Congress and the Pentagon had been pressuring him for weeks to move faster on evacuating Americans and their South Vietnamese allies, and now time was running out. That’s what Gerald Ford faced on the evening of April 28, 1975, and it is history repeating itself now. After 20 years of U.S. involvement, the Taliban entered the Afghan capital, Kabul. on Sunday morning, as the United States scrambled to evacuate embassy staff and accelerate the rescue and relocation of Afghans who aided the U.S. military. Helicopters began landing at the U.S. Embassy early Sunday and armored diplomatic vehicles were seen leaving the area around the compound, the Associated Press reported. Smoke rose from the embassy’s roof as diplomats destroyed documents to keep them from falling into the Taliban’s hands, anonymous U.S. military officials told the AP. (Washington Post)
A lottery drawing – the first since 1942 – was held on December 1, 1969, at Selective Service National Headquarters in Washington, D.C. This event determined the order of call for induction during the calendar year 1970; that is, for registrants born between January 1, 1944, and December 31, 1950. I was 20 years of age. I remember to this day, as Walter Cronkite read out loud the birthdates, each when they were announced proclaimed who would be drafted, who might have to wait to be drafted, who, perhaps were able to avoid being drafted. My number was 274, which meant depending on which direction the War in Vietnam went, I was safe until January 1, 1970, or still could be called up until December 1969. Unlike many people I knew, who decided to enter the military, I did not want to fight; to this day I think of those friends I lost, and am amazed at the will and strength of those who did enlist and did serve.
There was no draft for the now just short of 20 years’ War in Afghanistan, and once again many Americans enlisted and offered to serve this nation. And as a parent, luckily my children had not been called to serve, as I had been lucky enough to have a LOTTERY NUMBER which was never activated. AND, as in Vietnam, the Vets return, and many bring home the mental and physical maladies, the PTSD, the agony and nightmares…and ask I am certain the same questions…WHY, WHOSE WAR WAS THIS, HOW DID YET ANOTHER WAR EVOLVE, WHAT EXACTLY WILL MY COUNTRY DO FOR ME, NOW! And as was the case in Vietnam, for the people of that nation who acted as allies for the American Government, I believe the Afghanis’ who served the American government, they wonder what is next? History, YET ONCE AGAIN, repeats itself, as if nothing had ever come before it!
