Читать книгу Ask Not What I Have Done for My Country, Ask What My Country Has Done for Me - Julio Rodarte - Страница 12

Boot Camp—MCRD California

I arrived at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California, on the evening of January 13, 1969, along with Fred Martinez, Bobby Romero, Delfino Roybal, and Juan Rodarte. We all attended Penasco High School. At the time, I can say that we didn’t know exactly what we were getting into. Once we arrived at MCRD (Marine Corps Recruiting Depot), our life changed totally. The day before, we were free; now we found ourselves being property of the United States Marine Corps. As we got off the bus, drill sergeants were yelling and giving all kinds of commands that we were not familiar with.

First things first, they marched us to the barbershop, although we had gotten a military crew cut prior to leaving home by our cousins who had been in the Marine Corps before us. We went through the line just like everyone else, and at that time, we must have labeled ourselves because from that day forward, we were the center of attraction. Once the drill sergeants found out that we were all from the same Northern New Mexico communities, they were on our ass as flies on shit. We got the shit details, and we were constantly humiliated, especially by a Hispanic drill sergeant named Sargent Corrales. He had made up his mind to make us or break us. He would address us by our last name, to report as ordered; and when we were all in his duty hut, he would ask us where we were from. We would tell him, and he would say to us that we came from a puny-ass town that if one would blink its eyes, that one had gone by it.

The Marine Corps remained largely consistently of volunteers throughout the Vietnam conflict. A few young men were drafted and, at the time of enlistment, were assigned to the Marine Corps, and it was not by choice. Its traditions and reputation, along with a classy public relations program, created an elite image that attracted many young men. As an enlistee, we were able to choose the branch of service we wanted, and we chose to join the United States Marine Corps.

By 1970, the Marine Corps had begun withdrawing from Vietnam. That same year, the government began the lottery system in an attempt to select draftees more equitably. Approximately two million men were drafted during the Vietnam War.

Each eighteen-year-old registrant received a 1-A classification unless he was granted an exemption or deferment by his local draft board for a necessary occupation, hardship, schooling, sole surviving son, or if a brother had been killed in a previous war, or for obvious physical impairments. Petitions for exemption or deferment were supplied to the local draft board by the registrants themselves.