Eric Mawson

Oil and Vinegar: a Conscripted Soldier in the Vietnam War Eric Mawson

For those of us who were drafted at the height of the Vietnam War, we found ways of dealing with the moral and social dilemma a draftee was faced with when serving in the military. Not all draftees went into the infantry, some of use had office jobs to keep the paperwork going. The Army's contempt for us, and our contempt for the Army proved to be a war within a war. If M*A*S*H was to Korea, then certainly our band of RESOBS (rear echelon sons of a bitches) was to Vietnam. What and how we did to rebel against the Army led to many compromising situations. In the long run, there was no pride or espirit de corps in what did. Our focus was to survive, rebel, function, and return back home. What we did provided no honor or pride, only shame and bewilderment.