Freedom racing, Vietnam, and social activism among young Americans left the 1960s with a very profound effect on our society. Without a doubt, the decade of the 1960s was one of the most controversial in American history. During this time of social unrest, anti-war attitudes were gaining prevalence in a peace-loving subculture, and individuals began to question certain aspects of politics and government authority. This was the decade of peace and war, of optimism and desperation, of cultural turbulence and frustration. Vietnam Arguably, no conflict during this era affected the American social structure more profoundly than the Vietnam War. While a trip to Vietnam lasted on average only about a year, the physical, economic, and psychological effects of the war proved so phenomenal that they would be forever imprinted in the minds of both the American soldiers who fought and all the Americans of military age who feared that they would go later. During the Vietnam War, more than twenty-six million men reached the age of eligibility for the draft, of which 2.15 million were sent to Vietnam. The Army assembled for the Vietnam War was significantly younger than any other American Army, with the average age of soldiers ranging from seventeen to twenty-one. There were many feelings of animosity towards the war and the draft, especially from the soldiers themselves. Corpsman Douglas Anderson represented popular feelings of animosity toward war, especially toward the youngest of soldiers fighting when he was quoted as saying, "If your parents signed certain kinds of papers, you could get there and die at seventeen." In his words, it wasn't simply about going over there at seventeen to fight for your country. It was more about leaving behind the safety and security of the home you were used to, with little expectation of returning. At a time when these "boys" should have been having fun, they were burdened with the trepidation of being drafted. Those who were not drafted to fight overseas were left to fight on the home front in an effort to bring about the American Soldiers Come Home. University students played an important role in the anti-war movement, as the soldiers fighting in the war were their peers to whom they could recount their hardships up close. During this time many universities closed completely while students and faculty voiced their opinions.