Champagne Units
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.
..... 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, 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.
..... 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.
147th Fighter Group
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- 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
Champagne unit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia