Anyone familiar with this? All I can find are some pictures online and an incomplete news story in the Herald-Leader with end of the world headlines about it being set ablaze. My parents were in married student housing (with me on the way) close to where Kroger Field is now. It doesn't look like anyone was ever arrested. My Dad passed away more than 20 years ago but my Mom brought it up and told me her parents were scared because she was pregnant and thought maybe she should come home. The same thing happened that day at the University of Alabama.
Vietnam War Protest at UK- The burning down of the ROTC building
- Thread starter m080470
- Start date
Yes. I was a senior and it was set on fire overnight (I didn't do it.) a few days before scheduled graduation - which didn't happen till August as a result. The building was a low, rambling wood structure towards Memorial Coliseum that could, & did, easily go up in flames. School shut down, no finals, & national guard everywhere. So we went home. But I still got my degree.
For those that want a patriotic song that really, really, really is not.
Country Joe and The Fish, "be the first ones on your block to have your boy come home in a box". Those words ate at me to no end. I remember the draft number lottery and so many guys so worried. I was " safe" in college and others were going. Those words ate at me so bad that I dropped out of school, joined up and volunteered for Viet Nam. My life has been dramatically changed both for good and bad because of those words.
Born down in a dead man’s town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
End up like a dog that’s been beat too much
I walked past there a gazillion times and had no idea.
Old Blazer Hall to the right. I only knew basketball courts were there.
Asbestos siding doin work.
Old Blazer Hall to the right. I only knew basketball courts were there.
Asbestos siding doin work.
1, 2, 3 what are we fighten for
Don't ask me I don't give a dam
Next stop is Viet Nam
5, 6, 7 open up the pearly gates
ain't no use to wonder why
whoopee we all gonna die
A group of us had to sweep a field one day after sappers had supposedly been spotted outside the base. I was the last man on the left. The guy beside me was about five yards away. I could hear his teeth chattering and he kept saying, "Please God, I don't want to die." Turns out no one was there.
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Scary scenario, I don't believe I had the grit to handle it at 18.
I graduated high school in 1972, had a number but did not get drafted. Joined the USN in 1975. I was a 21 year old boy, the four years of USN were instrumental in my transition to manhood.
Loved his music and concerts until I read his biography. He was a draft dodger and narcissist who never worked a day in his life other than doing music.
He was never a working man’s musician other than growing up in NJ. Great songwriter and he put a fantastic group of musicians together - but he is a fake, narcissistic clown imo.
Most handle it well after training. I spent 3 months at DaNang . we had a bomb dump off base (so if anything blew up, it wouldn't hurt anything but a few dumb cops). On the afternoon shift, we got a new shift commander. He was an E8 with twenty plus years in. He would come to the bomb dump after dark to inspect the troops. I was an E5 and worked the ECP. He would enter and make his rounds. Half way through, he would start hearing and seeing enemy fire, and order our men to shoot back at an enemy who was not there. When the next shift took over, the firefights ended. The marines had a bomb dump across the road and they were not attacked. Diplomatically, I told him he was crazy as he!!. He didn't take my criticism well. After a few days, he got sent back to the states for a psych eval.
I haven't read anything about him but at least according to him telling the story in concert, he failed his physical. I don't think that makes him a draft dodger. That's just what he said in concert. I guess he could be lying.
I remember when he first came on the scene. I was a blue jean wearing anti-establishment kid who was into the rock and roll music scene. In the early 70's, I read an article in some low key music magazine that said his road to fame had all been manufactured by music executives. From his attire to the planting of stories about his background and describing him as having the song writing skills of Bob Dylan. All before his first album was released. Never had any respect for the phony.
I don’t care how much training I have, I know damn well what I would be terrible at in war vs what I would be better at (nerves wise).
Terrible:
- Sitting in a damn foxhole WWII style while shells randomly fall around me.
- Standing 30 yards away from the enemy with guns drawn waiting to fire like in the Civil War.
- Meandering through some desert town in Iraq hoping an IED or suicide bomber doesn’t blow me up.
- Being the bombadier or gunner in a B-17 and hoping flack or an enemy fighter doesn’t shoot me down.
- Sumarine
- Fighter pilot
- Special forces / recon
- Small attack boat
- In the rear with the gear (ideal!)
My first night. We flew in to Cam Ranh Bay on a Flying Tiger. The Flying Tigers go back to pre WW2. It was about ten at night and the base was under a rocket attack. While circling to land, you would see a flash from an explosion and hear an explosion with the plane vibrating. They rushed us in to a huge quonset hut. It was like a basketball gym with no goals. The floor was empty with bleachers on one side and offices on the other. They said get comfortable. You will spend the night here. The rockets came in all night, sometimes seconds apart, sometimes a minute or so. We had no weapons and there was no place to go, so we sat there in the bleachers. As the night went on, more guys came in. After awhile, you got used to it and didn't pay much attention to it. At daylight, the attack stopped, they came out of the offices and started processing us to go to our new duty station.
