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Question about draftees in Vietnam War. Would a man who had very poor vision be sent (Original Post) raccoon Aug 2017 OP
If it could be corrected by glasses I assume the answer is yes. DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2017 #1
Reagan had bum eyes.... Brother Buzz Aug 2017 #2
My uncle had very poor but correctable vision and the only thing he wasn't allowed to do was fly. pnwmom Aug 2017 #3
It wasn't jungles loyalsister Aug 2017 #4
My vision was bad enough to keep me out of ROTC but not comradebillyboy Aug 2017 #5
I had a teacher who was in WW-II lpbk2713 Aug 2017 #6
My dad had orders MFM008 Aug 2017 #7
My family member with poor (even when corrected) marybourg Aug 2017 #8
I knew a WW II vet who was missing his trigger finger. He was drafted despite that.... Kaleva Aug 2017 #9
No, but bone spurs would keep you out of the service. sinkingfeeling Aug 2017 #10
I understood that left-of-center2012 Aug 2017 #16
My Dad chose the Navy when they drafted him for GreenPartyVoter Aug 2017 #11
The Navy drafted my pops, I don't believe he had any choice Brother Buzz Aug 2017 #13
That's how my Dad said it, but I can't GreenPartyVoter Aug 2017 #14
Depends on a number of factors Lee-Lee Aug 2017 #12
Just wondering if I would've been in the jungles if I'd been male. nt raccoon Aug 2017 #19
If you have "Mr. Magoo" vision, having your glasses knocked off is a death sentence Hekate Aug 2017 #15
One of the issues MyOwnPeace Aug 2017 #17
As I was informed at the induction station in 1966, "You walked up the retread Aug 2017 #18
If the draft doctor signs off on it they will take any body. KWR65 Aug 2017 #20
My very nearsighted dad wore his thick lens Army issue glasses into the late 'sixties as a civilian. hunter Aug 2017 #21
my brother was 4f because of bad vision leftyladyfrommo Aug 2017 #22
As a Vietnam era draftee with REALLY bad eyes.......... socialist_n_TN Aug 2017 #23

Brother Buzz

(36,423 posts)
2. Reagan had bum eyes....
Mon Aug 28, 2017, 01:15 PM
Aug 2017

and was classified for limited service only, which excluded him from serving overseas. He helped load the troops carrier ships in San Francisco before he landed the Hollywood propaganda gig.

pnwmom

(108,977 posts)
3. My uncle had very poor but correctable vision and the only thing he wasn't allowed to do was fly.
Mon Aug 28, 2017, 01:16 PM
Aug 2017

So he wasn't allowed to join the Air Force during WW2, and died in the Army instead.

The services probably had different standards for different wars, depending on how many people they needed.

comradebillyboy

(10,147 posts)
5. My vision was bad enough to keep me out of ROTC but not
Mon Aug 28, 2017, 01:18 PM
Aug 2017

the draft. The Army did provide vision care and would get you prescription glasses.

lpbk2713

(42,757 posts)
6. I had a teacher who was in WW-II
Mon Aug 28, 2017, 01:21 PM
Aug 2017



He told us when they needed troops badly they made the men with bad vision machine gunners. On the theory if they kept shooting in the general direction they were bound to hit something. I'm sure there must have been a line drawn where some test results were entirely unacceptable.

MFM008

(19,808 posts)
7. My dad had orders
Mon Aug 28, 2017, 01:39 PM
Aug 2017

For the American embassy in Saigon. He would have been there in Jan 1968 when the Vietcong attempted to take it over during the TET offensive .

His teeth got him out of that duty.
They were bad. Impacted. Gum problems.
He was raised in a poor family.
Same for my mom.
The both lost every tooth in their heads.
My mom when she was 17 in the Army.
So bad eyes might have kept you out
Of Vietnam.

marybourg

(12,631 posts)
8. My family member with poor (even when corrected)
Mon Aug 28, 2017, 02:29 PM
Aug 2017

eyesight was accepted into the Army, but given admin jobs.

Kaleva

(36,298 posts)
9. I knew a WW II vet who was missing his trigger finger. He was drafted despite that....
Mon Aug 28, 2017, 02:36 PM
Aug 2017

But served stateside as POW camp guard .

 

Lee-Lee

(6,324 posts)
12. Depends on a number of factors
Mon Aug 28, 2017, 02:50 PM
Aug 2017

Is it correctable with glasses? If so how much is it corrected and how bad is it without.

Certain MOS's have tighter standards for vision than others as well, and being colorblind can limit your selection of MOS's or bar enlistenent depending on how bad it is.

So the answer is a big... it depends.

Do you have someone claiming to be a vet who you question or is this just a philosophical question?

Hekate

(90,674 posts)
15. If you have "Mr. Magoo" vision, having your glasses knocked off is a death sentence
Mon Aug 28, 2017, 02:56 PM
Aug 2017

But you'd have to ask the military directly.

My father was like that, and apparently it was a dominant gene, because 3 out of his 4 kids inherited severe myopia. To my surprise, I may have been the least affected, because my "good eye" was about 500/20 and my "bad eye" was nearly 1000/20. I don't remember the figures for the astigmatism, but it was also bad. I bought myself (hard) contacts at age 21 and had LASIK at about 60, when the technology advanced enough to handle eyes like mine.

Dad memorized the eye chart to get into the service after Pearl Harbor, but he was put to work as an aircraft mechanic, not sent to fight directly.

My brother got deferred from Vietnam because of a double hernia, so I guess the issue of his horrible eyesight never came up.

MyOwnPeace

(16,926 posts)
17. One of the issues
Mon Aug 28, 2017, 03:19 PM
Aug 2017

was the numbers that each draft board from each district/county needed to provide per quota. If you were in a well-populated area you had a better chance of not serving based on just about any deferment. However, if you were from a small area/district that had to fill their quota you had a better chance of being selected.
Then, in 1969, the draft instituted a lottery and whatever number you drew determined how soon you needed to report.
This all relates to actually being drafted and the offer of a deferment - what happened regarding placement once in the system - sorry, don't have any information regarding any of that.

retread

(3,762 posts)
18. As I was informed at the induction station in 1966, "You walked up the
Mon Aug 28, 2017, 03:59 PM
Aug 2017

steps to get here. You're in!"

hunter

(38,311 posts)
21. My very nearsighted dad wore his thick lens Army issue glasses into the late 'sixties as a civilian.
Tue Aug 29, 2017, 04:25 PM
Aug 2017

As kids me and my siblings knew they were not fashionable glasses. His students surely knew it too, but it was trademark by then.

My dad might have have been a Radar O'Reilly clerk had he been sent to Korea. He wasn't.

My dad was bouncing around like a little kid after his cataract surgeries, when his cloudy and nearsighted natural lenses were replaced with bionic plastic. He no longer had to fumble around for his glasses when he got out of bed, and he now drives without glasses.

My dad's dad was an Army Air Corps officer in World War II. My grandpa wanted to fly, to be the brave and handsome pilot who made women swoon, but he was older, experienced, and the Army in its wisdom decided to keep him safely on the ground, mostly. At times he even had an enlisted driver and a big black car at his call.

My grandpa was a first class airplane and rocket science nerd, a steely eyed missile man, but he was also a first class klutz who couldn't be relied upon to safely pilot a bicycle across campus, or carry a cup of hot coffee across the room, let alone fly an airplane.

I rode with my grandpa in cars, and saw him ride bicycles a few times, and he was clearly a danger to himself and others. Yet he was completely oblivious to his own klutziness. Me and my siblings were much more comfortable when my grandma was driving.


socialist_n_TN

(11,481 posts)
23. As a Vietnam era draftee with REALLY bad eyes..........
Tue Aug 29, 2017, 07:05 PM
Aug 2017

(legally blind except for being correctable) I was rated 1Y (I think that's what it was at the time) for eyesight and slightly high blood pressure. It was later changed to 4F. Neither was bad enough to get me out by itself, but together it was enough to keep me from induction.

At least that's the way I recall it from almost 50 years ago.

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