Champagne unit
A champagne unit is a US military unit staffed by celebrities or people from wealthy or politically powerful families. Such units have often been part of the National Guard, and assigned to lower-risk duty inside the United States. The term is pejorative, with the connotation that such units were havens for those with connections who wished to avoid conscription into more dangerous duty while still gaining the prestige afforded in the United States to military service. Over a century earlier, such a unit was called a silk-stocking regiment after the New York's 7th Regiment, whose well-heeled members built their own armory, the Seventh Regiment Armory in the upper East side of Manhattan.
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Vietnam War
During the Vietnam war, service in the National Guard and Reserve components were seen as a way to avoid combat. Although some number of Guard and Reserve units were in fact "called-up" to combat duty in every US war since they were founded,[1] the risk was especially low in the 1970s. Only 8700 of these soldiers were sent to Vietnam, 0.3% of the personnel who served. Furthermore, a greatly disproportionate number of famous, wealthy, and/or politically connected young men received slots in the Guard or Reserves during Vietnam, including 360 professional athletes such as Bill Bradley and Nolan Ryan.[2]
Commenting on this disparity, General Colin Powell wrote in his autobiography, "I am angry that so many sons of the powerful and well placed and many professional athletes (who were probably healthier than any of us) managed to wrangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units. Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to our country."[3]
147th Fighter Group
One well known champagne unit was the Texas Air National Guard 147th Fighter Interceptor Group, at Ellington Field in Houston. During the Vietnam War many well-connected sons landed in this posting, sometimes with the help of politicians such as Ben Barnes.[4]
- Lloyd Bentsen Jr., son of Lloyd Bentsen
- George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush
- John Connally III, son of John Connally Jr.
- the son of John Tower
- James R. Bath
- seven members of the Dallas Cowboys
No More Champagne
The Total Force Policy, implemented in the aftermath of the Vietnam War by General Creighton Abrams, has eliminated the Guard's and Reserve's shelter from combat. In 2004, National Guard and Reserve units comprised 40 percent of all US forces serving in Iraq.[5] As of 2006, 270,000 Guard members (60% of the total force) had been deployed overseas for the maximum amount of time allowed by military regulations.[6]
See also
References
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