mobilization would have a dramatic impact on concentrated popula-
Johnson also realized that reservists and guardsmen were generally
.troops and were, as a group, socially and econom-
more prominent. By relying on the draft and the active-duty mili-
to fight the war, Johnson hoped to diffuse the impact of casualties
, young, and powerless individuals. He wanted, as
Halberstam put it, a "silent, politically invisible war."54
over a million men served in the reserves and N ational
.Of these, some 37,000 were mobilized and 15,000 were sent to
--~I\s the war continued, thousands of men tried to enlist in this
, .By 1968 the National Guard alone
Throughout the country the reserves and the
were notorious for restrictive, "old-boy" admissions policies. In
, had to have connections to get in. For the poor
it was particularly difficult to gain admission. In the
, for example, the percentage of college graduates among
men was three times higher than in the regular army.55
, whatever their economic standing, to become a reservist or
was nearly impossible. In 1964 only 1.45 percent of the Army
Guard was black. By 1968 this tiny percentage had actually
to 1.26. Exclusion of blacks was especially egregious in the
,--,--,- , for example, where blacks comprised 42 percent of
only 1 black man was admitted to the National Guard of
.In the North, the guard was only slightly more open. In
, only 1.34 percent of the National Guard was black,
with 9.2 percent of the population. Thus, the safest form of
service almost entirely excluded blacks and was most open to
whites. 56
Service System's class-biased channeling, the military's
admissions standards, Project 100,000, medical ex-
that favored the well-informed and privileged, student defer-
~ safe haven of the National Guard and the reserves-these
factors in the creation of a working-class mili-
these are not the only factors that encouraged working-class
so disproportionately. In many respects our whole culture
the working class toward the military and the middle
toward college. We can understand some of the more
by exploring the consciousness of young men who
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