What was (might have been) your draft lottery number?

[TCups]

see:  http://www.landscaper.net/draft70-72.htm#Lottery%20Held%20February%202,%201972

See also: http://www.landscaper.net/timelin.htm#time%20line

In 1970, 1971, 1972, it was the luck of the draw for those of us born in the USA in 1951, 1952 and 1953

Born 2/1/1953, I was #112.  The lotto for men born in 1953 was on Feb 2, 1972.  The Paris Peace talks, were hopeless and ended late in 1972 (Thanks for your assistance there, too, John Kerry and Jane Fonda).  But in December 1972, Operation Linebacker II -- B-52 bombing of North Vietnam, including Hanoi, resumed in earnest and "strongly encouraged" the Communists to return to the negotiations. In January 1973, President Nixon, fulfilling his 1968 campaign promise, announced a negotiated agreement "to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and S.E. Asia."  Well, at least the war and the draft ended.  I can't say there was much peace and honor that followed, especially for our Vietnam Veterans, but I do think Nixon had the right strategy for "negotiation" (Please take note, President Obama).  But looking back, historically, it was President Nixon who at least had the brass to do what it took to end the war Eisenhower, Kennedy, and especially Johnson had not -- bombing Hanoi.  Another 6 months of the war, and I would have probably enlisted in the Navy, if they would have had me.  But instead, in September of 1973, I married my lovely wife, I finished college, and then medical school, and raised 3 kids and lived a life that would only have been possible in this great country.  

Thank you Vietnam Veterans.  I never served there, but I know those who did and know how much they sacrificed. I will always honor you.  There but for the grace of God . . .   And thank you, ALL who serve, veterans and actives alike, who protect our country's freedom. May God bless you and may all Americans always honor our military service men and women, whenever and wherever they serve and have served our country.  And to those, I add, thank you to service men and women from Great Britain, Canada, Australia, NZ, and all other American Allies who also serve to protect and preserve the ideals of peace, freedom and democracy for themselves and their countries, too. We are going to need each other more than ever in the coming years, I fear (Please take note, President Obama).

Post script:  
During the 10 most active years of the Vietnam War, over 40,000 service men and women gave their life in the service of their country.  According to national statistics, approximately 40,000 women die every single year from breast cancer.  Although I was never drafted to serve in Vietnam, I have gone on serve full time in a different war against Breast Cancer, a more aggressive killer than even the longest war in American history.  But now, just as in the days of Vietnam, I sometimes feel I am fighting against both the "enemy" and the policies of our own government.

[JOHNNY QUEST]

 Tommy that why I posted My condolences in the back room a while back.. I knew it was comming. We have the greatest healthcare system in the world and someones jackin with it... Ron and I have a childhood friend, Ted thats a pediatrac cardioligist, What amount of time do you think he spent in collage to become one of texas best doctors for childrens heart problems only to be told whats covered and whats not by a beaurocrat... We are fighting a war here.. Itsfor freedom of choice.

[imadogman]

#81 in 1972  and was preparing to pack...and then it ended, and so did the draft.  Glad I didn't have to go, but I sure didn't appreciate my buddy rubbing his number 362 in my face for a couple of months.  I know some who went to Viet Nam, and the ones that returned were changed.  I appreciate what they did, and I never understood the anti-Veteran movement of the time.

[JOHNNY QUEST]

 I'm 50. the draft ended a couple years before I was eligible.. I would have went but was not asked to do so..

I have always been in that caught between crowd.. I'm not a baby boomer or the new crowders.. just stuck in the middle and living life watchin the old hippie comunist flag burnin politicians slowly destroy what i thought was great....

Peace , love, and flower power.........

[shearload]

Mine would have been #11.  Didn't matter; I was drafted in '68.

My wife is recovering from breast cancer.  She has been through chemo, then surgery, then chemo again, now Herceptin.  Three months into the Herceptin, every three weeks.  At $4k per visit.  Your war pays better than mine did.

[TCups]

Yes, more expensive than gold.  And though I don't do chemotherapy, I agree that our military service men and women have always gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to pay and benefits.

The lottery was no fun but it did, perhaps, help end the draft.  Before, there were lots of "creative" ways to avoid being drafted, especially for the wealthy and politically connected.  A disproportionate number of poor and not well educated were draftees.  I guess in some ways, it has always been so in every war and every draft in the worlds history.  But in the three years of the US draft lotto, there were no deferments and no easy outs.  If you had a low number, you were inducted. So in those years, with no college deferments, suddenly Americas upper middle class kids and "college boys" got the opportunity to serve.  That was one of the reasons, I think, for the upturn in some of the "student protests".

During the years of the draft, there were no medical deferments for doctors and medical students.  You were automatically 1A in the draft.  There was delayed induction to allow more senior medical students to finish their training in some cases, I think.  But if you were fit enough to practice private medicine, then you were fit enough to serve in the military, and they needed doctors and corpsmen.  

My professional friend, the breast surgeon to whom I refer many of my newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, and who is 8 or 9 years older than me, was awarded the Silver Star.  He served as a corpsman in Vietnam.  His unit was ambushed and pinned down, taking cover on either side of an open road.  He repeatedly ran back out of cover, into the open road, under heavy fire from automatic weapons, and pulled several wounded men back off the road and into cover.  He never talks about it much-- I think his comment was "you just have to play the cards you are dealt and do what you have to do".  

Those of us who never served in combat can't possibly imagine what it was like, I feel sure. Will keep your wife in our thoughts and prayers.

[kirby999]

"Quote " In 1970, 1971, 1972, it was the luck of the draw for those of us born in the USA in 1951, 1952 and 1953" In 1970 , I was in my first year of college ,a small Community College and working almost full time paying my way through . I was the first on both sides of my family to ever attend college , the second to graduate high school , my older brother being the first. Tuition was cheap enough back then, a person could do that. The first year of the lottery , my birthday indicated my number was 22 and I knew I was gone. I had an older brother , two cousins , and a close friend already over there . My brother , when he read about the draft , had written to me specifically to stay in school and do what ever I could to stay out of that "hell hole" . I went to the Dean's office at school to see what and if anything could be done. I was scared to death. I was told by the office that I wasn't included in the first year , only 19 year olds . I was saved !!! , but had a year of worry until the next lottery in 1971 . The next year seemed to drag while I finished my first year in college . In the next lottery my number was a high 300 , I don't remember exactly . You can't imagine the joy that came over me when I found out my number . I always think there was a reason other than "luck" that I was spared I've always been very proud of the men and women that fought in that war and the many who lost their lives . I was never a protester , but I never understood why we were there in the first place . Almost, forgot the reason for my post , those born in 1950 were included in the draft, they were the first . kirby Edit , I went back and looked at the link you gave for the lotteries and I remember one before the first one given . I think there's one missing .

[kirby999]

I found it . http://www.landscaper.net/draft.htm The first (drawing)one was in 1969 and I would have been number 22 . the following year 308 . What a difference . I knew I wasn't dreaming about what happened . That would have been the fall of 1969 , the year I began my freshman year in college . kirby

[TCups]

I remember the feeling -- one of complete uncertainty about what would happen to your life, all based on the luck of the draw. No control over the situation unless you chose to enlist.  Some did.  But if you rolled the dice and got a very low number, then you had very few options.  It was a reality check that 19-year olds don't have to experience now, for better or worse.  But it does seem that quite a few of us grew up much quicker back then.  And while the draft was in force, before the years of the draft lottery, there was a very serious incentive to stay in school and make good grades, even if you had to work a job on the side and pay your own tuition to do so.

[hockea]

Mine was #13!
You can imagine my dismay.

I now serve on the local draft board (bet you all didnt know they still existed)

[Big_Bill]

Well Fellows,

Not to belittle any one's story, but think of those that were drafted, they had all the doubt and fear that you did, they feared all the disruption and change that would happen to their lives as you, then it started all over again, because their fears and doubts were now realized, and off we went, to places we never heard of, to a country we didn't even know existed until a few years ago, to a fate we didn't know and to be lead by men we just met. Remember those that went, and just how much their lives changed in a few short weeks. All their hopes and plans just put on hold, if they were lucky. And just how much their lives changed when they came home to a different America ! I know what each of us went through before we were called, but think of what we went through, if you can, after we were called... I believe that I aged 30 years in just one week.

Almost everything and everyone that I left behind changed back home while I was gone ! Most if not all of us had some serious adjusting to do when we came home, and this had nothing to do with Vietnam, and we were the lucky ones........

Bill

[TCups]

Exactly, Bill.  The point wasn't so much that I or any of my age cohort who missed the draft were lucky.  The point was more that it gave all of us the very serious pause to consider what might have been, and what other's who were drafted went through, and why.

And even now, perhaps more than ever, we should remember all of that.  The all volunteer military service doesn't change much of anything you describe.  And sometimes I fear the hardest thing our military service men and women face is not what happens when they leave home to serve in some foreign place and in circumstances we can't imagine, but the change they face when they return home, if they still have one, to their family, if they still have one, friends, if they still have them, and their previous way of life, if they can.  It has always changed for them, forever and profoundly, and that is if they are even lucky enough to return home.  

That, my good friend, is change you can count on.  May we never forget what our military men and women do, and why they do it, and the price they pay to do it for us.  God bless them.

[erskine]

I had number 220 but I volunteered anyway. Eleven years Army Security Agency and then INSCOM, Korean linguist translator/interpreter.

Easy work.

[erskine]

Actually though, regarding national service and the draft; It is my long held opinion that every person, male, female, or confused, blind, crippled or crazy, should be required to serve in the national military for a minimum of two years before being allowed to walk into a voting booth.  If you have not served the nation, you should not be allowed to vote in it's elections.  I'd carry that over to a requirement for elected office if I thought I could get away with it.

If you refuse to serve, no problem, you live with the nation we build for you.  Simple enough.

[daveshoot]

Born in '54, came up in first third of the last lottery in '72. Went down and registeredand classed as "1H", holding. Draft was "suspended" at the time, and never returned. So, I went off to college.

Enlisted in '77 but it was all over then. Still feel a little guilty about that, to be honest, but I put my liver on the line for democracy in Germany 77-80.

In all honesty my service was a party cake walk and not to be compared to veterans of either VN or the Gulf Wars. I was a placeholder for a (cold) war that never happened. I am glad I went in, but I know kids were there in Nam while I partied in college, that didn't come back. I supported that war at the time as an 18 or something year old and I still think the mission was misunderstood, and could have been successful. But I did not volunteer for it.

So I still feel a little bad about that, to be honest.