Don Johnson and the Vietnam War

[BunMVO]

I figured it's time we talk about this so maybe some connoisseur can shed some light on the subject. Does anyone actually know the reason that Don Johnson avoided the draft for the Vietnam War? He was born in 1949, meaning he was 18 in 1967. He was in his prime at the height of the Vietnam War. He was in perfect shape and perfectly healthy. 

I'm not saying he dodged the draft or anything. I'm just wondering how he was not drafted. Does anyone know?

[vicegirl85]

I don't know the answer, but I believe he graduated from HS in 1967, when he was still 17.  He then went to college at the University of Kansas.  Apparently he only spent a semester there, so would not have been able to claim a student deferment at age 18.  The draft lottery didn't start until 1969.  So there's definitely a gap of time when he would have been eligible for military service and without any known health issues that would have kept him out.  Possibly he could have filed as a conscientious objector (I don't know anything about whether he did or not).  According to a Wikipedia article on Conscription in the United States:  

Quote

From a pool of approximately 27 million, the draft raised 2,215,000 men for military service (in the United States, South Vietnam, and elsewhere) during the Vietnam War era. The majority of servicemembers deployed to South Vietnam were volunteers, even though hundreds of thousands of men opted to join the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard (for three or four year terms of enlistment) rather than risk being drafted, serve for two years, and have no choice over their military occupational specialty (MOS).

 

[BunMVO]

1 minute ago, vicegirl85 said:

I don't know the answer, but I believe he graduated from HS in 1967, when he was still 17.  He then went to college at the University of Kansas.  Apparently he only spent a semester there, so would not have been able to claim a student deferment at age 18.  The draft lottery didn't start until 1969.  So there's definitely a gap of time when he would have been eligible for military service and without any known health issues that would have kept him out.  Possibly he could have filed as a conscientious objector (I don't know anything about whether he did or not).  According to a Wikipedia article on Conscription in the United States:  

 

Yeah, I was just thinking about it since today is Memorial Day. Little seems to be known about this period of Don's life. At least he didn't do what Ted Nugent, a guest star of the show, did (probably).

[Robbie C.]

I'm sure he ducked in some way like many of them did. If he had the student deferment he might have simply failed to report that he left school. The CO exemption was fairly hard to get, honestly, and quite a few of them ended up drafted as medics in any case. And, as usual, Wikipedia has issues with its information. Volunteers didn't always get a guaranteed MOS, and National Guard enlistment was preferred for avoiding the draft and Vietnam. That was the route Tom Sellek took (CA National Guard). Getting into the Guard took connections by 1968-69, though.

If you had money and resources, avoiding the draft wasn't all that difficult.

[mjcmmv]

Well, I read that he did try to enlist and wasn't accepted due to some trouble he had been in when he was young. Not sure if this is true, or what the charge was, but if I find the article about this, I'll share. 

[Robbie C.]

2 minutes ago, mjcmmv said:

Well, I read that he did try to enlist and wasn't accepted due to some trouble he had been in when he was young. Not sure if this is true, or what the charge was, but if I find the article about this, I'll share. 

I would say it would have to be narcotics. Don't forget...this was an era when young men in trouble were steered by judges into the military instead of prison.

[mjcmmv]

2 minutes ago, Robbie C. said:

I would say it would have to be narcotics. Don't forget...this was an era when young men in trouble were steered by judges into the military instead of prison.

Yeah, I think this was the charge, but I didn't want to say this unless I was sure. 

Edited May 28, 2019 by mjcmmv

[mjcmmv]

Okay, here's what I found so far: 

http://admin.brain-sharper.com/entertainment/miami-vice-secrets-yh/

"Sonny Crockett may have very famously served in the Vietnam War, which was inspired by Johnson’s real life; however, they left an important piece of the puzzle out of the show. Ironically, when Johnson tried to volunteer for his own military service, he was denied by the Marine Corps because he had been convicted of possessing substances that he shouldn’t have had. Johnson could only imagine his Vietnam service when it came up in the course of his character’s storylines throughout the show."

 

Well, at least he tried!! 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2019 by mjcmmv

[Robbie C.]

Still doesn't explain how he avoided being drafted, though I expect he moved around just enough to avoid being called up until the lottery came into effect and draft calls were reduced. Remember, Crockett never showed any real affinity for veterans and that might reflect DJ's own uncomfortable feelings about this time.

I suspected narcotics because that was an almost automatic disqualifier. Small-time theft or the like...not so much.

Edited May 28, 2019 by Robbie C.

[BunMVO]

That's respectable that he tried to enlist. I was unaware of that fact. Interesting, Robbie, that you point that out. In Back in the World, Crockett doesn't really stop Ira Stone from badgering the disabled vets until it gets to be too much. Also, he never, ever brings it up. Maybe that was reflective of Don's own exclusion from the men who served.

[mjcmmv]

Just now, Robbie C. said:

Still doesn't explain how he avoided being drafted, though I expect he moved around just enough to avoid being called up until the lottery came into effect and draft calls were reduced. Remember, Crockett never showed any real affinity for veterans and that might reflect DJ's own uncomfortable feelings about this time.

 As far as the lottery was concerned, I had friends who's birthdays made them eligible early on and they were called right away. Not sure where DJ fit in this, but it's possible he was never considered. 

[BunMVO]

4 minutes ago, mjcmmv said:

 As far as the lottery was concerned, I had friends who's birthdays made them eligible early on and they were called right away. Not sure where DJ fit in this, but it's possible he was never considered. 

That might be it. I'm not sure, the draft has never been in effect as long as I've been alive (except for the Selective Service System, which I had to register for when I turned 18). I'm glad he was never called up, it would have surely changed the course of his life and we almost certainly wouldn't have this cult classic series.

[Robbie C.]

7 minutes ago, pmconroy said:

That's respectable that he tried to enlist. I was unaware of that fact. Interesting, Robbie, that you point that out. In Back in the World, Crockett doesn't really stop Ira Stone from badgering the disabled vets until it gets to be too much. Also, he never, ever brings it up. Maybe that was reflective of Don's own exclusion from the men who served.

I suspect part of it was self-exclusion. The fact that branches were rejecting people for narcotics charges was no secret at the time. If he moved enough, and had a high enough lottery number, he could have easily avoided the draft that way. 

[Robbie C.]

2 minutes ago, pmconroy said:

That might be it. I'm not sure, the draft has never been in effect as long as I've been alive (except for the Selective Service System, which I had to register for when I turned 18). I'm glad he was never called up, it would have surely changed the course of his life and we almost certainly wouldn't have this cult classic series.

I don't think you can reasonably say that. It might have actually given MORE depth to his portrayal of Crockett and made him more steadfast in showing certain elements of his character. TS might have avoided Vietnam by being in the National Guard, but I think his service at the time lent more credibility to how he played Magnum (or at least made him more respectful of the character's military background).

[BunMVO]

37 minutes ago, Robbie C. said:

I don't think you can reasonably say that. It might have actually given MORE depth to his portrayal of Crockett and made him more steadfast in showing certain elements of his character. TS might have avoided Vietnam by being in the National Guard, but I think his service at the time lent more credibility to how he played Magnum (or at least made him more respectful of the character's military background).

All I'm saying is that circumstances that arise could have altered his life trajectory. Maybe he would have stayed in the military. Maybe he would have been wounded or killed. All things considered, it definitely would have added to his character, I agree with that.

[pahonu]

According to National Archives, among approximately 27 million American men eligible for military service between 1964 and 1973, the draft raised 2,215,000 men for military service (in the U.S., Southeast Asia, West Germany, and elsewhere). Around 15.4 million were granted deferments, mostly for education, some for mental, physical and family hardships. There were more than 300,000 deserters and draft evaders in total, in which 209,517 men illegally resisted the draft while some 100,000 deserted. Among them, around 30,000 immigrated to Canada during 1966-72.

I have family and friends of the family that experienced many different circumstances.  One friend of the family volunteered for the army in early 1964 and spent almost 2 years in West Germany at a atomic cannon base while the war in Vietnam escalated.  Two of his friends stationed with him volunteered to go to Vietnam and didn't survive.  I have three uncles who served, two were drafted into the Army and Marines and served in Vietnam as a helicopter door gunner and in the infantry.  One was pretty badly hurt when they were shot down.  Other crew didn't survive.  The other uncle volunteered and was in the Navy aboard the USS Oriskany off the coast.  Another, younger uncle and several other friends were never called to serve at all.  A childhood friend's father filed as a CO but was given 1-AO status and served as a medic, which someone else mentioned was common.  My wife had one of three of her uncles serve.  He was army infantry.  Her father was never called in the lottery as he came of age only after it started.  My father was the oldest, turning 30 as the war started and wasn't called to serve.  A work friend's father was drafted after the marriage deferment was ended and he was killed when my friend was an infant.

My whole point is that not everyone of age in that era was drafted, and there are a whole lot of different circumstances and reasons why.  It seems likely that Don Johnson could easily have been part of the 15+ million who were granted deferments or the nearly 10 million who were not called to serve.

 

Edited May 28, 2019 by pahonu

[vicegirl85]

8 hours ago, Robbie C. said:

I'm sure he ducked in some way like many of them did. If he had the student deferment he might have simply failed to report that he left school. The CO exemption was fairly hard to get, honestly, and quite a few of them ended up drafted as medics in any case. And, as usual, Wikipedia has issues with its information. Volunteers didn't always get a guaranteed MOS, and National Guard enlistment was preferred for avoiding the draft and Vietnam. That was the route Tom Sellek took (CA National Guard). Getting into the Guard took connections by 1968-69, though.

If you had money and resources, avoiding the draft wasn't all that difficult.

Remember his birthday is not until Dec. 15, so if he did only spend one semester at Kansas, the semester was probably over by the time his birthday rolled around.  If he did register by his birthday (as the law required), when he relocated to SF his address changed and I don't know how easy it may have been to track him down if he didn't have a driver's license, vehicle, wasn't registered to vote, etc., and with such a common name as Johnson.  He didn't have a wealthy background or influential connections, and it seems likely he moved around a lot with the various movies he appeared in during his early years in the business. 

Being DQ'd for drug charges is possible, of course.  

I know volunteers didn't (and still don't) necessarily get a guaranteed MOS, but it was perceived as more likely for a volunteer vs a draftee.  It is possible he was never drafted, even if he was registered. 

 

[RedDragon86]

His priority at the time surely was training be an actor. 

Edited May 28, 2019 by RedDragon86

[Robbie C.]

3 hours ago, RedDragon86 said:

His priority at the time surely was training be an actor. 

I wouldn't be so sure about that. In any case, if he had a rejection for enlistment in his records based on drugs (which is likely if the Marine Corps story is accurate) he would have been disqualified based on that. Between that, falling draft calls, the implementation of the lottery system, and his frequent moves, I suspect that has more to do with it than anything else.

Not that I care either way. He never claimed to have served when he didn't, and never bragged about how some phantom malady kept him out, though I still suspect this had something to do at some level with the way he plays Sonny around veterans

[RedDragon86]

1 hour ago, Robbie C. said:

I wouldn't be so sure about that. In any case, if he had a rejection for enlistment in his records based on drugs (which is likely if the Marine Corps story is accurate) he would have been disqualified based on that. Between that, falling draft calls, the implementation of the lottery system, and his frequent moves, I suspect that has more to do with it than anything else.

Not that I care either way. He never claimed to have served when he didn't, and never bragged about how some phantom malady kept him out, though I still suspect this had something to do at some level with the way he plays Sonny around veterans

I have never heard this before, what is lottery system in the military?

[Robbie C.]

The lottery system was part of Nixon's reform of selective service after he was elected. The short answer is the lottery assigned numbers associated with birth dates, with the numbers drawn randomly and quotas filled based on those date/number combinations. This effectively took selection out of the hands of local boards, and when combined with reduced draft calls meant that if a man had a higher number he was likely to avoid the draft completely. Prior to that draft selection was based almost entirely on the local board recommendations, and was often seen as biased based on income and race.

[RedDragon86]

8 minutes ago, Robbie C. said:

The lottery system was part of Nixon's reform of selective service after he was elected. The short answer is the lottery assigned numbers associated with birth dates, with the numbers drawn randomly and quotas filled based on those date/number combinations. This effectively took selection out of the hands of local boards, and when combined with reduced draft calls meant that if a man had a higher number he was likely to avoid the draft completely. Prior to that draft selection was based almost entirely on the local board recommendations, and was often seen as biased based on income and race.

Thanks, you certainly know your stuff.

[Robbie C.]

No problem. Vietnam is one of my specialty areas.

[Heidiheehiho]

He didn't go because he had a prior arrest for drug possession. I believe I read it in his Rolling Stone interview(?) 

[Dadrian]

2 hours ago, Heidiheehiho said:

He didn't go because he had a prior arrest for drug possession. I believe I read it in his Rolling Stone interview(?) 

I know he was said to be quite a hell raiser in his youth. 

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