Headscratchers / Jacob's Ladder

• Jacob, played by Tim Robbins, has a university doctorate, a wife, and three young children. That he's drafted to The Vietnam War isn't unrealistic in itself. That he's drafted as a grunt — a low-ranking, unskilled soldier — is ludicrous, and will immediately lose all the Vietnam vets in the audience.
  • Well, it's highly questionable whether anything presented about Jacob is actually true.
  • Unlikely, but not completely impossible. Jacob would just have to be an unfortunate individual and someone higher up in the military chain possibly made a mistake or had it out for him (or maybe the Government Conspiracy wanted to test the ladder on a smarter individual), which would perfectly fit the Trauma Conga Line nature of Jacob's life that follows. There was a deleted line in the original script which said:
  Stern: "Hmm. I don't suppose there are too many philosophers in the post office?"
  Jacob: "Oh, you'd be surprised. They just don't have their doctorates, that's all."
  Stern: "Last I heard you were offered a position in the West somewhere. Tuscon was it?
  Jacob: "Oh, that goes way back. They had a hiring freeze, one of those last minute things. Bad timing for me though. Middle of the war. The draft."

So Jacob was trying to find a high paying position after he got his degree, but he couldn't due to a hiring freeze, and got drafted, probably desperately needed the pay to support his family back home.