When were you on the Group W bench?

[Ptah]

Me, the fall of 1970.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. Sounds about right. Maybe 68

And they had pictures with circles and arrows n shit.

[Ptah]

3. And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna,

And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me, sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."
I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth.
Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin up and down
yelling, "KILL, KILL," and he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both
jumping up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me,
sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."

[rug]

2. Never.

I was fighting over a C.O. until the lottery made it moot.

[Ptah]

4. You beat the lottery? My number was 26!

[rug]

5. 263.

But this was after two years of fighting with the draft board over C.O. status. I was in college but never claimed a student deferment. They told me to take the deferment and I told them I didn't want it deferred, that I in fact objected. This went back and forth until the lottery. I think we just threw up our hands in disgust by then and we both went on to other fights.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

6. 259. One of the happiest days of my life!

One of my stepbrothers was 12. He is dead. My other stepbrother went. He is still living in the jungle in Hawaii. Nobody I knew who went to that war came back right in the head.

[rug]

8. That was some night when they drew the numbers.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

7. You do realize that most folks here have no idea what the fuck we are talking about?

[applegrove]

9. Oh you are talking about the draft. My heart goes out to you all, but

especially those with low draft numbers. (((HUGS)))

[OffWithTheirHeads]

10. Actually, we are talking about "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie but yeah, we

Are also talking about Viet-Nam.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

20. I said, "Shrink, I wanna kill" (nt)

[Taverner]

21. Draft lottery. A scary time for any male in the late 60s

[HarveyDarkey]

11. You were about 3 months ahead of me

Spring of '71
Wasn't the group W bench though, it was the wrong one. Damn that metal bench was cold on my bare ass, especially knowing I'd have to leave for Canada. I finally talked my way into a medical deferment (no, it wasn't a cyst on my ass).

[retread]

12. 1966. No lottery. Called it "processing a moral waiver". Took them 3 times

before they caught me in a period of relative calm.
They were desperate for cannon fodder I guess.

[UncleYoder]

13. "Officer Obie, I can't pick up the trash with these handcuffs on."

This is a song about Alice.
1971
My number was 125, they stopped at 121.
I too was headed up north.
Went to too many memorial services for too many friends.

[Ptah]

14. My number was 26

[UncleYoder]

15. Amazing, isn't it.

There are days i'm hard pressed to remember stuff but I've never forgotten which fucking ball they pulled for my birthday.

[Enthusiast]

16. 1970

1970 doesn't sound right. Born in 52. Mine was 97, they stopped at 95. Can't exactly remember the Group W bench. I passed the physical. Scary times. The dates elude me.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

17. Uh, what was the Group W bench?

Pre-lottery draftee here!

[pinboy3niner]

18. Same here, drafted in '67...US567XXXXX

For the 'Group W bench' reference, check out the lyrics to Arlo Guthrie's 'Alice's Restaurant':

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/a/arlo+guthrie/alices+restaurant_20518619.html

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

19. Oh, THAT Group W bench ...

... yeah, when my whole squad got Article 15'd for public drinking (doing damage to a keg in a farmer's field). Thankfully, the MPs showed up before any sheep were violated.

US549....., May '66, thanks LBJ.