Oral+History+Q&A

Interview Subject- Greg Bultman (Matt's Father) ** 
 * Topic- The Vietnam War Protest


 * Questions and Answers:**

**1. How did you feel at the beginning of the war? Why?** Because I was young the beginning of the war did not make much of an impression on me. That changed when I attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Certainly. I had many friends and fellow students that served in the military. Also in my senior year in college my student deferment ran out but the military lottery was favorable for me. Still, there were many veterans as well as some conscientious objectors that I knew well while I was in college. after college I had a roommate who was a green beret and served in Vietnam.
 * 2. Did you ever reflect on what the soldiers were going through in the war?**

In my senior year of college my student deferment ran out and I was drafted just at the time of the lottery. I received a high number in the lottery and was excluded from the draft.
 * 3. How close were you to being drafted? How did you feel about that?**

The war was not popular. On campus there were constant demonstrations and a significant military presence. Everybody talked about the war. All my friends who served in Vietnam talked about the war.
 * 4. Had the war affected you personally? Did your friends, who came back from fighting, ever talk to you about the war?**

When I was in college protests where frequent and common. We saw them all the time.
 * 5. Have you gone to a protest? See a protest? Why did you go?**

To this day I don't understand why there was a Vietnam war. Our country was never attacked like Pearl Harbor or 9-11. Our government never clearly explained why our soldiers had to fight this war.
 * 6. Did you think the war was morally wrong? Did you think it was necessary to go to war?**

Yes!
 * 7. In college, was the war a large part of the student culture?**

Yes! Classes were disrupted by potentially violent radicals. Some were students. Some were not. I felt the war was wrong but I didn't believe violence helped the problem.
 * 8. Were sides drawn in classes and friends because of the war? What did you believe?**

There were times when on my way home from work I could smell the pepper gas used to disperse the radical students. This always made me wonder about human motives. And it made me a believer in term limits for elected government officials.
 * 9. Do you think the war impacted your feelings about the government, society, and politics?**