The Draft From the year 1948 up until 1973 men between the ages of 18 and 50 were drafted into war in times of peace and times of distress. These men were drafted because there wasn't enough volunteers to fill vacancies.
There was a "draft lottery" that occurred during the Vietnam Era. It was the first time since 1942 that a lottery such as this occurred. On December 1, 1969, the lottery drawing happened at the Selective Service Headquarters in Washington, DC.
For this lottery 366 plastic blue capsules that contained a single date with drafting times were dumped into a huge glass container, from this capsules were randomly selected. This determined who and when the men would be drafted. If the date matched your birthday, all the eligible drafties born on that date would have been drafted for war. Another way men would be chosen; they would select certain letters of the alphabet, for example if your name was Henry and the letter H was selected you would go to war. Approximately 850,000 men were affected by this lottery draft.
If the U.S held a draft today, it would be drastically different from the Vietnam War draft in the past. Such as there would be very few reasons to excuse a man from the service. Also, they would use a lottery system in which when a man is selected he would only serve one year in first priority, either the calendar year he turns 20 or the year his deferment ends. The following years a man would be placed in a successful lower priority group and the liability for that draft would to accordance, lessen. Being done in this fashion, a man would spare his uncertainties of waiting until he's 26 to have certainty on not being drafted.
There were changes made in 1971 to the draft law that included provision that board members were required to be as representative as they could be reffering to the national and racial origins of registrants among the area the board is serving.
A typical draft card
Lottery Drawing at the Selective Service Headquarters on December 1, 1969
In 1973, the draft finally ended. After the draft the United States decided to convert to a volunteer type of military. The registration got suspended in the month of April in the year of 1975. President Carter started the draft again after the news of a Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. During the Vietnam war most people would try to dodge the draft by going to Canada, and even if they went into war they would shoot themselves in the foot or hurt themselves in order to get themselves out of the war because they do not want to be there at all. About 70,000 American men that were eligible for drafting, fled to Canada to avoid going to the war.
Even today, the U.S. government requires every male citizen to register for the Selective Service within 30 days of their eighteenth birthday. This is a precaution in case we need to go into war and need to draft soldiers immediately. The registered men would be called to duty in the same way the Vietnam soldiers were, by the lottery system.
This is an exact replica of what a draft notice looked like from the Vietnam Era.
In the book '' The Things They Carried'', Tim gets the draft notice in the mail and he does not believe in war. He feels that he is too good to fight it because he says '' he is not a soldier''. People and thoughts of his dad and grandpa pressure him because his dad and grandpa were both soldiers and he did not want to be a disappointment to them. He had to resist the decision whether to flee of just go to war because he does not want to be embarrassed, although he calls himself a coward for going because like he said '' he is not a soldier'' and and he fought a war he hated. ''A million things all at once- I was too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, too everything'' ( O'Brien 41 ). Tim O'Brien states that he was not that typical ''outdoorsman''. He says that he hates dirt, camping out, tents, bugs. He hated the sight of blood and nothing hated him more than authority. He was not the type of soldier. He was not a soldier as he says and feels that he does not belong in the war. But the pressure forced him into going.
'' I was no soldier. I hated boy scouts. I hated camping out. I hated dirt and tents and mosquitos. The sight of blood made me queasy, and i couldn't tolerate authority, and i didn't know a rifle from a slingshot. I was a liberal, for Christ sake.'' ( O'Brien 42 ).
The following paragraphs are real life accounts from men who had drastically different lottery numbers, and their reaction to the Draft.
An Occasion To Drink Gary, Kentucky, 1969, Lottery Number 328.
Wednesday, March 14 @ 20:52:44 EDT writes "I remember how I felt when I first heard about a draft lottery. I had never been very lucky in my life. In fact I don't ever recall winning anything before the lottery came into existence. When the magical night came to pass, me and several of my fraternity brothers gathered around the TV with lots of beer. Back then we used any excuse for an occasion to drink. Several of my brothers got low numbers. I was very nervous even though I had a II-S classification. The first year I drew a 328. I couldn't believe it. I celebrated with lots of beer alongside the guys who were trying to drown their sorrows. The draft of course didn't take effect until you lost or gave up your II-S classification. I was pretty safe because of my high number and since I wasn't graduating for more than a year. In the next year's lottery I drew another high number at 352. At that point I wrote my draft board and asked to relinquish my II-S. They did as I asked. Even with a high number had the Vietnam war escalated there was a long shot possibility that I could be drafted. But I survived that year and by the time the next year rolled around, I was buried in another layer of draftees. By then I knew there was no chance of my ever getting drafted.
Finally my local draft board sent me a new card and reclassified me to I-H. I was relieved that I did not have to go to Vietnam, but many years later I regretted my decision and wished I had served my country.
Sunday, December 13 @ 19:44:37 EST writes "My birthday is February 14. Being born on Valentine's day never caused me any problems, until the draft lottery. I always felt bad for my cousin who was born on Christmas day and never really got birthday presents separate from Christmas presents, but I didn't have that trouble. In fact, after I started dating, a girlfriend might even give me a special present for Valentine-birthday. But on the night of the lottery, I came up number four on the list for Vietnam.
I was an average student, not really in danger of flunking out but more interested in playing guitar, singing and listening to the folk and folk-rock music of the time--from Peter Paul and Mary to Gordon Lightfoot to Dylan and the Beatles. I never liked rules or uniforms or joining organizations so I knew I'd be a bad fit for the army. And the idea of going to fight, to shoot and kill and maybe be killed, filled me with dread. Each day after the lottery that feeling got worse and worse until I couldn't think of anything else.
So I went to talk to an army recruiter to explore the options. According to him, my being colorblind would at least keep me out of the fighting. But I wasn't sure I believed him, and enlisting meant four years of service instead of two. I decided not to sign up, and instead waited for what would happen next.
I received my orders to report for the draft physical in February, I think. I showed up at the center with all the other scared, too-young kids. I felt more and more hemmed-in and panicky as the long day wore on. Then we were in a room with a lot of windows, like a classroon, taking the written test. They had me sitting at a desk right beside the windows. I couldn't focus on the test--I could only think about getting out of there, outside the windows where the sun was shining and the rest of the world was going about its business as usual. The soldier in charge of the room starting yelling out more instructions that didn't even seem to be in English. I remember getting up, putting both hands on the back of the chair and then hurling it at the closest window. Everyone seemed to freeze at the sound of shattering glass. Then I jumped up on the window sill and fell outside on the grass.
I guess I knew better than to try to run away. I just stayed on my hands and knees, trying to catch my breath, and in just a minute three muscular soldiers were all around me. Since I wasn't running they weren't rough--they just got my to my feet and marched me right back inside the building, this time to a small room with no windows. Two of them waited with me for what seemed like a long time, maybe a half-hour in reality. I wondered what kind of trouble I was in. Then they took me to an office where a man with glasses and a white coat asked me questions for a while, about my family life and if I had any past psychiatric hospital admissions and so forth. Finally he made some notations on a folder in front of him and said the army would not be needing me. He gave the folder to my escort and we went outside to another line where guys were being allowed to leave the center. The last soldier of my day looked at the folder and stamped it with a IV-F, and then they let me out.
To this day I can't say how much of what happened that day was real and how much was just an act. Nothing like that ever happened to me before or since. As far as the army was concerned, I guess the chair going through the window was real enough."
FAMOUS DRAFTEES January 19th 1953 all young American men registered for the U.S Selective Service System, that including Mr. Elvis Presley " King of Rock". At the time when Elvis registered, the U.S wasn't facing any conflict. Elvis was drafted on March 24th 1958 and was discharged March 23 1964.
Muhammad Ali applied for Selective Service in 1966 but was a battle for him due to his religious backgrounds. It was a personal, political, professional even legal battle for Ali. He was convicted of draft evasion which stripped him of his professional boxing title and became a strong speaker against the Vietnam War. Ali spoke strongly about racism that the U.S faced at the time. "No, I am not going 10,000 miles to help murder kill and burn other people to simply help continue the domination of white slavemasters over dark people the world over. This is the day and age when such evil injustice must come to an end." —Muhammad Ali
From the year 1948 up until 1973 men between the ages of 18 and 50 were drafted into war in times of peace and times of distress. These men were drafted because there wasn't enough volunteers to fill vacancies.
more info: (http://usmilitary.about.com/od/deploymentsconflicts/l/bldrafthistory.htm)
The Lottery Draft
There was a "draft lottery" that occurred during the Vietnam Era. It was the first time since 1942 that a lottery such as this occurred. On December 1, 1969, the lottery drawing happened at the Selective Service Headquarters in Washington, DC.For this lottery 366 plastic blue capsules that contained a single date with drafting times were dumped into a huge glass container, from this capsules were randomly selected. This determined who and when the men would be drafted. If the date matched your birthday, all the eligible drafties born on that date would have been drafted for war. Another way men would be chosen; they would select certain letters of the alphabet, for example if your name was Henry and the letter H was selected you would go to war. Approximately 850,000 men were affected by this lottery draft.
If the U.S held a draft today, it would be drastically different from the Vietnam War draft in the past. Such as there would be very few reasons to excuse a man from the service. Also, they would use a lottery system in which when a man is selected he would only serve one year in first priority, either the calendar year he turns 20 or the year his deferment ends. The following years a man would be placed in a successful lower priority group and the liability for that draft would to accordance, lessen. Being done in this fashion, a man would spare his uncertainties of waiting until he's 26 to have certainty on not being drafted.
more info: (http://usmilitary.about.com/od/deploymentsconflicts/l/bldrafthistory.htm)
There were changes made in 1971 to the draft law that included provision that board members were required to be as representative as they could be reffering to the national and racial origins of registrants among the area the board is serving.
Watch the 1969 lottery here:
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVwUEABV9mg)
In 1973, the draft finally ended. After the draft the United States decided to convert to a volunteer type of military. The registration got suspended in the month of April in the year of 1975. President Carter started the draft again after the news of a Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. During the Vietnam war most people would try to dodge the draft by going to Canada, and even if they went into war they would shoot themselves in the foot or hurt themselves in order to get themselves out of the war because they do not want to be there at all. About 70,000 American men that were eligible for drafting, fled to Canada to avoid going to the war.
Even today, the U.S. government requires every male citizen to register for the Selective Service within 30 days of their eighteenth birthday. This is a precaution in case we need to go into war and need to draft soldiers immediately. The registered men would be called to duty in the same way the Vietnam soldiers were, by the lottery system.
In the book '' The Things They Carried'', Tim gets the draft notice in the mail and he does not believe in war. He feels that he is too good to fight it because he says '' he is not a soldier''. People and thoughts of his dad and grandpa pressure him because his dad and grandpa were both soldiers and he did not want to be a disappointment to them. He had to resist the decision whether to flee of just go to war because he does not want to be embarrassed, although he calls himself a coward for going because like he said '' he is not a soldier'' and and he fought a war he hated.
''A million things all at once- I was too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, too everything'' ( O'Brien 41 ).
Tim O'Brien states that he was not that typical ''outdoorsman''. He says that he hates dirt, camping out, tents, bugs. He hated the sight of blood and nothing hated him more than authority. He was not the type of soldier. He was not a soldier as he says and feels that he does not belong in the war. But the pressure forced him into going.
'' I was no soldier. I hated boy scouts. I hated camping out. I hated dirt and tents and mosquitos. The sight of blood made me queasy, and i couldn't tolerate authority, and i didn't know a rifle from a slingshot. I was a liberal, for Christ sake.'' ( O'Brien 42 ).
See:>>> Draft Dodger
Counterculture
The following paragraphs are real life accounts from men who had drastically different lottery numbers, and their reaction to the Draft.
An Occasion To Drink
Gary, Kentucky, 1969, Lottery Number 328.
Wednesday, March 14 @ 20:52:44 EDT writes "I remember how I felt when I first heard about a draft lottery. I had never been very lucky in my life. In fact I don't ever recall winning anything before the lottery came into existence. When the magical night came to pass, me and several of my fraternity brothers gathered around the TV with lots of beer. Back then we used any excuse for an occasion to drink. Several of my brothers got low numbers. I was very nervous even though I had a II-S classification. The first year I drew a 328. I couldn't believe it. I celebrated with lots of beer alongside the guys who were trying to drown their sorrows.
The draft of course didn't take effect until you lost or gave up your II-S classification. I was pretty safe because of my high number and since I wasn't graduating for more than a year. In the next year's lottery I drew another high number at 352. At that point I wrote my draft board and asked to relinquish my II-S. They did as I asked. Even with a high number had the Vietnam war escalated there was a long shot possibility that I could be drafted. But I survived that year and by the time the next year rolled around, I was buried in another layer of draftees. By then I knew there was no chance of my ever getting drafted.
Finally my local draft board sent me a new card and reclassified me to I-H. I was relieved that I did not have to go to Vietnam, but many years later I regretted my decision and wished I had served my country.
more info at: (http://www.vietnamwardraftlottery.com/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=564)
Valentines Day
David, North Carolina, 1969, Lottery Number 4Sunday, December 13 @ 19:44:37 EST writes "My birthday is February 14. Being born on Valentine's day never caused me any problems, until the draft lottery. I always felt bad for my cousin who was born on Christmas day and never really got birthday presents separate from Christmas presents, but I didn't have that trouble. In fact, after I started dating, a girlfriend might even give me a special present for Valentine-birthday. But on the night of the lottery, I came up number four on the list for Vietnam.
I was an average student, not really in danger of flunking out but more interested in playing guitar, singing and listening to the folk and folk-rock music of the time--from Peter Paul and Mary to Gordon Lightfoot to Dylan and the Beatles. I never liked rules or uniforms or joining organizations so I knew I'd be a bad fit for the army. And the idea of going to fight, to shoot and kill and maybe be killed, filled me with dread. Each day after the lottery that feeling got worse and worse until I couldn't think of anything else.
So I went to talk to an army recruiter to explore the options. According to him, my being colorblind would at least keep me out of the fighting. But I wasn't sure I believed him, and enlisting meant four years of service instead of two. I decided not to sign up, and instead waited for what would happen next.
I received my orders to report for the draft physical in February, I think. I showed up at the center with all the other scared, too-young kids. I felt more and more hemmed-in and panicky as the long day wore on. Then we were in a room with a lot of windows, like a classroon, taking the written test. They had me sitting at a desk right beside the windows. I couldn't focus on the test--I could only think about getting out of there, outside the windows where the sun was shining and the rest of the world was going about its business as usual. The soldier in charge of the room starting yelling out more instructions that didn't even seem to be in English. I remember getting up, putting both hands on the back of the chair and then hurling it at the closest window. Everyone seemed to freeze at the sound of shattering glass. Then I jumped up on the window sill and fell outside on the grass.
I guess I knew better than to try to run away. I just stayed on my hands and knees, trying to catch my breath, and in just a minute three muscular soldiers were all around me. Since I wasn't running they weren't rough--they just got my to my feet and marched me right back inside the building, this time to a small room with no windows. Two of them waited with me for what seemed like a long time, maybe a half-hour in reality. I wondered what kind of trouble I was in. Then they took me to an office where a man with glasses and a white coat asked me questions for a while, about my family life and if I had any past psychiatric hospital admissions and so forth. Finally he made some notations on a folder in front of him and said the army would not be needing me. He gave the folder to my escort and we went outside to another line where guys were being allowed to leave the center. The last soldier of my day looked at the folder and stamped it with a IV-F, and then they let me out.
To this day I can't say how much of what happened that day was real and how much was just an act. Nothing like that ever happened to me before or since. As far as the army was concerned, I guess the chair going through the window was real enough."
More stories at: (http://www.vietnamwardraftlottery.com/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=383)
For more Draft Stories, go to: (http://www.vietnamwardraftlottery.com/phpnuke/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive&sa=show_all)
Lottery Facts: (http://www.vietnamwardraftlottery.com/phpnuke/index.php)
FAMOUS DRAFTEES
January 19th 1953 all young American men registered for the U.S Selective Service System, that including Mr. Elvis Presley " King of Rock". At the time when Elvis registered, the U.S wasn't facing any conflict. Elvis was drafted on March 24th 1958 and was discharged March 23 1964.
For more info on Elvis Presley's war life go to : (http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvisandtheusarmy.shtml)
Muhammad Ali applied for Selective Service in 1966 but was a battle for him due to his religious backgrounds. It was a personal, political, professional even legal battle for Ali. He was convicted of draft evasion which stripped him of his professional boxing title and became a strong speaker against the Vietnam War. Ali spoke strongly about racism that the U.S faced at the time.
"No, I am not going 10,000 miles to help murder kill and burn other people to simply help continue the domination of white slavemasters over dark people the world over. This is the day and age when such evil injustice must come to an end."
—Muhammad Ali
For more info on Muhammad Ali's battle with the draft go to: (http://www.aavw.org/protest/homepage_ali.html)
(http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his135/events/ali98.htm)
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