dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Milius says he attempted to join the Marine Corps and volunteer for Vietnam War service in the late 1960s, but was rejected due to a "chronic" and "sometimes disabling" case of mild asthma. "I'd have given anything to be a Marine," said Milius. "As a surfer I'd spent a lot of time hanging out with the Marines off Pendleton, and I'd had every intention of joining up … I was devastated, I felt like I'd been rejected as a human being."[7] "It was totally demoralizing," he said later. "I missed going to my war. It probably caused me to be obsessed with war ever since."[8] Milius said he was "dying to be able to… go prove myself in battle-the same as all young men long to do, if they are honest with themselves, whether it's right or wrong or even sane, which is a debate that's been going on since we left the caves. Only there was no way I could found my own unit, so I did the second best, which was to write it. Every writer wishes he could actually be doing the thing he writes about."[7] He later admitted, "I don't know how well I'd have done. I really wanted a military career, to be a general, but I had a hard time polishing shoes. And marching. I was in the ROTC once, and I hate marching … I would have been good in the Mexican Army."[6]