I would have liked to go to Woodstock just to see what it was all about, but I got married that weekend and went into the Army shortly after. My father, who had been an enlisted man island hopping in the Pacific theater during WWII, had always told me, that if you are going to go into the military, go in as an officer, you'll be a lot better off. I heeded his advice, and when I went to college in 1965, I took ROTC. Got commissioned and married two months apart and ended up staying in for 6 years active and another 17 reserve. Missed most of the hippie stuff - had to have a short haircut, but I did wear a field jacket and jeans everywhere. Our drills had a lot of protesters and pretty girls putting daisies in the barrels of our M-1s. Ended up marrying one and we are still together. First thing she taught our son was to make a peace sign and say "Army stinks."
No regrets at all. Even though I lost several buddies during the war, I fully understand that protesters, then and now, had/have the right to express their opinions. I was never a big fan of the VN war as I believed it was being conducted poorly and for the wrong reasons, but there's not much a LT can do except obey orders. I do remember that, when I came home, in uniform, protesters threw stuff at us and cursed us - IMHO, that was wrong. We didn't have the luxury of refusing to do things we were ordered to do - they were protesting the wrong people. BTW, I was already in the Army when they had the first draft lottery - my number was 366
. Boy, was my new bride angry.