Life is a bizarre thing.

Generally speaking, many of the events that occur are unexpected, and we can never predict what will happen next. Sure, we have some degree of influence and control over our circumstances, for example, our thoughts and reactions, but the outcome is ultimately out of our hands.

Be it a job loss, accident, divorce, army enlistment (like in this instance), or something exciting such as moving to another city or finally stumbling upon a superb apartment listing after being on the hunt for God knows how long – whatever the case may be, sometimes we get lucky and life chooses to side with us, and sometimes it just loves to kick us around.

Nobody can prepare for everything that it throws at us, but neglecting to prepare at all may place us at a significant disadvantage – so, perhaps this is why the subject of today’s story, in the end, got what he desired.

More info: Reddit

Malicious obedience isn’t always all that horrible

Image credits: New York National Guard (not the actual image)

“How my dad didn’t go to Vietnam” – this netizen turned to Reddit’s r/MaliciousCompliance community to tell a tale about his father who, in 1969, managed to con his army physical and gеt sent home after being diagnosed with tachycardia. The post garnered over 13K upvotes as well as 939 comments discussing the situation and sharing similar stories.

A tale about a man who utilized his rapid heartbeat to get out of doing his mandatory army duty

Image source: u/abiggerhammer

The person started off their story by unveiling that in 1969, their father graduated from Rice University with a 5-year master’s in chemical engineering. They continued by debunking a couple of speculations that arose in the comments section after the initial upload, saying that their dad didn’t come from an affluent background. Both of his parents taught in a public school, and he went to college on a full academic scholarship.

The author’s dad and his classmates had all been granted deferments while in school, but it was time to go before the draft board

Image source: u/abiggerhammer

Although the author’s father and his classmates had all earned deferrals during their studies, the Vietnam War was still blazing mad, and it was now time for them to appear before a draft board.

Most of the man’s buddies weren’t too worried, because they were expected at the Houston draft board, which apparently had a reputation for giving out continued deferrals “like Halloween candy.” However, because the author’s father came from Oklahoma, it meant that he was set to be seen by Tulsa’s draft board, which was much sterner.

The user’s father had applied to Stanford’s PhD program in chemical engineering and had been admitted with a full stipend; however, he first had to clear things up with the draft board.

The Stanford faculty, where the man was set to engage in a PhD program, wrote to the board asking for yet another deferral, but were denied

Image source: u/abiggerhammer

The Stanford faculty requested another deferment in a letter to the Tulsa draft board, outlining that the author’s father would be starting a research program that would be extremely helpful to the war effort – but, surprise, surprise, the representatives wrote back, claiming that the man had already benefited from the only deferment he was going to get; therefore, he was to attend the army’s physical examination center as soon as possible.

Naturally, the man was disappointed to have missed his chance to earn a PhD, but not too much, because he could now wed the user’s mother. Plus, he also had several job offers in his pocket, so he accepted a place at Exxon and tied the knot with his now-wife.

Later, the man accepted a job offer from Exxon, whose officials similarly appealed to the board in a letter and had their request for a deferral denied

Image source: u/abiggerhammer

Exxon officials then requested another deferral in a letter to the Tulsa draft board, claiming that the netizen’s father was now gainfully employed in the oil and gas industry and would be pursuing research that would be a great help to the war effort.

As was to be expected, the reps responded, stating that the man would not be granted a further deferment and that they would have to engage the authorities if he didn’t hurry up and have his army physical.

So, with nothing left to do, the author’s father went to his physical as scheduled.

With nothing else to do, the man went to his scheduled army physical – but to his surprise, he was told to return later due to an elevated heart rate

Image credits: The National Guard (not the actual image)

Image source: u/abiggerhammer

The author of the post claims that his father was always in good health and did well on most of the tests – but only until the very last one, when they checked his heart rate. It was over 100 beats per minute, and the doctors said that they couldn’t pass him with such results. However, they blamed everything on his nervousness and asked the man to come back in two weeks for re-examination.

Now, this is where the malicious compliance comes in.

For the next two weeks, the man would close his eyes and deliberately think about the most sinister things to try and drive his heart rate as high as possible

Image source: u/abiggerhammer

For the next two weeks, the man spent every free moment teaching himself something that could only be described as the polar opposite of meditation. To raise his heart rate as much as possible, he would close his eyes and imagine the most terrifying images he possibly could.

The day of the army physical finally arrived, and everything proceeded pretty much as it had before. He passed each test, but when it came time to measuring his heart rate, it was once again considerably above 100.

Upon arrival, the man was measured once again but was sent home due to being diagnosed with tachycardia

Image credits: Alex Guerrero (not the actual image)

The army doctors diagnosed him with tachycardia and scored his physical a “4-F”, which basically means “unfit for military service” for physical, mental, or moral reasons. He is now in his 70s, and except for his enigmatic heart rate, which the author of the post also inherited, he has always had excellent cardiac health and continues to do so.

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