Draft dodger puts our troops In an awful situation

An egg winged out of a crowd of demonstrators and splattered on my army jacket. A fellow student soldier was less lucky. As he bled from a rock that hit his forehead we hustled to the safety of our army meeting.

In 1967, just after my 18th birthday I registered for the draft as the Vietnam War escalated. Although required to register, it seemed the right thing to do.

Throughout my youth I’d been warned of spreading Communism. Dad was a D-Day veteran, my grandfather served in France in 1918, and my great grandfather was a Spanish-American War Veteran.

Feeling I needed to fulfill my military obligation but wanting to earn a college degree I found a solution. The University of Idaho allowed me to be a student while serving in ROTC. Following graduation, in 1971, I’d enter active army service with good odds I’d end up in Vietnam.

Support for war declined

I took the Army oath vowing to protect the Constitution of the United States. At first it all seemed fine. Americans generally supported the war but then came Tet, My Lai and endless reports of casualties.

By the very late 60s I, many fellow soldiers, and increasing numbers of civilians sensed the futility of the war.

Anti-war demonstrations became increasingly common on campus. While in uniform I often had the bird flipped at me. Tension boiled over immediately after Kent State. Someone torched the Navy ROTC building.

We student soldiers were ordered to guard campus buildings armed only with telephones and instructed to call the local police if trouble emerged.

A month later I was on full-time training when Jane Fonda announced that she would invade Fort Lewis, where I was stationed. I, and other soldiers, were given a segment of the Fort’s perimeter to guard. Armed only with baseball bats we were told to drive Jane away. Fortunately, she never showed.

Soldiers bound to follow orders

We soldiers had taken an oath to defend the Constitution and demonstrators, for the most part, were exercising their right to assemble and voice their concern. They had a point. The war was futile but they crossed the line of decency by taunting us and tossing stones.

We followed orders while exercising patience and restraint, even when threatened by people we mostly agreed with.

Fast forward to today. The draft dodger in the White House ordered National Guard troops to cities that do not want or need them and where people are exercising their constitutional right to gather and voice concern.

It’s likely some of the troops agree with the dissenters but are bound to follow orders. The president has placed them in an awful bind fraught with potential danger. This over reach of presidential power is a disservice to people in uniform and citizens who disagree with deployments.

Rich Patterson has backgrounds in environmental science and forestry. He co-owns Winding Pathways, a consulting business that encourages people to “Create Wondrous Yards.”