When I got home at the end of June, I had Toms New Arrivals about a month before reporting for induction, during which I was free to make other military arrangements. There were no available spots Toms Cordones Men in the National Guard or reserves. I looked into the air force, but learned I couldnt become a jet pilot because I didnt have fusion vision. I had a weak left eye, which had often tilted outward when I was very young. It had largely corrected itself, but my vision still didnt come to a single point, and apparently the consequences in flight could be severe. I also took a physical for a naval officer program but failed it, too, this time because of poor hearing, a problem I hadnt noticed and wouldnt until a decade later when I entered politics and often couldnt hear or understand people talking to me in crowds. The best option left seemed to be enrolling in law school and joining the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps at the University of Arkansas.
On July 17, I went to Fayetteville and in two hours was accepted by both. The officer in charge of the program, Colonel Eugene Holmes, told me he was taking me because I would be of greater service to the country as an officer than as a draftee. His second in command, Lieutenant Colonel Clint Jones, seemed more conservative and skeptical of me, but we had a pleasant talk about his daughter, whom I had known and liked in Washington. Joining ROTC meant that I would go on active duty after law school. Apparently, they couldnt formally enroll me until the next summer, because I had to go to summer camp before I could enter ROTC classes, but signing a letter of intent was enough for the draft board to waive my induction date and give me a 1-D Reservist classification. I had mixed feelings. I knew I had a chance to avoid Vietnam, but somebody will be getting on that bus in ten days and it may be that I should be getting on it too.