If Max burned his draft card...?

He didn't burn it in front of the law or any government officials. How were they to know?



"Oh, my God. Bear is driving! How can that be?!"

This was actually a very popular form of protest beginning in 1965 with David J. Miller. At first it may have been a big deal, but I'm sure by this late in the war(when the film was set) there was little or no consequence to burning the cards. I think perhaps the bigger problem for the military and government were people evading by feigning mental/physical ailments, lying about drug use or sexuality, or leaving the country.

Like the previous poster said, he did not burn it in front of any officials, and he did show up to the induction center, failed to make a compelling argument for why he should not be allowed in the army, and served his time, so essentially no harm no foul.

First of all, the "card" they gave me was a standard size page (8-1/2 by 11) folded down to a size that would finally cram in to your wallet leaving a significant lump (typical government operation). Printed right on the stupid thing was words to the effect of, "You must have this on your person at all times". OK, after going through the shower a few times it turned into a piece of moldy crap. Yeah, sure, I'll carry this thing around for the next 17 years of my life (NOT).

A draft letter was, "The United States Marines is pleased to inform you that you have been select to become a US Marine. Please report to <insert induction center> by <insert date> for induction. Upon receipt of such a letter most of guys, wishing to avoid the Marines, would head straight for the USAF and enlist.

The fact is each of the recruitment officers had a quota, goal, target, call it what you will, to meet. So the Sgt sitting there in the recruitment center didn't give a rat's ass if you had your card, had already received a letter or not. Just so long as you sign his form, passed the physical, and then they had you.

And, no, they'd not let you get out of going into the Army (Navy et.al.) by using some lame excuse of, "uh, I burnt my card". They wanted you in the military, not prison. Once in they had numerous ways of "correcting" slackers. Peer-pressure was effective - if you didn't do as you were told, everyone in the unit got to do pushups - except you. You got to sit in the cool shade and watch. Now, no one was your friend. Conform or die.

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