Vietnam remembered: A generation of Baby Boomers still grapples

Baby Boomers still haven't come to terms with their war in Vietnam.

All these years later, Boomers are a little schizoid about overplaying their role in it, underplaying their role, or just ignoring the era altogether as some bad dream or bad trip best forgotten.

Here's my Vietnam War story:

I opposed it and marched against it. I didn't burn my draft card, and in fact was drafted.

I was a University of New Hampshire sophomore in 1972 and was included in the draft lottery for men born in 1953. Student deferments were no longer given.

My number was 52. The government drafted everyone up to number 95.

I was taking a journalism course at the time of the lottery and one of our class requirements was to read the New York Times every day. It published the numbers assigned to those of us in that year's lottery. I posted it on my dorm room door and remember being woken early the next morning by voices outside the door; those numbers were quite the topic of conversation. I should have been a little smarter and posted it on the bathroom door instead of the door to my room.

I drove home to upstate New York at some point and boarded a bus to Syracuse for my physical at a Military Entrance Processing Station. I came out as a 4F -- unsuitable to serve because of health reasons. My allergies -- a pain in the ass for my entire life -- finally did me some good.

My sense is that many of us from that era are having issues being honest about our stories.

I'm thinking in particular of Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut attorney general running for the U.S. senate. He said he served in Vietnam when, in fact, he was stateside in the Marine reserves.

“In Vietnam,” Blumenthal was quoted as saying, “we had to endure taunts and insults, and no one said, ‘Welcome home.’ I say welcome home.”

He told the lie as a way to show support for current veterans whose decision to serve is theirs, as volunteers, not as conscripts.

We shouldn't be ashamed that we made decisions about the war.

Blumenthal was stateside at the time, out of harm's way.

It's sad he felt the need to overstate his involvement in a war that history has harshly judged as misdirected. Does the fact that he served statewide make him less electable? No. Would a 4F classification make him less electable? I'd like to think no.

I brought my medical records with me to the processing station and made sure the guys who poked and prodded me were well aware of my medical history.

I used my medical history to my advantage. If that made me a draft dodger then so be it.

Like others, I'm not sorry or ashamed that I didn't fight the Vietnam War.

I'm not going to be made to feel guilty about that. Neither should those who served in Vietnam. Neither should those who served stateside.