Draftee

[Subdeacon Joe]

 

 

[Eyesa Horg]

My lottery number came up 14 and they ended the draft a few months later.

[Choctaw Jack]

My lottery number , in 1972, was 365 (out of 366), and being extremely near-sighted and flat footed I wasn't a good bet to be drafted.

But it didn't keep me from sweating it for a while.

Choctaw

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

My number in the ‘72 draft was 34. They said, “We want you, come on down…!”

[Eyesa Horg]

1 hour ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

My number in the ‘72 draft was 34. They said, “We want you, come on down…!”

Wonder how I avoided it with a 14. Wow!

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

1 hour ago, Eyesa Horg said:

Wonder how I avoided it with a 14. Wow!

Interesting. They told me they called up one to one-hundred - or so I recall. That was a long time ago. 

[Eyesa Horg]

Odd, very odd 🤔

[Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L]

The draft ended in January the year I turned 18 in April and graduated high school after that.

[Alpo]

As a good little boy, I went down maybe two days after my 18th birthday and signed up. They told me my classification was 1H. One holding.

 

November 73. I was not aware they had canceled the draft. I was quite happy to find that out. Although, as blind as I was, I probably would not have been accepted. Luckily I never had to find out.

[Subdeacon Joe]

I fell into the "Men born from March 29, 1957 through December 31, 1959, were not required to register with the Selective Service System because the registration program was suspended when they would have reached age 18." category. 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

I registered right after my 18th birthday in 1971. Shortly after I was immediately classified One A as they had just stopped giving student deferments - One S - for my lottery class, even though I was enrolled in college. 
 

Adding on: As I recall, young men were still required to register, even tho the draft had been suspended. My sons had to register in the late 90’s-2000’s though the draft was gone. 
 

[Alpo]

1 hour ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

As I recall, young men were still required to register, even tho the draft had been suspended

My memory says that also.

 

I remember television commercials well into the 90s telling 18 year old boys they had to go register. Even though the draft was gone, they still had to go register. "It's the law!"

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 hour ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

Adding on: As I recall, young men were still required to register, even tho the draft had been suspended. My sons had to register in the late 90’s-2000’s though the draft was gone. 

 

""Men born from March 29, 1957 through December 31, 1959, were not required to register with the Selective Service System because the registration program was suspended when they would have reached age 18."

 

Is straight off the Selective Service website. 

 

It continues,  "The requirement to register with Selective Service was reinstated in 1980, but only for men born January 1, 1960, or later."

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Living in the Kappa Phi Delta house while a student at San Francisco State College.  Bunch of us gathered about the TV, watching the drawing - the second year off the lottery, as I recall.  My number was 6.  Six.  VI.  Шесть.  O Poop!  And I wasn't taking enough classes that semester to qualify for a student deferment!

 

So, as soon as possible, I headed down to the Air Force recruiting office and signed up; something I'd long dreamed of anyway.  At the appointed date and time, I reported to Hamilton AFB in Marin County for my pre-induction physical.  Which I flunked.

 

"Kid," sez the doctor - a Major - "The Air Force cannot accept you.  You have a heart murmer!  No, you're not likely to drop dead and might even out-grow it, but we won't take you."

 

After I semi-recovered from the shock, I sighed and said "Well... at least I guess I won't need to worry about being drafted now."

 

The Major put a kind hand on my shoulder, gave me a sorrowful look, and said, "Son, I hate to tell you this, but the Army has a saying about heart murmers:  if ya got one, they'll put you in the artillery or where the shooting's heaviest so you can't hear it."

 

"Waitaminnit!  You mean, the government thinks I'm not healthy enough to do something technical, but I'm healthy enough to shoulder a pack, slog through rice paddies, and get shot at?  And likely hit??"

 

"Yup."

 

To make a much longer story much shorter, I did submit an application for a student deferment.  Surprisingly, a couple weeks later, I received an envelope from my draft board.  With trepidation, I opened the envelope - and was delightfully shocked to see it contained a new draft card... I had been reclassified from I-A to II-S.  My student deferment had been approved!

 

The next night on the evening news it was announced that Nixon had decreed that no new student deferments would be granted.

 

It was a squeaker, but I made it under the wire!    

 

                     

 

 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I remember the night of the lotttery. Guys a few doors down in the dorm had a tv and their door was open. guys kept dropping by. I drew #345. I was 2A at the time so I didn't care.

[watab kid]

yup , i remember that night , everyone in the dorm watching in the community rom mat the end of the hall , those of us that dropped our deferment and went 1A , i did it because i was tierd of school and felt i might find my place with those that went in before me - it was a calculated risk so to speak that i thought was staclked against me , 

 

i ended up with a number over 300 and decided it was a sign that i needed to stay in school - im still 1H  to this day , the holding pattern subgect to call up that those of us that went in dropping our deferments got put in , they can call me up whenever they want - but if they do they get an old man set in his ways that is far from moldable at this point , they get an old man thats since been beaten physically by life and age , arthritis,  to the point that he cant reliably pick things up and hold them not heft a great weight anymore , they get a guy that doesnt sleep well , has moments of forgetfulness and remembers in the wee hours of the morning , 

 

i know ill remain 1H till i die - got no problem withy that - i just dont think the war department wants the problem i now present to them , 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

40 minutes ago, watab kid said:

yup , i remember that night , everyone in the dorm watching in the community rom mat the end of the hall , those of us that dropped our deferment and went 1A , i did it because i was tierd of school and felt i might find my place with those that went in before me - it was a calculated risk so to speak that i thought was staclked against me , 

 

i ended up with a number over 300 and decided it was a sign that i needed to stay in school - im still 1H  to this day , the holding pattern subgect to call up that those of us that went in dropping our deferments got put in , they can call me up whenever they want - but if they do they get an old man set in his ways that is far from moldable at this point , they get an old man thats since been beaten physically by life and age , arthritis,  to the point that he cant reliably pick things up and hold them not heft a great weight anymore , they get a guy that doesnt sleep well , has moments of forgetfulness and remembers in the wee hours of the morning , 

 

i know ill remain 1H till i die - got no problem withy that - i just dont think the war department wants the problem i now present to them , 

but can you do twenty pushups?

[Grumpy Old Man]

My # was 37. I had college deferment til I left in'71. I beat the draft, I enlisted.

[Capt. R. Hugh Kidnme]

10 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

Odd, very odd 🤔

Remember, it's the gubmint that was running the draft. So, not even close to odd. More like the norm.

[Blackwater 53393]

I was #128 in that lottery! I decided, after high school, that I’d just go down and sign up because you were supposed to get your choice of services if you volunteered!  My dad was Air Force, so…

 

Earlier in the spring, I’d been playing softball in a field near my house. I was sliding into second base and cut my right leg on a broken glass bottle neck and it required several stitches.

 

I joined the line to get processed and all went well until I got to the “Drop yer drawers and step through the door” place in the line.

 

I did as I was told and stepped on through, at which point a guy in a white coat told me to get dressed and said, “We can’t use you!”

 

I asked why and he pointed at my leg and said that I’d obviously had knee surgery and that, “We make enough medical issues of our own! We don’t take ones that are already there!” 
 

I explained that it was just a superficial cut and that my knee was quite sound, but he said it looked like knee surgery to him and for me to get out of there! 
 

It was 1971 and I figure he thought he’d sent enough of us off to the meat grinder and that he’d spare as many as he could.

 

I received a new selective service card with a classification of 4Y!  I asked a recruiter what that meant and he said that I would be called to service after the women and children were used up.

 

NOTE: I used to feel bad about it because many of my friends served, but in the years that followed, I found that having tried to enlist was enough in the eyes of those friends.  I can live with that…

 

 

[Pat Riot]

14 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

Wonder how I avoided it with a 14. Wow!

All the other 14’s went. They just didn’t tell you. 

They thought they were punishing you. 
 

Joke’s on them, huh? 

[Eyesa Horg]

At the time I was just fine with the draft ending my not getting called.

As I got older I've had times where I've thought I missed out on something I should have done. But considering the arse aches I have now, it was probably just as well. Likely would have never met and married my Lady. 

[Choctaw Jack]

IIRC, the number of conscripts needed varied from month to month. 

If the powers that be decided they needed more new recruits,  they could call up as many as it took to fill their "quota" for that month.

So, a higher number didn't necessarily guarantee you were safe, it just meant you were less likely to be called.

[Three Foot Johnson]

The lottery continued through '76, although the draft had been discontinued in '73. In that last year, '76, I was #366... but I was already halfway through the first four years of my Navy enlistment by that time.

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

I wasn't planning on going to college. I was graduating HS in June 68. Then the Tet Offensive hit....hard. My dad a WW2 vet said I needed to do whatever to stay out of that war. Our families done enough. Him and his 3 brothers and my mom's 2 brothers all served and came home. I signed up for Junior college Architecture classes. Got my student deferment. Stayed the course with college. Transferring to a University. My lottery number was 272. I dropped my 2S and went 1A. A year latter I got he get out of jail free letter. I went on to graduate, got my license to practice. Spent 44 years doing what I enjoyed. The draft gave me a direction and a career. I don't consider myself a draft dogger. Just a guy who let the system figure out what was going to happen.

[Yul Lose]

Went to see the recruiter just before graduation in 1973 and he noticed my spinal scoliosis right away. That was the end of my military aspirations.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

I worked with a fella once who'd had a II-A "Occupational Deferment," as he was on active duty as a Merchant Marine sailor.

 

In fact, he was on on a ship offloading military supplies in the Port of Saigon, when he received an urgent message that he had to return home.  He was given emergency leave, got on an airplane, and two days later walked into his mom's house expecting bad news.  He got it... but not what he expected: a draft notice!  

 

Six months later, he was back in Saigon - as an Army MP!  

[watab kid]

19 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

but can you do twenty pushups?

NOPE - i can do a few but that sorta depends on whgat hurts on that day - the last couple days we got snow and i was shoveling so probably one or maybe two