I am a big Elvis fan...having said that, what is your thoughts on Elvis being drafted at the height of his career?

1SG Brian Adams — Sun, 12 Jul 2020 11:12:43 -0400

I admire Elvis for excepting the draft and entering the U.S. Army with NO complaints and has often stated that he had some of his most fond memories with fellow Soldiers in Germany.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Jul 12 at 2020 1:05 PM

CAPT Kevin B. — Sun, 12 Jul 2020 13:05:51 -0400

When the Army found out Elvis was drafted, they likely collectively said Oh Sh_t. Now what do we do with him? He'll be high maintenance because of everything and everyone around him. How do we minimize the blast perimeter? If there was a clear way to DQ him, that would have been likely. But then the Army would lose a PR opportunity. When you take a look at his assignment after boot, it's a quiet self contained solution without being punitive in the press, like Keflavik, or in any danger, like the DMZ. We weren't in any declared war or police action then, so assigning him was easy. Elvis quietly went with the flow. Also remember the Germany of his time was vastly different than now. That was when you were required to sweep your sidewalk weekly. Elvis was compliant because that's what you did post WW2 and Korea when it came to the military. I don't think he gave it a second thought. Although WikiCrap says the Colonel was shrewd enough to go for the time away as an image builder, the cash cow wasn't producing much milk during that time. I'd suspect some grudging support on that one. I'm sure the Colonel being a control freak wasn't happy then.