A True Story

Today, Massiel and I were driving and listening to a CD that I had made of only Billy Joel songs. Good Night Saigon came on and I got to thinking about the Vietnam War and my brief brush with it. I then told this true story to Massiel:

I quit going to college after 3 years. I was attending NYU, not doing particularly well and hating it. I broke up with my girlfriend and decided that I really needed a change. I moved to Boston.  I previously have written about my time at the Playboy Club in Boston. This happened while I was living there, but before I got the Playboy job. Back in those days there was a draft and everyone of age had to register. The war was immensely unpopular. There were draft resisters moving to Canada, people burning their draft cards as protest, and doing whatever they could to avoid the draft. I had no strong anti-war feelings but I also knew that I did not want to be in a war. As long as you were a student you retained a 2-S classification which made you exempt from call up. However, if you stopped going to school you were reclassified as 1-A and eligible to be called up to serve. Sure enough while in Boston I received notice that I was being called to take my physical at the Mount Vernon (the city where I had registered) Draft Board. I wrote and appealed to have the location changed to Boston. They agreed and I waited for the new notification for my physical. While waiting I decided to go to a psychiatrist. Through a friend I found someone who I was told might be willing to help me with my Army problem. Shortly after mty first visit I received the notice directing me to the Boston Draft Board for my pre-induction physical. I went to the shrink for the second (and last) time and requested a letter confirming that I was undergoing psychiatric therapy/counseling
. At the Draft Board office there were about 25 others who had been called we were directed to a waiting bus that drove us to the nearest army installation, which might have been the Naval base (I'm not sure). We all were put through a battery of tests all of which I passed with flying colors, except for rhe hearing test. They put earphones on over your ears and played a high pitched sound and asked you to tell them at what point you could hear it. I figured this would be an easy test to fail so even though I could hear the noise I kept saying that I couldn't. After three or four attempts the person administering the test turned the volume up so loud that I almost jumped out of my seat. He said, "Oh you heard that. Good, you pass". That was as close as I came to failing anything. All the tests were complete and they brought us into a room and someone, I can't remember who, explained to us that we were all going to be classified 1-A and that our induction notices would we coming to us shortly. He then said the words that didn't change my life (as going into the Army would have). He said, "Do any of you have any reason why you cannot serve?" I whipped out my letter and gave it to him. He excused himself and went to go to show the letter ro someone and when he came back he said something to the effect of, "I'm sorry but you can't serve. We are going to classify you as 1-Y." Not know what that meant I asked him and he replied that they would be calling women and children before they would call me. I was fortunately able to restrain from showing my joy and left with the others.  I still remember the present that I bought myself to celebrate my good fortune. I passed a Men's Clothing store and saw a tie in the window. It was about 5 inches wide, bright pink with large yellow polka dots. I don't know when I lost track of that tie but for years when I would come across it I would remember how lucky I was to be alive.