Everyone likes to bash millennials. We’re spoiled, entitled, and hopelessly glued to our smartphones. We demand participation trophies, can’t find jobs, and live with our parents until we’re 30. You know the punchlines by now.
But is the millennial hate justified? Have we dropped the generational baton, or was it a previous generation, the so-called baby boomers, who actually ruined everything?
That’s the argument Bruce Gibney makes in his book A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America. The boomers, according to Gibney, have committed “generational plunder,” pillaging the nation’s economy, repeatedly cutting their own taxes, financing two wars with deficits, ignoring climate change, presiding over the death of America’s manufacturing core, and leaving future generations to clean up the mess they created.
I want to believe, but the cynical part of me thinks enough time is going to pass and eventually the "millenials" are going to become the asshole generation. Simply because the environment is going to get a whole lot worse, and there are right-wing trolls among the young too. New humans are going to grow up and see climate change nightmares, resource shortages, possibly an economy that has slowed to a crawl. And we'll say there was nothing I could do about it.
The chapter is about the fact that the draft wasn't nearly as consequential in practice as it was in theory and that the perception of Vietnam veterans is different from the reality. 25% (648,500) of total forces in country were draftees. (66% of U.S. armed forces members were drafted during WWII.) Draftees accounted for 30.4% (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam. Reservists killed: 5,977. National Guard: 6,140 served; 101 died. Total draftees (1965-73): 1,728,344. Actually served in Vietnam: 38% Marine Corps draft: 42,633. Last man drafted: June 30, 1973. Race and Ethnic Background 88.4% of the men who actually served in Vietnam were Caucasian; 10.6% (275,000) were black; 1% belonged to other races. 86.3% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasian (includes Hispanics); 12.5% (7,241) were black; 1.2% belonged to other races. 170,000 Hispanics served in Vietnam; 3,070 (5.2% of total) died there. 70% of enlisted men killed were of Northwest European descent. 86.8% of the men who were killed as a result of hostile action were Caucasian; 12.1% (5,711) were black; 1.1% belonged to other races. 14.6% (1,530) of non-combat deaths were among blacks. 34% of blacks who enlisted volunteered for the combat arms. Overall, blacks suffered 12.5% of the deaths in Vietnam at a time when the percentage of blacks of military age was 13.5% of the total population. Religion of Dead: Protestant -- 64.4%; Catholic -- 28.9%; other/none --6.7%. Socio-Economic Status 76% of the men sent to Vietnam were from lower middle/working class backgrounds. Three-fourths had family incomes above the poverty level; 50% were from middle income backgrounds. Draftees vs. Volunteers: