ALI, the Greatest

[TexasBred]

Someone posted on here several years ago that only about 15-20% of men actually participated in the revolutionary war. And they were the backbone of our future country.

 

[Dave]

No, I do not think a deferment is quite the same as avoiding the draft. A deferment is similar to being called for jury duty and being excused by the judge for valid reasons, except with the draft, one could pre-empt being called to report to the local board by applying for deferment, preferably- before receiving notice to report. My father had a deferment for part of ww2 for being a farmer and being married until he lost his ag lease and the draft board dropped the marriage deferment I think in '44.
You were not one of the 2,215,000 young men that received a notice to report. For most of the time, you were also not part of the 26,800,000 draft-eligible young men , as you were either deferred or your lottery date was "out of reach".

What I am getting at, is that there is a large amount of angst being directed at Ali and any other "draft dodger" (received notice to report) but refused to take the oath, while 15,865,000 other draft eligible, red blooded American men neither enlisted nor received a draft notice. By their own free will and choice, they 'chose' not to enlist, (for whatever reason) and I'm good with that--but, in that context and in comparison, I'm not so good with the willing quickness to crucify the about 210,000 men who were believed to have violated the Selective Service Act, of which —only 8400 (or 4%) were ever actually convicted.
210 thousand Americans that didn't want to serve and did not vs 15.865 million Americans that also didn't want to serve and did not. One we make a big deal of and the other??????????
There's just some kind of disconnect there.
Don't get me wrong, I hold nothing against those 16 mil who chose not to enlist or those who chose not to accept conscription:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

I was one of those who didn't get called. I remember at the time I was working with a couple of veterans who had recently been discharged. They told me that if you join to avoid the draft you put up with 4 years of BS. You get drafted it is 2 years of BS. Their story was it was an extra 2 years of BS. So I waited to be drafted. My number was 123. I do know guys with higher numbers who got drafted. I was called up for a physical and was sent home. A couple weeks later I got a letter saying I was 1-A. That would have been in October of 1971. Every recruiter in the world called me trying to convince me to join but I never heard another word from the draft board. Had they called I would have gone.