I think my post title says it all. Ok he was big, stupid, and a good shot. Perfect cannon fodder. I assume it never came up because it wasnt' that "deeeep" of a show. (how come gomer pyle never went to war??) Gomer, Jethro, and Forest what a combo.

anyone?

newbie first post.....:wave:

I can just imagine Gomer Pyle, Jethro Bodine and Forrest Gump in Sgt. Carter's
platoon. He would have begged for a transfer to ... anywhere else!

Sgt. Carter would have gone over to the VC.

Sgt. Carter would have gone over to the VC.

I heard on some Gomer Pyle biography deal. that they did not want it to be that kind of show. They even mentioned that had it been real Gomer would have gone to Vietnam. As a kid I never paid any attention but as an adult I'm like wait a min why???????

I'm reminded of what Phil Silvers said regarding his classic sitcom of the 1950s
(You'll Never Get Rich, a.k.a. The Phil Silvers Show and still later
under the syndicated title Sergeant Bilko).

He told The New York Times: "The Pentagon loved the show, and enlistments trebled. These young guys thought that's what army life was
really like. I feel guilty about that, about the waste. A show like Bilko
could never go now . Things are too serious; there would not be a great deal of enlistment. We're in a war we shouldn't be in, and it's a little
vicious. Calley and those black market guys and those guys on pot ... it's much more vicious now. Now it isn't [I]funny."
[Quoted in TV's Top Comedians, by David Dachs (1973)]

Apparently the Army never needed Jethro. He did enlist in the Jethro in the reserve episode, but was never called to active duty in the years to follow.

Mr. Drysdale probably pulled a few strings with the draft board as well.

I can just imagine Gomer Pyle, Jethro Bodine and Forrest Gump in Sgt. Carter's
platoon. He would have begged for a transfer to ... anywhere else!

:lol: :lol:

he was never drafted for the same reasons that there were never any blacks in Mayberry and Gomer Pyle never went to war-even though we were embroiled in one at the time.

Urban myth alert. There were blacks in Mayberry.

then how come they never showed any??? (at least in the black and white episodes)

You see them in the background fairly regularly. One instance I can think of is "Citizen's Arrest" where a black woman is standing right behind Andy as he's trying to break up the Barney-Gomer argument.

And also, Opie's football coach was black.

Apparently the Army never needed Jethro. He did enlist in the Jethro in the reserve episode, but was never called to active duty in the years to follow.


If I recall, if you were in school you could get out of it. Since Jethro barely finished the 6th grade maybe by saying he was still in school he got out of it?? Works for me :crazy:

Quite simply, they didn't want to write the character of Jethro out of the show.

You see them in the background fairly regularly. One instance I can think of is "Citizen's Arrest" where a black woman is standing right behind Andy as he's trying to break up the Barney-Gomer argument.

And also, Opie's football coach was black.


There is also a black lady in the episode where Barney thought the new deputy was trying to steal his job. She is there when Barney's car horn gets stuck.

I can just imagine Gomer Pyle, Jethro Bodine and Forrest Gump in Sgt. Carter's
platoon. He would have begged for a transfer to ... anywhere else!
In the 6th seson a psychiatrist was talking to Jethro and thought he was prending to be that stupid to get out of the army. I don't remember the episode but maybe when they find out he really was that stupid, they kept him out of the service.

I wasn't alive in that time, but not EVERY man was drafted were they?

And also Jethro was going to school, and I thought if you were in school you couldn't be drafted.