

Frisco...
Do you know how I could get a copy (maybe internet?) of the Santa Clara High yearbooks from 63-67? Also, my brother took All Santa Clara City throwing the discus in 1966 and was an end defensive and offensive in football. So, there must be some articles archived somewhere.
The search goes on!

JANE
 

My first place to start would, for sure, be the internet. There is also a site called classmates.com. I think you have to join for a small fee, but it may help put you in touch with some of your brother's classmates. Santa Clara is in the heart of the Silicon Valley, so the local high school may have it's own website, giving you access to yearbooks. I'm sure Santa Clara has a local newspaper, but I don't know what it's called. I'm sure they would have archives of articles on the local high school sports. Once again, maybe on their own website. This is all guessing and assuming. I would start out by doing some Google searches. I hope this has helped in some way. Let me know if I can assist in any way.