Zerelda,

You should rent Season I. You might as well go back to the beginning. Even if you see episodes you have already seen, you'll find information you haven't had.

....that's a really great question. what did he have to gain or hide by doing that?

what was the benefit of going through all that trouble and complication?

guessing there is a reason we will find out later, in another season.

Ask any former junior enlisted from any service. Officers get better treatment. Period. From berthing to food to women. Not to mention pay. And medical treatment.

If you see the Korean War episode, you'll see that the real Don Draper would not allow Dick Whitman to stay in the same tent with him. Dick was enlisted, Don was an officer. Dick was the one who had to do all the digging while Don "supervised."

When Dick/Don comes back with the coffin, the woman on the train says, "Forget about that boy. Let's have some coffee in the dining car." (Or words to that effect.) She never would have said that on the spur of the moment if he'd been enlisted, IMHO. But he was an "officer and a gentleman" and therefore deserving of a lady's company.

After he came back, with Dick Whitman officially dead, there was no reason to bring him back to life.

Maybe Don Draper had a college degree? If so, that would help Dick Whitman save time and money as he made it up the corporate ladder.

I think he thought "good riddance" to Dick Whitman--- since all he'd known (up to the point of receiving his medal as "Don Draper") was misery. IMO

Most definitely he was purging the stain of being Dick Whitman. I imagine that every time he heard his name called in the military (and in life generally before becoming DD), it reminded him of his step-mother calling out to him with that annoying, grating voice. But as the saying goes, wherever you go, there you are. Change must come from within, not from without.

@Drink&Smoke: my Ann Margret icon has a crush on your Dino icon. :)

Drink&Smoke:
The real Don Draper was a Corps of Engineers officer. He would have had a degree, probably in Civil Engineering.

Wow, this question is like the old tootsie pop commercial with the wise old owl. How many licks to the center of a tootsie pop? The world may never know.

But a quick list would include:

Freedom from his hated family

The chance to jump ahead in getting out of the army-the real Lt. Draper was short, ie, close to being mustered out.

The college degree thing.

The officer thing.

I think that the initial decision to grab the tags was simply like his desperate attempt to run away with Rachel, an insane moment of irrational action.

Clearly he didn't go home to Draperville or wherever and try and pass himself off as Engineer Draper.

Don Draper was at the end of his enlisted tour and about to go home in 80+ days. Dick Whitman had just started his tour and felt he had made a mistake by volunteering in order to get away from something at home.

Obviously, this is something he didn't think all the way through. He made a mistake. He wanted to start over. He didn't want to go back either.

He knew Draper had an engineering degree and a short time before he was to be honorably discharged. Switching dog tags was an impulsive move that he did in order to leave the old Dick behind and really begin again with someone else's life.

Thanks to you all for your responses. Lord, I gotta get ahold of Season 1 and view each and every episode. I am so besotted with this show, I will probably do a non-stop marathon and watch all night. Can't believe I didn't catch it from the git-go. I do hope there are lots of flashbacks coming to show how he got from that Korean hellhole to his Sterling Cooper office and his life of domestic tranquillity with the beautiful Betty/Betsy/Birdie.

Oooh, that reminds me of "Three Faces of Eve," with Joanne Woodward. Maybe Betty could start splitting her personality into three different characters. That ought to give Donald Draper enough women to handle so he won't need to cheat!!

Now...
What was that thing that the old Dick Whitman didn't want to return to? No one knows---although there has been endless speculation. But, we all have rationalized that it must be something more than opportunity.

As you all agree, we will find out in future seasons. I saw a Bryan Batt interview (Sal) today where he said they are filming the final episode for this season now.
I'm too excited.

Going into the service (doesn't matter which one) has always been a great way of getting out of the life you grew up in. My dad, for example, was a high school dropout in a relatively small town. After four years in the Navy in WWII, he came out, got married to my Kansas-born mom and used the GI Bill to get his high school diploma. From there, he moved on and up until some twenty years later he retired from the Navy as an officer.

The real Don Draper was probably a WWII vet who used the GI Bill to get his degree and then because he'd signed up for the inactive reserve, got recalled into active duty for Korea. Or was in the National Guard to get them to pay for his college degree and then got called up. I don't recall that part of the Korea episode that well.

Starting out life fresh--yes.
Getting out of the war early--yes.

College degree?--Nah. All he'd have to do is claim one. All you have to do today is claim one. Almost nobody ever checks that, they don't care. Its like, "okay" and what is your experience? To me it is the most overrated accomplishment in American society. I paid for one, and no one cares.....

Don has succeeded through taste and talent. He gets paid for coming up with those special creative moments--which have nothing to do with being from proper society at all. Pete is from proper society, and has no talent!

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