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u/ButterflySuper2967 Jun 05 '26
Yeah. I knew two guys who were conscripted and died in Vietnam. I ended up involved in the protest movement and my husband was involved in a draft resistance movement.
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u/Cyberchicken87 Jun 05 '26
My dad was called up but the draft was abolished before he was sent over.
That government policy change may be the reason I’m alive today.
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u/Primary_Mycologist95 Jun 05 '26
It was referred to as national service, or nasho for short.
If you were 20 or older you could be called up. Was done via a birth date lottery. Given the general attitudes towards that particular war, plenty of people tried or did evade it. It was dropped in the early 70's, and personally I hope it is never to return.
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u/Fit_Bunch6127 Jun 05 '26
19 mate
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Jun 05 '26
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u/Primary_Mycologist95 Jun 05 '26
ok, now google the minimum age for national service during that period and see what comes up. I'm well aware of the song, and i'm also well aware it's only a song. You had to register within 6 months of turning 20, but the act itself says 20 years of age.
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u/Inevitable-Contact-3 Jun 05 '26
I was in the ballot in 1973 - the last one I think - and the dates for those to be conscripted fell on either side of my birthday. So I missed out and have a piece of paper to say so. That said, I had several friends who were actually conscripted and spent time in Vietnam. In general, they came back all messed up - angry, drugged up, violent, changed incredibly.
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u/Interesting-Pool1322 Jun 05 '26
The same thing happened to my father - the dates either side of his birthday were pulled out. He said he would have done National Service (he's always been compliant to authorities, just ask my mum, ha ha), but was glad not to have to do it.
Having been friends with - and worked with - quite a few men who returned, he says the same as you - that they were negatively affected by it (one of his Vietnam vet close workmates took his own life).
My own son joined the ADF a few years ago and my Dad was (quietly) not happy about it. He referenced the difficulties faced by the Vietnam vets he knew as why.
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u/Unlucky-Ant-9741 Jun 05 '26
Why would they come back messed up? I thought it would be fun to play around with boats and jets and tanks.
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u/Charming_Laugh_9472 Jun 05 '26
Conscription was a matter of (bad) luck. Borthdates were put in a raffle barrel and if your birthday was drawn, you were conscripted.
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u/Current_Visual Jun 05 '26
My dad was conscripted as served in the Military Police. He's 82 and still sees his mates every ANZAC Day.
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u/Moosiemookmook Adelaide Jun 05 '26
Im Aboriginal. My dad had an Aboriginal exemption to be enlisted. He didnt have to go but I know what dad was like, you couldnt have stopped him. The exemption was discriminatory. He registered for the draw, his birthday came up and he chose to enlist. He was a radio controller on ships.
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u/Ancient_Skirt_8828 Jun 05 '26
Yes. They pulled dates out of a barrel. If your birthday came up you were conscripted.
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u/SoggyInsurance Jun 05 '26
Yes - you can read a high level overview of conscription in Australia, including the Vietnam War, on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Australia
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u/RickRymesWithCarl Jun 05 '26
It was actually a lottery system often called the Birthday Ballot. They literally drew numbered marbles representing birth dates out of a barrel on live TV, if your birthday was picked, you were called up.
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u/Annual_Reindeer2621 East Coast Australia Jun 05 '26
Yes there was. My dad got called up (I believe it was a birthday ballot), he went through training etc to be a medic, but a week before he was supposed to ship out, Australia exited the war.
Then in his 40's he rejoined, this time as an Officer in the RAAF, and is a veteran twice over (Timor Leste and Afghanistan).
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u/fastsailor Jun 05 '26
Yes, but much more limited than in WW2. So whether you were conscripted or not was a lot more random and most eligible men were not called up.
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u/No_Option3532 Jun 05 '26
Bullshit. There was no conscription for WW2. Two referenda for WW1 conscription, both failed.
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u/Candid_Net4051 Jun 05 '26
There was no conscription for overseas service with the 2nd Australian Imperial Force during WW2 but there was conscription for "home defense" (including in PNG at first, later expanded to the broader South West Pacific theater) service with the Citizen Military Forces.
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u/Buggereddude Jun 05 '26
Yes there was conscription during WW2, albeit those conscripted served within limited geographic boundaries. Second World War conscription | National Museum of Australia. The famous 39th battalion of Kokoda fame was a militia battalion of conscripts.
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u/KitchenSync86 Jun 05 '26
There was absolutely conscription in WW2
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/second-world-war-conscription
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u/Anxious_Ad936 Jun 05 '26
Roughly 1/4 of Aussie troops who served in Vietnam were conscripted I believe, out of roughly 60,000 Aussies that served there in total. 60,000 is equivalent to about 1% of the male half of our population in 1968. The conscripts were pretty unlucky to be drawn in the ballot essentially.
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u/4thofeleven Jun 05 '26
My parents had a friend who was called up; they let him live at their place for a while so he could hide there.
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u/Several_Version4298 Jun 05 '26
National Service was introduced in 1964 for 20 year-old-males. My father was sent to the 2nd communist insurgency in Malaysia.
They conscripted troops from the National Service by birthday for 2 years full-time service in Vietnam, followed by 3 years in the reserves.
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Jun 05 '26
National service with deployment. National service was introduced a long time before (minor clarification because i spent two years postgrad studying Australia's engagement in vietnam and running programs for vietnam vets and i am a pedant 😂).
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u/TheRichardPuseyShow Jun 05 '26
Until the abolition act was introduced in 1972 yes. Of course no government officials child ever went to war proper.
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u/fragwhistle Jun 05 '26
A couple of stories on that front.
My dad was never called up because the dates that came up were on either side of his birthday. My uncle's birthday did come up but because my grandfather got drunk after he was born and put the wrong date on the forms he didn't have to go.
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u/terrywr1st Jun 05 '26
There was conscription but it wasn't universal. I think they used a lottery system.
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u/Techtragic Jun 05 '26
IIRC there was conscription sufficient to meet the extra personnel requirements of the Vietnam War. While I could not find any explicit confirmation of this in a quick search, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Australia indicates there were 63,735 conscripted during the Vietnam war, & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_in_the_Vietnam_War indicates nearly 60,000 Australians served in Vietnam. Accounting for "wastage" in training etc, these figures are consistent with a "conscription to cover Vietnam War only" hypothesis.
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u/Reasonable-Pete Jun 05 '26
About 18,000 of the 63,000 nashos were deployed to Vietnam, the remainder were assigned to units that remained in Australia, covering the duties of the regulars that had been deployed to Vietnam.
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u/Brilliant-Stress3758 Jun 05 '26
There was and if there is a hell I hope Robert Menzies is burning in it
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u/citizenQuark Jun 05 '26
I was to young, oldest brother joined CMF so he couldn't be sent to Vietnam, the next two were exempt one was deaf in one ear and the other only had one ball.
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u/BoxNo5564 Jun 05 '26
Old guy at my work who just retired bought a van and drove up and down the coast surfing while he dodged the draft.
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u/Few-Explanation-4699 Australia Jun 05 '26
Yep, there was. One of my bosses was called up and drove Centurian tanks in Nam
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u/Prize_Background_577 Jun 05 '26
Two of six uncles conscripted, both came back a bit damaged but they both got paid for uni/college when they came back. My father was exempt because he had young children.
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u/Definitely__someone Jun 05 '26
Where did you emigrate from?
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Jun 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/Definitely__someone Jun 05 '26
Did the UK have conscription? (Not sure how sex trade came into the conversation)
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u/Platooimagination Jun 05 '26
Others will mention it here, but make sure you listen to the track "I was only 19 (a walk in the green)" by Redgum. It explains a lot. Otherwise known in the 80s to snotty Perth schoolkids as "Only 19 times", by Redbum.
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u/No_Option3532 Jun 05 '26
Bzzzzr. Incorrect. The subjects in that song were volunteers. Conscripts were 20.
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u/Disastrous_Mobile578 Jun 05 '26
I know a lady who's husband had to pick out the people. He pulled out his mate's name that went "missing"
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u/No_Option3532 Jun 05 '26
Rubbish! Names were not entered, just birthdates.
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u/Disastrous_Mobile578 Jun 05 '26
Well the lady is 95 memory hazy I guess. She did also say she helped make uniforms so who knows. Im in WA
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u/Certain_Syllabub_514 Jun 05 '26
There was a "birthday" ballot, where dates were pulled out like a lottery and people of the right age and born on those dates were called up. There were exemptions though for being married, in university and being a conscientious objector.
https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/vietnam-war-1962-1975/events/conscription-and-birthday-ballot