Brothers Steve and Pete Goodrich in conversation about their choices regarding service during wartime.

Click here to view the recording of this program https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFbaw0LvddY&t=652s

Steve and Pete Goodrich were raised on the stories of their father, uncles and grandfathers who served during wars across the decades. However, coming of age during the Viet Nam and late Cold War eras, each faced a different world and different considerations regarding service than his brother, and their family veterans. Hear from oldest brother Steve about his decision to seek conscientious objector status and what his national service looked like during the Viet Nam war, and from youngest brother, Pete, about his choice to pursue a career in the armed services.

Steve turned 18 in 1968, at the height of the Viet Nam war. Though not a Quaker, he began college at a Quaker school, where he was involved in the peace movement. He was drafted after he left college in his junior year. After completing his alternative service he returned to school and finished a degree at Boise State. He’s retired after successive careers as a National Park Service ranger, an attorney, and a cement manufacturing manager. Steve and his wife Roxanne have two daughters (one of whom chose to serve in the Army) and young grandchildren, who all love to spend time outdoors as much as he does.

A chance encounter with a recruiting brochure from the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) led Pete, as a somewhat directionless high school graduate, into what became a 30-year career as a Regular Army, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve officer. In between military deployments for training and overseas wartime duty, Pete pursued careers as a museum exhibits manager, public school teacher, and alternative education school administrator. He settled down in Central Oregon in 1999 with his wife, Liz, and their two sons, Max and Owen. He retired from military service in 2015 and will retire from public education later this year.


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