~Drafting Up Some Possibilities~

Vance finished putting some fresh hay in Maudine's stall and eyed the house as the adults finally seemed to be finished speaking with Luke about the orders that he'd been sent earlier in the afternoon. When it became clear that his aunt and uncle were preparing to head back to the cabin Vance told Coy to take the Nova back; he'd ride back with Coy's parents. Coy eyed his cousin but nodded. He knew that his cousin was giving him his out since he didn't want to be around when Vance talked to his parents about the letter that he'd gotten of his own.

After Coy took the keys and hopped in the Nova, Vance walked over to the truck that his uncle and aunt were climbing in. Coy drove the short distance to the cabin and went inside while he waited for his parents and cousin to get back from their talk.

"What a day," Coy muttered as he walked into his and Vance's room. "First Vance decides he wants to go sailin' around the world, now Luke's been drafted… How did all of this happen?"

Coy sent up a few curses that he knew danged well that neither of his parents would have approved of then threw himself on his bed and waited for the sound of the pickup pulling into the drive. At the same time he was beginning to regret his decision to not be around when Vance spoke with his parents about his decision to join the Merchant Marines. Right now, he hated not knowing what was going on or what was being said.

~DOH~

Chris pulled the truck off to the side of the road less than three minutes from the end of the drive up to the cabin in the woods and turned to face his nephew with his jaw gone slack. Both he and Helen stared at Vance as their nephew looked as if he was tempted slip out of the door that he was now pressed up against. Chris's mind was going around in circles. First he was faced with Luke receiving orders to report to Athens in ten days and now Vance was telling him and his wife that he wants to go off into some academy that will then send him off around the world doing only the Lord knows what.

When Vance continued his reasoning for applying to the Merchant Marines' Academy, Helen latched onto Vance's comment about how Jimmy and their other friends had applied to the academy were looking for ways to avoid the current draft.

"Well now that Luke has been drafted, Lord help us, you won't have to worry about that anymore. I mean, Chris, wasn't that one of the reasons why the rest of you didn't have to go to Korea? Jesse and Abner both enlisted so the rest of you were safe, right?"

Chris inhaled heavily. He knew that Helen was referring to an Act that many have misinterpreted over the years. A law that was enacted to prevent families from being wiped out by war. "Helen, it doesn't quite work that way. That law only keeps brothers from serving together under the same command. Not from serving at the same time. And no matter how close the boys all are, they are not brothers. Even Bo wouldn't be exempted from the draft despite the fact that the two were raised together." Chris eyed his nephew before asking, "Did any of the others get into the academy, too?

Vance shook his head, "Jimmy's grades weren't high enough to get in. After riding around for the summer he plans to go up to visit some family that his mother has up in Canada."

"Couldn't Vance go with Jimmy then?" Helen didn't want her boy going off anywhere but with the reality of Luke already being drafted all she could imagine was the worst case scenario; Vance being drafted as well come this time next year.

Chris wiped his hand over his face as he tried to think. He didn't like the idea of Vance dodging the draft but he didn't like the idea of him being sent off into the jungles of Vietnam either. Of course he also knew that during war-time even the Merchant Marines weren't perfectly safe.

Chris looked back over at Vance. It was clear that he had put in an awful lot of thought into his decision to enroll at the academy; he couldn't see how he could tell his nephew that he didn't approve of his decision that Vance had clearly pondered over so carefully.

Dukes have never been the kind to run from the service of their country. There had been a Duke in every confrontation since the Revolutionary War. And now it seemed that it would be Luke and Vance's turn to serve in whatever capacity they are destined to fulfill. Luke wasn't given a choice in the matter but Vance has been. And it seems that he has chosen to join the Merchant Marines.

~DOH~

Coy looked at the clock and wondered just how long it took for Vance to tell his parents about his decision to run off to the Merchant Marines. Coy then went into the kitchen to see if he could find any leftovers to warm up. The family had planned to spend the whole day over at the main farmhouse which meant that nothing had been laid out for supper tonight.

Coy was just pulling out some cold roast beef from the refrigerator when he heard the family pickup pull up outside of the cabin. When the door opened Coy looked up and saw by the look in his mother's eyes that Vance had told her and his father. Coy lowered his eyes since he knew that she'd be able to see that he already knew what he'd planned to tell them if she looked him in the eye.

Helen began to work on automatic pilot as she thought about the fact that she didn't want the boys to see the obvious pain that filled her eyes. She took the roast from her son and started to get supper together. Her husband seemed to agree with Vance's decision to go off to the academy up in New York. She couldn't understand why Chris hadn't jumped at the idea of allowing Vance to stay safe off with his friend Jimmy. The idea of Vance instead going off into the Merchant Marines, civilian or not she knew that it could be dangerous, shook Helen to the core.

Coy stepped back to let his mother handle the food and then turned back to see Vance walking off to their shared bedroom. Coy followed in behind him and closed the door behind him and gave Vance a questioning look.

"So?"

"So what?" Vance replied as he flopped on his bed to wait on for supper.

"What did they say?"

Coy leaned against the door as he waited for Vance to tell him of his conversation with the adults in the other room. He was mildly surprised that his mother had jumped on the idea of Vance going up to Canada with Jimmy but he knew just like his father that Vance wouldn't have done that even if he hadn't been accepted into the academy.

When Vance explained that he would still take the road trip over the summer with Jimmy, Coy wished that he could go, too. Instead he was going to help with his Uncle Elbert's hog farm. Of course, Coy knew that it wouldn't have been possible in any case. The trip would end with Vance in Kings Point, New York and with Jimmy up in Canada. That meant that if Coy went he'd have to find a way back home before the harvest began and as well as before school started back up.

"So that's it? You're goin'."

Vance nodded. He knew that his cousin would take this badly; it was probably being made even worse now with Luke going off, too. "At least after I finish at the academy I'll be able to come back on leave from time to time. It'll be just like I went off to college instead. You won't have to worry about me."

Coy eyed his cousin. Oh he'll still worry about him; even if he'll be a bit more worried about Luke for now since he had no idea where he'll be going off to. He prayed that Luke was either rejected or sent to some place safe; anywhere but Vietnam.

~DOH~

Over the course of the next week and a half, the Dukes spent their days in a haze. Especially after the rest of the family learned of Vance's plan to enroll at the Academy for the Merchant Marines. In the ten days that led up to Luke reporting to the Draft Board in Athens, Vance replied to the letter from the Academy and began making preparations for his road trip with his friends that would end with him in New York and Chris made arrangements to head to his wife's brother's hog farm (though he had serious reservations about leaving his brother behind in Hazzard to deal with the farm without their oldest nephew to help out).

The night before Luke was to drive out with Jesse to Athens, Chris and Helen discussed the change in the situation in Hazzard since the two of them had originally made their plans to head to Elbert's farm. At the end of their discussion, Chris called Coy in and asked him if he would rather stay in Hazzard for the summer to help with the chores that would need to be handled in Luke's impending absence or if he'd still like to go to Elbert's to help out. Chris knew that his son's help would be equally needed in either place so he figured that he might as well as give Coy the option of where he'd rather stay for the next few months.

Coy was surprised when his father gave him the choice of staying in Hazzard for the summer. He didn't like the reason behind his new-found freedom in making the decision for himself but he did get a slight charge when his father trusted him to make up his own mind. Coy actually hadn't liked the prospect of spending his summer feeding and cleaning up after hogs but at the same time he knew that he was needed at his Uncle Elbert's farm. At least Jesse would still have Jebb and Bo to help out with the crops and they were all supposed to be back in time for the first harvest since he would have to be back for school.

In the end, Coy decided that when his parents went up into the mountains to help out at the hog farm he would go with them; all the while praying that Luke would be dismissed from service even if Vance was leaving regardless. That meant that he was packing for the trip that he and his parents would leave out tomorrow after Jesse and Luke returned from Athens.

Coy looked around the room and tried to figure out if he forgot anything that he might need over the summer. Meanwhile Vance was doing the same thing, though his trip would be for a completely different reason. He worried about taking too much stuff with him that he wouldn't need once he got up to New York but at the same time he didn't want to take too little. He didn't know if he would be issued a uniform or not while he was taking classes. In the end he figured that he'd just pack three changes of clothes. Enough to make sure that he had clean clothes but not so much with him that it would take up too much room in the car on the way up nor too much room once he got to the academy.

Vance was nearly finished with putting his last pair of jeans into his suitcase when he heard Coy mutter under his breath in frustration. Vance knew that Coy, like he, was wondering how things were going with Luke in Athens. They both wondered if he would be returning with their Uncle Jesse or if he would be shipped directly out to only the Lord knows where. Then on top of that Vance knew that Coy was worried about him as well. Vance felt bad that he was causing so many folks worry about him at the same time that there was so much uncertainty about Luke's future.

"Hey," Vance waited for Coy to look up before he continued, "It'll be alright."

Coy gave a weak smile to his older cousin and nodded. After all, right now he had no choice but to believe it.

~DOH~

Luke left his uncle back in the waiting area while wishing that he could ask him to come with him; just the same way he had anytime he had been afraid as a child before a physical at Doc Appleby's. This was very different. He'd been ordered to come here because he was considered a grown man and his country had need of more men to fight in a war on the other side of the world. He couldn't ask his uncle to keep all of the scary things of the world away any longer. He had to face this alone.

Luke waited in the line to go into yet another waiting room filled with men. He wondered if each man in this room would be drafted or if the military would only take a select few. Luke hoped that the Duke Luck would perhaps hold out for him and even if he was taken that just maybe he would be chosen for service anywhere other than Vietnam. After all, there were bases all over the world. He could go to Europe, South America, the Middle East, islands in the Atlantic Ocean… Anywhere but Vietnam. The odds were in his favor weren't they?

Luke was given a stack of papers to fill out while he waited for his interview. By the time he finished the paperwork he swore that his hand was so cramped that he couldn't sign his name another time. Nearly three hours after first being herded into the waiting room, Luke heard his name and followed the sharply dressed man whose rank Luke couldn't tell (though he had a sneaky suspicion that was about to change). He was then ushered into an office where yet another man waited behind a desk. Luke handed over his papers to him and was motioned to take a seat across from officer. Luke did his best to not squirm under the scrutiny; especially when the questions began.

"I see that you are listed as single, no children. Is that correct?"

"Yes sir." Of course he'd be single without any kids yet. He'd only been out of school for a year, Luke thought to himself.

After skimming a few more questions that Luke had answered while waiting for his name to be called the officer asked another question without looking up, "I see you marked that your parents are deceased. Did either of them die due to military service?"

"No sir, they were killed in a hospital fire."

"Civilian hospital?"

"Yes sir."

"I see." Again the man returned to looking through the stack of papers. "It says here that you haven't been attending college in the last year since you've been out of high school. Any plans to enroll in the future?"

"Uh…" What did that have to do with being called here? "No sir. I work on the family farm. I don't need to go off to college to know when to plant the corn."

The man once more continued to read through the paperwork without looking up at the young man in the office. He confirmed several more answers that Luke had filled in on the papers that were now being perused by the officer. Luke waited impatiently for the man to ask his questions and finished going through his papers.

Finally, the interview was over and Luke was sent into yet another room that was filled with young men that were going through various stages of being put through a physical to determine readiness for service. Luke was ordered to strip to his shorts and joined the line of men and by the end of the process Luke felt like he'd been inspected like a bull fresh from the market. Once he was finished with the physical he got dressed and was told that he could expect his orders in the mail which would tell him where he would be sent to begin his basic training in four to six weeks; in addition to what branch he would be going into. Luke then headed back out to the room that he'd left his uncle hours ago when they'd first arrived at the building that the Draft Board was in.

"How'd it go?" Jesse stood up to join Luke as he came through the door.

"It's over for now," Luke shrugged. "They said I can go home for now. I'll get orders in the mail to tell me where to go and when." Luke glanced around at the other men that had yet to be processed as he and Jesse made their way to the exit.

"You look a bit confused. Is there something else wrong?"

"I guess I didn't know what to expect…I didn't think that I'd be goin' back to the farm today," Luke admitted.

Jesse nodded. When he had enlisted he had been unsure of the whole process, too. He was uncertain of the actual drafting process; unsure if it would be all that different than enlisting.

"Speakin' of which, let's head on home. I'm sure that if you didn't think that you'd be heading home then Bo and the others probably thought the same thing."

"Yes sir," Luke then got in the truck and rode the long way back to Hazzard. He had faced the day in a bit of a haze and now that it was over he wasn't sure how he felt about it. The entire last ten days seemed like one long nightmare and it still wasn't over.

Long after the sun went down Luke and Jesse pulled up the farm's drive and found that Bo and Daisy were waiting up for them. Jesse saw his brother's truck and Vance's car parked in front of the family homestead. That meant that everyone was waiting to learn just what all happened today in Athens despite the fact that the others should have gone to bed hours ago. Jesse hadn't even put the truck in park before the kitchen screen door swung open as Bo burst through it. When he saw that Luke was in the truck he let out a holler; if Luke was back at the farm then the Army must have decided not to take him after all.

A/N

In my research on the draft, I've come across conflicting reports on just what all the process entailed so I'll be combining the information from dozens of websites and blogs written by men that went to Vietnam. The rest that either varied greatly or was not covered in the sites that I've read through is purely fictional but written as close to being historically accurate as possible.