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THE VETERAN

Download PDF of this issue: v45n2.pdf (18.2 MB)

Taken from Drafted: My Year in Vietnam as a Gay Anti-War Soldier (An Excerpt) by Harry Haines:

Like most other young guys in 1969, I spent a lot of time figuring out how to avoid the Vietnam War draft. As I completed my undergrad degree at Southern Illinois University, I knew my time was running out. I had managed to secure the college deferment, and I even made the smart move of transferring my Selective Service board from my native New Jersey to Illinois, gaining some extra time as the bureaucracy slowly played out. A couple of fellow students inspired me with their Beat the Draft stories. One of them returned to campus after a holiday trip back home to Chicago and proudly announced that his father had bribed the right Selective Service operative with $4,000. He was home free with a coveted 4-F draft designation. We all wondered how to scrape together $4,000. The other guy had the good luck to be taken out by his buddies on a drunken spree on the night before his induction physical was scheduled 123 miles away in St. Louis.... Read More

Also In This Issue:

  1. Veterans Fight Back by Bill Branson
  2. Eyewitness To The Capture of Saigon: It Was Not A Bloodbath by Claudia Krich
  3. Notes from the Boonies by Paul Wisovaty
  4. Fraggin' by Bill Shunas
  5. The Importance of Standdowns by Jeanne Douglas
  6. Five Simple Words by Marc Levy
  7. My Experiences with the VA by Paul J. Tabone
  8. A Bright Shining Lie, Revisited, Again by Dale Hoefer
  9. Jeb On Iraq (cartoon) by Jeff Danziger
  10. Privatization of VA Health Care: Corporate Boondoggle by Buzz Davis and Ian Smith
  11. And the Battle Rages On... by Louie De Benedette
  12. 40 Years Later: Remembering the Legacy of the Vietnam War by Dik Cool
  13. From the Archives (photos) by VVAW
  14. 40 Years After the End of the Vietnam War by Merle Ratner and Azadeh Shahshahani
  15. HR 2114: The Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2015 by Susan Schnall
  16. Why They Died by Allen Leonard Meece
  17. Letter to the Wall by Jim Wohlgemuth
  18. Me and Veterans of Foreign Wars by Bill Ehrhart
  19. The VA Saved My Life by Jim Willingham
  20. Nixon's Ghost (cartoon) by Jeff Danziger
  21. Honorable Service, Shameful War by Raymond Reed Hardy
  22. Drafted: My Year in Vietnam as a Gay Anti-War Soldier (An Excerpt) by Harry Haines
  23. Peace At Home, Peace Abroad by Ben Chitty
  24. A Warrior's Psalm From Viet Nam (poem) by Sgt. Charles F. Harrienger, Jr.
  25. Oxy, the Wise Bomb (cartoon) by Billy X. Curmano
  26. Home Grown or Big Pharma by Billy X. Curmano
  27. Dave Curry: How Atheists Sing in Church by Janet Bonham Curry
  28. Memories of Dad by Zoe Michaela Curry
  29. Remembering Dave Curry by Barry Romo
  30. A Prisoner Story: The Third Turkey by G. David Curry
  31. From Vietnam to Alabama: Special Agents by David Curry
  32. Memories of Dave by Bill Shunas
  33. Remembering Our Brother Dave Curry by Orlando Tizon
  34. A Letter Home: Thoughts of War and Petty Gripes by Joe Miller
  35. Long Time Gone (poem) by W. D. Ehrhart
  36. The Evil Hours by Jack Mallory (reviewer)
  37. Sorry About That by Gerald R. Gioglio (reviewer)
  38. 1965, The Most Revolutionary Year in Music by John Ketwig (reviewer)
  39. A Timeless Scene (poem) by Christopher Mehne
  40. Uncle Ollie by Bill Branson
  41. A Moment of Silence in a Forest of White Crosses (poem) by Gregory Ross
  42. McNamara's Folly by Daniel C. Lavery (reviewer)
  43. Vietnam Syndrome by Terry Raycraft
  44. McNamara's Folly by John Ketwig (reviewer)
  45. Happy Veteran's Day Sale (poem) by Gregory Ross
  46. A Memory on the 70th Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by Daniel C. Lavery
  47. RECOLLECTIONS: From The Light Where Shadows End by R. G. Cantalupo
  48. George W and Vets (cartoon) by Jeff Danziger
  49. VA Demos (photos) by VVAW