Sonny Crockett's Service in Vietnam

[mjcmmv]

On 1/8/2019 at 8:30 PM, Robbie C. said:

First, we'll start with the idea that the series is obviously canon for the discussion. When I was piecing this stuff together I took episodes where Sonny's Vietnam service figured to some degree and then tried to match it with the historical timeline to come up with legitimate options.

The episodes where this figures the most are, in rough air order, "Buddies", "Back in the World", "Stone's War" (although it's very much a minor part here), and "The Savage". Sonny's time in Vietnam is mentioned explicitly in the second pilot episode, so it's clearly supposed to be an important time in his life. 

In "Buddies", Robbie is introduced as someone who went to Vietnam with Sonny. They entered country through Da Nang, and their discussions mention a serious firefight with NVA regulars, Crockett denying they threw POWs from helicopters, and that they fought a clean war. Interestingly, the picture we see of Sonny and Robbie shows them without shoulder patches. 

"Back in the World" introduces us to Sonny's ribbon rack, which can be seen as a record of his time in Vietnam. Aside from one ribbon that couldn't have been awarded to him (it didn't come into use until well after the time he would have been in the military), Crockett's 'rack' is fairly sparse. He also lacks patches in the box. He does mention knowing 'Captain Real Estate,' but never explicitly says he was in the man's unit. Instead he's painted as an intelligence officer of some sort who had a finger in everything. Some of this follows up in "Stone's War" but it doesn't really add anything. The opening scene, set during the evacuation of Saigon, is also telling.

"The Savage" is informative in a way, clarifying Crockett's "two years in the Southeast Asian conference" to two tours in-country.

There are other scattered references, mostly dealing with Pleiku and the Cambodian border region, but most of them are not specific. In his exchange with Jimmy in "Smuggler's Blues" Crockett identifies the pilot as being air cav, but never says that HE was air cav. He also doesn't say anything when dealing with the pilot (a 101st Airmobile vet) in "Trust Fund Pirates."

Given character ages, I would say Crockett and Robbie entered the service in 1969. This roughly lines up with Crockett's possible football career (although it doesn't track right, either). I would also say they both volunteered. If Crockett's knee injury was bad enough to end his football career, it would have almost guaranteed him a medical deferment. We also don't know that he ever graduated from the University of Florida...only that he played ball there for a time. I could see Crockett starting to feel guilty about hiding behind a deferment, exaggerating a minor injury to get cut from the team, and then enlisting. The odds of him being drafted are fairly low, and get lower when you hit 1970. He also wouldn't have seen major combat after that time, and one of those ribbons is a silver star (a combat award). Since his memorabilia box doesn't contain a Combat Infantryman's Badge I think he and Robbie were both MPs (which would explain their pistol training and other skills). I also think they were Marines, although the Army's 4th Infantry Division is another possibility. I say Marines because they entered Vietnam through Da Nang (which figures in almost every Crockett Vietnam story), they awarded fewer decorations on the whole (Crockett's rack lacks the most common Army ones as well), and Marines don't use unit shoulder patches. The Army does. Crockett and Robbie both don't have shoulder patches. And, finally, the evacuation of Saigon was a Marine operation. No Army units of any size took part, and they wouldn't have been on a carrier. He would have done his first tour as part of the First Marine Division (or 4th ID if he was Army), gone home, reenlisted, and requested a second in-country tour. After Saigon he could have volunteered for one of the many reductions in force that took place at that time, met and married Caroline, and joined the police. And his being an MP would explain why he never seems to feel comfortable in the veterans' shelters he visits. As one of the guys in the rear, and one tasked with controlling behavior, he wouldn't have been popular with the grunts. It also explains why his Vietnam contacts are usually from intelligence or some other area.

This is a short version of how Crockett's military service could square with both the series and the historical record. I always found it interesting that they never explained his service as well as they did Castillo's. Even his football stuff has gaping holes, and there are some serious glitches with his Metro Dade record as well.

Just found this again. Great information. Speaking of AirCav, I always got the impression in the episode, Smuggler's Blues that Sonny was a little afraid of flying. He looked absolutely terrified when they first took off into the Wide Blue Yonder. Or maybe he just didn't like the rickety plane Jimmy was flying or didn't trust Jimmy's Devil-my-care attitude and references to the possibility the flight may be his last!

Anyway, I think you're right. I don't see him involved in AirCav. MP is a good guess.

Thanks for all this great material! 

 

 

[Robbie C.]

And for those of you who are curious about such things, the draft script for Back in the World confirms my research. Sonny says in a line of dialog that didn't make it into the episode as filmed that he was a Marine. The draft script for Buddies does not specify branch. It does say that Sonny and Robbie played football together, but never really clarifies if it was high school or college ball.

Character trivia for those who pay attention to such things.

[mjcmmv]

So happy to see this thread an other Character discussions in this new section!!! Thank you, Ferrariman for making it happen! 

[Glades]

"1st Cav."
That's what Sonny said his unit was back in Vietnam.
In "Hell Hath no Fury" minute 43 to Hatch, a Vet who had killed Alan Beaks seconds before.

I just watched the episode and found this:
Sonny: "Then you better know, you're in the killing zone, pal."
Hatch: "What outfit were you in?"
Sonny: "1st Cav. Come on, man. That´s gotta count for somethin´."

I only know few about army and secret services and things like that. And so I'm a bit confused. 1st Cav., Marines, MP? If I understand Robbie correctly,  he excludes due to his knowledge about Vietnam the 1st Cav. for Sonny?
 

 

Edited November 16, 2019 by Glades

[Tom]

Now we seem to get into continuity issues on overall series level. Usually with longer running series and various writers, a „golden book“ is used that contains master data of all major characters in order to prevent contradicting developments like that and all new writers look into it before developing new stories.

obviously that was not done here. 1st Cav is not Marines and not MP either. The last reference in the series in Hell hath no fury was a script written by David Black who first wrote in season 4. The earlier ones  seem to be closer to each other but also somehow conflicting.

[Robbie C.]

The draft script for "Back in the World" explicitly states Crockett was a Marine, and the images we see of Sonny on the carrier deck support that even though the lines were cut from the production version. I suspect Black fell victim to something many fans seem to fall victim to - the confusion caused by Sonny's exchange with Glenn Fry's pilot character in "Smuggler's Blues." In their exchange Sonny comments that Jimmy must have been Air Cav. He never says HE was Air Cav.

But since this sort of screw-up only seems to happen with Sonny, something else could be in play.

[vicegirl85]

On 2/4/2019 at 8:05 PM, Robbie C. said:

Nothing in the series I've ever seen puts Crockett's birth date in 1953. In fact, the pilot script goes against that date. Also, the draft might have ended then, but the lottery system came into effect prior to that, and draft calls began dropping in 1969. For Crockett to have had both the football career and military service the series postulates the 1953 birth date simply does not work. Also, the series never contends that Crockett continued in college after his football injury (and as I've mentioned before I don't think the injury was much more than an excuse for Crockett to leave the team and volunteer for service).

His football career is actually as problematic as his military time. His game-winning catch couldn't have taken place as laid out in the pilot, and the Gator Bowl win it morphs into in "Good Collar" simply doesn't square with anything. At best the catch could have taken place again Auburn, but they only beat them in 1966 and it was by a field goal.

I started chasing Crockett's Vietnam service just to see if it could be worked out against the actual history, and the only path that comes close has Crockett and Robbie being Marines (which allows them to come in-county through Da Nang).(snipped)

I only wish the creative forces behind the show had put half the amount of effort into squaring the timeline (and coming up with a history that makes sense for Crockett) as you have, Robbie.  The show's rather generic use of Crockett's football career and Vietnam service work fine for someone like me who knows very little about either of those things.  But both are used repeatedly (if inconsistently) throughout the series, so are assumed to be important aspects of the main character's past.  Therefore the timeline and service details that are stated come off as sloppy and don't provide the desired impact and context to the character's beliefs and actions in the present/ series timeline.

[RedDragon86]

10 hours ago, Robbie C. said:

The draft script for "Back in the World" explicitly states Crockett was a Marine, and the images we see of Sonny on the carrier deck support that even though the lines were cut from the production version. I suspect Black fell victim to something many fans seem to fall victim to - the confusion caused by Sonny's exchange with Glenn Fry's pilot character in "Smuggler's Blues." In their exchange Sonny comments that Jimmy must have been Air Cav. He never says HE was Air Cav.

But since this sort of screw-up only seems to happen with Sonny, something else could be in play.

Do you think the continuity problems were down to the writers coming and going? the constant production changes in the series didn't help. Who exactly was keeping track of his life story.

 

[Assasinge]

Just now, RedDragon86 said:

Who exactly was keeping track of his life story.

 

No one.

[RedDragon86]

2 minutes ago, Assasinge said:

No one.

Seems that way.

[Robbie C.]

I think part of it lies with DJ, too. This doesn’t seem to happen with any other character. Even Tubbs, although there were some issues there. It’s easy to blame writers, but these are errors others should have caught and corrected if they cared. 

[vicegirl85]

9 hours ago, RedDragon86 said:

Do you think the continuity problems were down to the writers coming and going? the constant production changes in the series didn't help. Who exactly was keeping track of his life story.

I feel sure that must have been at least part of it.  As someone else said, today TV shows have "bibles" that lay out events in the characters' lives that are referenced in the show in an effort to maintain continuity.  Whether that wasn't done for MV (or other shows during the time period) or whether it can be attributed to some other reason such as DJ not caring, it certainly does create problems for fans trying to connect the dots.

Except for EJO, it's always been my impression that the actors didn't have much if any input into their characterizations.  We know DJ liked to run scenes to make them better (at least in his own judgment), but I don't know if he had input into storylines, character details, etc.  Whether or not he had the interest/influence in making the football or Vietnam service accurate, he may not have had the knowledge base to see and request corrections/ resolve conflicts.  If he'd wanted to push for accuracy or changing the scripts to make the timeline fit, I do think he would have had the power in S2 or S3 to request and receive some changes.  But if he didn't have the knowledge background to see those inconsistencies, there was no reason for him to push back.   He was working as an actor (and of course sometimes as a director) but others had the role of being subject matter experts.  

I don't necessarily feel that Michael Mann was interested in making a show that was a realistic and accurate portrayal of a Vietnam vet who went on to become a police officer/detective working to stop the flow of cocaine in the drug capital of the world.  But there were officers from the Miami and/or Dade County police department(s) who served as technical advisors.  At the time the show was in production, there were also a large number of Vietnam vets around.  Probably even some of the writers or other creative people in the crew had done military service.  There were plenty of people who could have stepped up if the questions had been raised.

It might be that not enough time had passed since the war had divided the US, for people to understand and portray the events accurately.  We've discussed before that Thomas Magnum and his buddies were also written as Vietnam vets.  I didn't watch that show regularly enough to judge, but understand some here feel the military service of Magnum and his pals was portrayed more consistently.   

[timm525]

I don't think anyone on MV thought at the time that anyone would be discussing this or even caring about continuity 35 years later.

As a huge fan of Magnum, I think they got his military service mostly correct. Although I always wondered how he could resign as a full LT and then reenlist as a full commander. Having skipped the LT CMDR rank entirely. But I'm not a military person and maybe there are ensentives for certain positions in which promotions are made? Still a truely great show in it's own. 

[mjcmmv]

6 minutes ago, timm525 said:

I don't think anyone on MV thought at the time that anyone would be discussing this or even caring about continuity 35 years later.

As a huge fan of Magnum, I think they got his military service mostly correct. Although I always wondered how he could resign as a full LT and then reenlist as a full commander. Having skipped the LT CMDR rank entirely. But I'm not a military person and maybe there are ensentives for certain positions in which promotions are made? Still a truely great show in it's own. 

Wow, that's interesting. Now, I have to go back and check this out! 

[RedDragon86]

1 hour ago, vicegirl85 said:

I feel sure that must have been at least part of it.  As someone else said, today TV shows have "bibles" that lay out events in the characters' lives that are referenced in the show in an effort to maintain continuity.  Whether that wasn't done for MV (or other shows during the time period) or whether it can be attributed to some other reason such as DJ not caring, it certainly does create problems for fans trying to connect the dots.

Except for EJO, it's always been my impression that the actors didn't have much if any input into their characterizations.  We know DJ liked to run scenes to make them better (at least in his own judgment), but I don't know if he had input into storylines, character details, etc.  Whether or not he had the interest/influence in making the football or Vietnam service accurate, he may not have had the knowledge base to see and request corrections/ resolve conflicts.  If he'd wanted to push for accuracy or changing the scripts to make the timeline fit, I do think he would have had the power in S2 or S3 to request and receive some changes.  But if he didn't have the knowledge background to see those inconsistencies, there was no reason for him to push back.   He was working as an actor (and of course sometimes as a director) but others had the role of being subject matter experts.  

I don't necessarily feel that Michael Mann was interested in making a show that was a realistic and accurate portrayal of a Vietnam vet who went on to become a police officer/detective working to stop the flow of cocaine in the drug capital of the world.  But there were officers from the Miami and/or Dade County police department(s) who served as technical advisors.  At the time the show was in production, there were also a large number of Vietnam vets around.  Probably even some of the writers or other creative people in the crew had done military service.  There were plenty of people who could have stepped up if the questions had been raised.

It might be that not enough time had passed since the war had divided the US, for people to understand and portray the events accurately.  We've discussed before that Thomas Magnum and his buddies were also written as Vietnam vets.  I didn't watch that show regularly enough to judge, but understand some here feel the military service of Magnum and his pals was portrayed more consistently.   

Brilliant explanation. 

[pahonu]

2 hours ago, vicegirl85 said:

I feel sure that must have been at least part of it.  As someone else said, today TV shows have "bibles" that lay out events in the characters' lives that are referenced in the show in an effort to maintain continuity.  Whether that wasn't done for MV (or other shows during the time period) or whether it can be attributed to some other reason such as DJ not caring, it certainly does create problems for fans trying to connect the dots.

Except for EJO, it's always been my impression that the actors didn't have much if any input into their characterizations.  We know DJ liked to run scenes to make them better (at least in his own judgment), but I don't know if he had input into storylines, character details, etc.  Whether or not he had the interest/influence in making the football or Vietnam service accurate, he may not have had the knowledge base to see and request corrections/ resolve conflicts.  If he'd wanted to push for accuracy or changing the scripts to make the timeline fit, I do think he would have had the power in S2 or S3 to request and receive some changes.  But if he didn't have the knowledge background to see those inconsistencies, there was no reason for him to push back.   He was working as an actor (and of course sometimes as a director) but others had the role of being subject matter experts.  

I don't necessarily feel that Michael Mann was interested in making a show that was a realistic and accurate portrayal of a Vietnam vet who went on to become a police officer/detective working to stop the flow of cocaine in the drug capital of the world.  But there were officers from the Miami and/or Dade County police department(s) who served as technical advisors.  At the time the show was in production, there were also a large number of Vietnam vets around.  Probably even some of the writers or other creative people in the crew had done military service.  There were plenty of people who could have stepped up if the questions had been raised.

It might be that not enough time had passed since the war had divided the US, for people to understand and portray the events accurately.  We've discussed before that Thomas Magnum and his buddies were also written as Vietnam vets.  I didn't watch that show regularly enough to judge, but understand some here feel the military service of Magnum and his pals was portrayed more consistently.   

Tv show bibles aren’t new to today’s shows.  The original Star Trek had one.  They’re necessary for any kind of continuity at all.  There are two things to consider: 

1.  How detailed was the show bible from the beginning?  Some are incredibly complex right from the start, many less so.  It all depends on the creator.

2.  How carefully are they maintained and updated as the show progresses?  I recall reading that Frasier’s show bible was scrupulously updated with each episode.  This has more to do with script supervisors and script coordinators keeping track of everything.

Writers come and go on dramatic shows like MV.  Far less than on comedies.  Many episodes of MV were the only episode written by a particular writer.

Today it is expected that fans will parse all this exhaustively (as we are)  and so they are detailed and maintained to a much higher degree than even 20 years ago, let alone the 35 since MV debuted.  There weren’t really many fanboys and Trekkies 35 or 40 years ago, if any.  Writers simply didn’t need to pay that close attention.

[Robbie C.]

2 hours ago, vicegirl85 said:

I feel sure that must have been at least part of it.  As someone else said, today TV shows have "bibles" that lay out events in the characters' lives that are referenced in the show in an effort to maintain continuity.  Whether that wasn't done for MV (or other shows during the time period) or whether it can be attributed to some other reason such as DJ not caring, it certainly does create problems for fans trying to connect the dots.

Except for EJO, it's always been my impression that the actors didn't have much if any input into their characterizations.  We know DJ liked to run scenes to make them better (at least in his own judgment), but I don't know if he had input into storylines, character details, etc.  Whether or not he had the interest/influence in making the football or Vietnam service accurate, he may not have had the knowledge base to see and request corrections/ resolve conflicts.  If he'd wanted to push for accuracy or changing the scripts to make the timeline fit, I do think he would have had the power in S2 or S3 to request and receive some changes.  But if he didn't have the knowledge background to see those inconsistencies, there was no reason for him to push back.   He was working as an actor (and of course sometimes as a director) but others had the role of being subject matter experts.  

I don't necessarily feel that Michael Mann was interested in making a show that was a realistic and accurate portrayal of a Vietnam vet who went on to become a police officer/detective working to stop the flow of cocaine in the drug capital of the world.  But there were officers from the Miami and/or Dade County police department(s) who served as technical advisors.  At the time the show was in production, there were also a large number of Vietnam vets around.  Probably even some of the writers or other creative people in the crew had done military service.  There were plenty of people who could have stepped up if the questions had been raised.

It might be that not enough time had passed since the war had divided the US, for people to understand and portray the events accurately.  We've discussed before that Thomas Magnum and his buddies were also written as Vietnam vets.  I didn't watch that show regularly enough to judge, but understand some here feel the military service of Magnum and his pals was portrayed more consistently.   

I think people also forget that Yerkovich came from Hill Street Blues, which had a Vietnam vet character (the SWAT commander). Magnum wasn't the only Vietnam vet character on TV at this time, either. You had one of the Simon brothers from Simon & Simon and a number of others. And those shows all handled the veteran experience much better than Vice did. So the time period excuse simply doesn't hold water. And don't forget Magnum aired before Vice was in production.

My opinion is it comes down to plain sloppiness on the part of the people running the show. They were more interested in coordinating colors than tracking the background of one of their main characters, and in the process missed many opportunities. EJO was showing them what could be done if you focused on characters as well, but that didn't happen. And I remain convinced that DJ wasn't especially comfortable with that side of Sonny's background, either.

2 hours ago, timm525 said:

I don't think anyone on MV thought at the time that anyone would be discussing this or even caring about continuity 35 years later.

As a huge fan of Magnum, I think they got his military service mostly correct. Although I always wondered how he could resign as a full LT and then reenlist as a full commander. Having skipped the LT CMDR rank entirely. But I'm not a military person and maybe there are ensentives for certain positions in which promotions are made? Still a truely great show in it's own. 

He couldn't necessarily skip rank. Never watched enough Magnum to fully track that side, but if he was USNR (Navy Reserve) he could have been promoted there. Magnum wouldn't have reenlisted...officers don't enlist, they're commissioned. He could have left the regular Navy as a LT, gone into the Naval Reserve, been promoted there, and then been shifted back into the Regular Navy with his Reserve rank. Also, he would have left with a higher rank than LT if he'd been in for over ten years. I think it's more likely they screwed up his rank upon resigning. Navy ranks often confuse writers.

[Robbie C.]

49 minutes ago, pahonu said:

Tv show bibles aren’t new to today’s shows.  The original Star Trek had one.  They’re necessary for any kind of continuity at all.  There are two things to consider: 

1.  How detailed was the show bible from the beginning?  Some are incredibly complex right from the start, many less so.  It all depends on the creator.

2.  How carefully are they maintained and updated as the show progresses?  I recall reading that Frasier’s show bible was scrupulously updated with each episode.  This has more to do with script supervisors and script coordinators keeping track of everything.

Writers come and go on dramatic shows like MV.  Far less than on comedies.  Many episodes of MV were the only episode written by a particular writer.

Today it is expected that fans will parse all this exhaustively (as we are)  and so they are detailed and maintained to a much higher degree than even 20 years ago, let alone the 35 since MV debuted.  There weren’t really many fanboys and Trekkies 35 or 40 years ago, if any.  Writers simply didn’t need to pay that close attention.

Frasier's was maintained like some of the old radio and early TV shows from what I understand. That kind of precision was essential back then. Vice was far more interested in visuals.

[vicegirl85]

9 hours ago, Robbie C. said:

I think people also forget that Yerkovich came from Hill Street Blues, which had a Vietnam vet character (the SWAT commander). Magnum wasn't the only Vietnam vet character on TV at this time, either. You had one of the Simon brothers from Simon & Simon and a number of others. And those shows all handled the veteran experience much better than Vice did. So the time period excuse simply doesn't hold water. And don't forget Magnum aired before Vice was in production.

My opinion is it comes down to plain sloppiness on the part of the people running the show. They were more interested in coordinating colors than tracking the background of one of their main characters, and in the process missed many opportunities. EJO was showing them what could be done if you focused on characters as well, but that didn't happen. And I remain convinced that DJ wasn't especially comfortable with that side of Sonny's background, either. (snipped)

Agree, there were quite a few Vietnam vets as characters on TV anywhere from the mid-70s to the MV era.  I watched a lot of them at the time, but have not seen them in the past 10 years so didn't want to muddy the water with inaccurate memories.  But as to your point that there were other shows of the period that had better continuity--yes, they did.

I don't forget Yerkovich came from HSB (one of my all-time favorite shows).  But Yerkovich and his influence didn't last long on MV, from what most here have said and from my own reading about the show.  If he had been a force for a longer time, perhaps the Vietnam vet aspects would have been handled differently.   Agree as well that the show runners did not take the trouble to build and maintain a consistent background for Crockett.  It's unfortunate, but I don't hold the actors responsible for that.

Probably I've mentioned this before, but my own feeling about Crockett's behavior around the Vietnam vets at the vet center (specifically in Back in the World, but it occurred in a couple of other eps as well) reflected both 1) a survivor's guilt reaction and 2) a police officer's survey of the scene and the potential witnesses to a crime--people who may know something, but don't realize or don't want to admit that they do. 

A lot of missed opportunities, especially at the 35-year vantage point.  But when you're trotting out a revolutionary, high profile, and highly topical ratings-contender show (as I'm sure Mann and the network ratings experts and bean-counters felt they were doing) choices are made.  Some of the choices ultimately hurt the show (IMO), but what we got was sometimes brilliant.

[Robbie C.]

My point was that I think Yerkovich intended for Vietnam to factor into Sonny’s background more than it ended up doing. I don’t hold the actors responsible, but I also don’t give them a total pass. I think DJ was more interested in some aspects than others, and background wasn’t one of the ones he cared too much about. 

[pahonu]

2 hours ago, Robbie C. said:

My point was that I think Yerkovich intended for Vietnam to factor into Sonny’s background more than it ended up doing. I don’t hold the actors responsible, but I also don’t give them a total pass. I think DJ was more interested in some aspects than others, and background wasn’t one of the ones he cared too much about. 

I agree.  To look at it more closely, how many times is Sonny's service in Vietnam referenced in the first 6 episodes?  How often is it referenced in the remaining episodes?  Yerkovich left as executive producer after the episode when Castillo arrived.  It could be interesting to analyze?

There's another point to consider regarding continuity and the actors.  Depending on the director of any particular episode and the script supervisor, actors are sometimes allowed a bit of leeway with regards to their character's lines.  Television directors are not nearly as familiar with the principle character's history as the actors are themselves.  Television directors will often defer to an actor with regard to their character for this reason.  The executive producer or showrunner might also step in regarding any deviations from the script or concerns an actor has about their character.  The script supervisor notes any changes, mostly for later editing, but also for continuity.  There are lots of ways that details can get missed.

Many modern series today have fewer episodes and are often fully developed stories before production even begins.  More like filming the miniseries of the past.  Questions of continuity are minimal because the story arc is completely laid out from the beginning.  That's just not how episodic television on the networks was done before.  Realistically, we can't hold older shows to the standard of newer series when the process was so different, or we'll be constantly disappointed.

Edited November 19, 2019 by pahonu

[Bren10]

At around 0:27 DJ says Sonny was in fact drafted and that his knee injury occurred while in Vietnam. This throws a real monkey wrench into the proceedings.

 

It's possible he was mistaken, but It's unlikely he'd be wrong about 2 separate points (being drafted and hurt).

[Glades]

51 minutes ago, Bren10 said:

At around 0:27 DJ says Sonny was in fact drafted and that his knee injury occurred while in Vietnam. This throws a real monkey wrench into the proceedings.

 

It's possible he was mistaken, but It's unlikely he'd be wrong about 2 separate points (being drafted and hurt).

Thank you. Great finding!

I just checked the script. It also says that Sonny got his knee injury in Vietnam. But I can't tell from the dialogue whether he was drafted or volunteered.

[Robbie C.]

The scripts never explicitly say either way if he was drafted. I tend to doubt it just based on the service history, although it's possible he was drafted and then reenlisted. And the pilot script has a pretty funny exchange between Gina and Trudy about how Sonny really hurt his knee. He might have claimed Vietnam, but according to the original scene Gina says the story she heard was he fell two stories out of a cheerleader's dorm room after a drunken postgame celebration. Given how the knee injury just disappears I don't know how important it is.

[vicegirl85]

4 hours ago, Bren10 said:

At around 0:27 DJ says Sonny was in fact drafted and that his knee injury occurred while in Vietnam. This throws a real monkey wrench into the proceedings.

 

It's possible he was mistaken, but It's unlikely he'd be wrong about 2 separate points (being drafted and hurt).

I think at this time (when the interview aired) DJ and PMT were still fleshing out their personal visions of their characters.  Sonny Crockett's backstory wasn't cut in stone at this point, and after Yerkovich left, I think a lot of the backstory-building was tossed.