Michael Cash <mikecash@buggerallspammers.com> wrote in message news:<56t9i0h6mka2ib68digp23vkuouj4t69vd@4ax.com>...
> On 19 Aug 2004 11:18:43 -0700, worthj1970@yahoo.com (John W.) brought
> down from the Mount tablets inscribed:
> 
> >mtfester@netMAPSONscape.net wrote in message news:<cg29sj$7q8$3@news.Stanford.EDU>...
> >> Kevin Gowen <kgowenNOSPAM@myfastmail.com> wrote:
> >> > Michael Cash wrote:
>  
> >> >> On Wed, 18 Aug 2004 21:17:18 -0400, Kevin Gowen
> >> >> <kgowenNOSPAM@myfastmail.com> brought down from the Mount tablets
> >> >> inscribed:
>  
> >> >>>I find it very curious that serving in the National Guard is now 
> >> >>>considered the equivalent of dodging the draft. Too bad Kerry didn't 
> >> >>>pick Gephardt as his running mate.
>  
> >> >> Yes. Serving in the National Guard is NOT military service. This is
> >> 
> >> Not until Bush called 'em up.
> >> 
> >> > Yes. I'll be sure to tell ANG LTCOL Uncle Jim that he was not deployed 
> >> 
> >> You do that; now tell us where Bush served?
> >> 
> >> And with whom?
> >> 
> >Don't forget the 'when'. Very important, particularly when talking
> >about the national guard of the 1970s (a radically different
> >organization than today).
> 
> My father was in the guard then. Was active duty for one hitch in the
> 50s, and went on to retire from the guard.
> 
> What are some of the ways the guard was radically different back then?
> 
Sometime in the late 70s early 80s the guard changed. Previously they
were called into action to fill the void left by active duty troops
when they went to fight; for example, in the Vietnam conflict, though
23,000 guardsmen were called up for a year only ~9,000 actually went
to Vietnam (I think these are only Army Guard numbers). According the
Guard's own Website the nature of the guard changed after that time
(the Air Guard's site goes so far as to say it was popular to join to
avoid the draft). Also, on About.com it explains that the change was
in part due to the elimination of the draft, which was a strong source
of manpower for the military. It was Reagan's defense buildup that
really modernized the Guard, giving them better weapons and resources.

My father dropped out of the reserves because he felt they weren't
worth his time. He says they weren't serious about what they did and
were undisciplined, had crappy equipment and sat around playing cards
most of the time, which was hard to take for a real go-getter like my
dad. That's part of why he balks at the use of guard and reserve
troops today; he can't get those images out of his mind.

John W.