DovidBT….
It doesn’t matter why they VOLUNTEERED, they VOLUNTEERED. Being drafted was not a certainty. There were deferments (ask our country’s leader). I went through a year of eligibility not knowing if they’d get to my number in the draft lottery. I took that chance, I didn’t volunteer for the National Guard.
I knew plenty of young men who volunteered for National Guard as a way to pay for college. Two weeks service in the summer and one weekend a month and college was paid for. Most didn’t get called up to put down college protests and shoot fellow citizens.
In 1970 I was 18…prime draft material…how old were you? History books don’t really convey the feeling in the USA regarding the war in Viet Nam or Nixon’s incursions into Cambodia (which was the reason for the protest at Kent State).