What were your feelings and thoughts when you first opened your draft notice?

I laughed my ass off as I was on active duty with the US Navy, and in fact, had already served two years for my Reserve active duty in the old 2 x 6 program and had enlisted into the regular Navy. I took the notice to the ship's personnel office and never heard anything else. To this day I still get a good chuckle when I happen to think about it. This was in the Spring of 1967. My ship was homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

I had 6 uncles that fought in WWII and one in the Korean War. I also had 3 aunts in the military during WWII, so my family had a strong military history. I joined the Army because I thought we should be in Vietnam helping the people there fight against communist aggression. The details of this are in the book I had published titled "Great Adventures From My Life". I wrote the book mostly for my family so I included much of my military career.

Colonel: I enlisted under my step- dad's last name. Of course, the Army told me who I really was. Got home on leave from 8th Cav in Germany (death in family) and found out they were looking for the other guy!! Funny as hell.

Figured I (had a low number),may as well for down and Enlist, better chance getting the MOS I wanted.
I didn't really have a "Stance" on the war and my parents didn't try to sway me either way.

COL Mikel J. Burroughs I enlisted on December 15th 1997. I processed through MEPS on December 17th, and shipped out for RTC Great Lakes on December 17th.

My first Draft Classification was 5-A which mean that I had already served.

My mom was waiting for me at the front door. I had just returned from the Navy recruiter. She had my draft notice in her hand. I told her it was ok ,I just joined the Navy. I retired 24 years later. It was all good.

I wasn't born then!

Funny thing about this. While I was never drafted, I still have a mildly funny story about the Selective Service registration. I had joined the Army in March of '93......3 months before I turned 18........so three months later I am in Basic Training and day one was the day I turned 18. After a few weeks, I got some mail from home and in the stack was my notice to register for Selective Service. So I filled it out and mailed it from FT Leonard Wood. When I graduated in August and had gone home, a few days later I received another card in the mail saying I need to register for the Selective Service. So I filled that out and sent that one in as well. I just found it comical that I registered twice.

I graduated from high school when I was 17 and I entered the service a month later. July, 1971. After basic and my first AIT, I was sent to an additional school because I was the Honor Graduate. After 14 more weeks, I again was the Honor Graduate. I was promoted to E-4 after 29 weeks in the US Army. Half of my class was sent to Vietnam, the half I was a member of was sent to West Germany. I would have been just as happy to go wherever my country needed me to serve. When I got to my unit (HHC 3rd BDE, 1st A.D.) I was "promoted" to Acting Sergeant because I did not have enough time in service nor time in grade to go before the promotion board. After 28 months, I returned stateside and left the active army and joined the Air Force Reserve. After a year, I left the Air Force Reserve and returned to active duty with the US Army and was stationed in South Korea. My father signed the papers so I could join the service before my 18th birthday - my parents wished me "good luck" & said make us proud. My dad served in WWII and Korean Conflict. My half brother served in Vietnam and he put 20 years in the US Navy. We were there for noble reasons - to stop the spread of communism. Draft notice in my situation was moot. My dad thought the ROE was wrong - you can't fight a war like the Vietnam War from the Pentagon. The local commander's needed more control to react to the fluid battlefield. My daughter served 4 years in the US Army, 1998-2002. She served in South Korea and in Texas and in South Carolina and Georgia. Her husband served 3 tours in the middle east. US Army. My half brother (20 year USN) has 2 sons in the USMC and his daughter was in USN. My family is very patriotic and we support our country and our way of life.