I don’t have any respect at all for the scum-bags who went to Canada to avoid the draft or to avoid doing their fair share.

In this remark, Ermey expresses a hardline, duty-centered view of military service and civic obligation, condemning those who left the United States during the Vietnam era to evade conscription. The language (“scum-bags,” “fair share”) frames draft avoidance not as conscientious dissent but as a moral failure and an unequal shifting of risk onto others who served. Coming from a former Marine and public figure closely associated with martial discipline, the statement also reflects a broader cultural divide over Vietnam: whether refusal to serve was principled resistance or abandonment of communal responsibility. Its significance lies in how it encapsulates a veteran’s resentment and the enduring controversy over draft evasion.