The Morenci Marines

1960’s, nine small town boys enlist in the US Marines, not unusual even today. Small towns have often furnished a large share of enlistees in our history. But the boys from Morenci weren’t just looking for adventure or the GI Bill, they really wanted out. There’s was a company town, where the only jobs were in the mines, and there was almost no opportunity. They were a motley group; Robert was half Mexican and his father had deserted the family, while Joe was from a traditional Navajo family and his father was a medicine man. The nine could all ride horses and shoot, just the kind of young men that Teddy Roosevelt would’ve recruited 66 years earlier.

The book doesn’t mince on the issue of Vietnam as a “poor man’s war.” Local Mormons usually got deferrals so they could travel as missionaries after high school, and since they often married young, they were even further from being drafted. Single men, like the nine from Morenci, got drafted first. As for college deferment, it was out of the question for these young men with no money. The Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard were safer than the Army or the Marines, but they didn’t need as many people. Most of the troops in Vietnam came from the Army and USMC, so they recruited more heavily.

The recruiters for the service were all locals, so they knew who to look for. More important was the way they could appeal to local sensibilities. When asked why he’d prefer the Marines, one recruit said “they’re going to draft me anyway, so I’d rather serve with motivated people.”