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Lot_49's avatar

Obligations associated with National Guard service have varied widely over the years. LBJ wouldn't call up the Guard to fight in Vietnam, so it became the haven for draft-dodging football players. The post Vietnam Cold War was a pretty cushy time to be in the Guard if you hoped never to be called up beyond your annual training. And Guard is smart enough to make it easy for powerful politicians to serve; there's a lot of flexibility on when and where they serve.

That said, <i>a lot </i>of Guardsmen got called up, sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, and saw combat.

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Lot_49's avatar

True. But also the Army and the Army Guard in particular recognized that the LBJ's draft-the-hippies policy was a disaster for them. One of Vietnam-veteran Colin Powell's changes as JCS chairman was to restructure the military so that it could not mount a big operation without calling up the Guard.

"Calling up the Guard" is of course also known as "mobilization," which was what led to WW I. So it's sensitive.

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