0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
Reliance upon the Selective Service to meet the growing requirements
of the Armed Forces whlen
large Reserve forces were available drew
critical comments from both Congress and the public. The complaint would
have been the same whether the choice had been made by draft board or
lottery, or whether it had been besed on physical, marital or educational
status. The crunch was that some were selected and sent .o var while
others were allowea to stay home. As the conflict wore on, the unpooularity
of the war grew among the members
of the draft age group, manifesting
itself in increased antiwar demonstrations,
druft card burnings,
and efforts to avoid military service.
Critical comments on the decision to depend on the draft and not
to mobilize also came from high ranking military. General Harold K.,
John3on, Army Chief of Staff, was concerned about the overall impact on the
Army's worldwide posture. The size of the troop commitments to Vietnam and
the tours of only one-year duration were viewed as the biggest problems. Of
all the Chiefs,
he was probably the most insistent on the need for the
Reserves.66/General Johnson argued that:
As General
0 the main problem preventing the call-up of Reserves was the
legacy of the Berlin mobilization in 1961 and the ensuing outcry
of misuse, and,
0 the Reserves represented a wasted asset that was only good when
not called up, and kept primarily for their deterrent value.
Johnson once remarked about the Reserves, we are "feeding the
horse but never taking him out of the barn."67/
draftees.
General Westmoreland, on the other hand, was satisfied with
He expressed his feeling that there never was a point when the
President could have called up the Reserves before Tet in 1968.
Prior to
that watershed battle, the COMUSMACV had been ambivalent about a call-dp of
Reserves, His thoughts were that:
0 a call-up might set loose pressure to disengage from RVN prematurely
in order to get the reservists home,
• after their one year tou.rs in RVN, the reservists would apply
pressure for release from acti\,e duty, which would be disruptive
army-wide. 68/
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and,