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

Before the lottery, a young man classified 1A and between the ages of 18 and 26 woke up every morning wondering what would be in the mail that day. Many, like myself, tried to take a little of his fate into his own hands by enlisting.

My first attempt was with the Air National Guard. My best friend in high school had already joined and his father was a full time technician. He introduced me to the Air National Guard recruiter when I was a senior in high school. The recruiter asked me how old I was and, when I told him I would be 18 a month after we graduated, he laughed at me. "Son," he said, "You will be drafted long before your name comes up on our waiting list." "Waiting list,?" I asked. "Yes," he replied. Do you think you are the only young man who wants to join the Air National Guard right now?"

After kicking around for a few months, working the same minimum wage jobs ($1.50 an hour!) that I had when I was still in high school, I just couldn't take the suspense any longer. I talked to the Navy recruiter and took their entrance test. Remarkably, I did well in electronics, or so I was told. To this day I firmly believe that it had more to do with the needs of the service than my own aptitude! Unfortunately, the next thing I was told was about THEIR waiting list. When I asked how long, I was told at least six months.

Summer had turned to fall and fall to winter, with no call from the Navy. We were getting close to Christmas now and I was still watching for a draft notice every day. Out of the desperation born of impatience, I decided to talk to the Army recruiter. My first question was, "Do you have a WAITING LIST?" "Son," he replied. "We have buses leaving every half hour. When do you want to sign up?"

I told the Army recruiter that I would like to join right after the holidays. On January 4th, 1968 I boarded a Greyhound bus for the entrance station in Minneapolis. After my entrance physical (where I saw guys actually drafted into the Marine Corps, to my amazement), we were put up in the Sir Francis Drake Hotel nearby. Eight young men to a room, all shipping out the next morning to Ft Campbell, KY. It seemed to be getting pretty drunk in our room, so I though I should call the folks back home and say goodbye before things got too rowdy.

My mother answered the phone and told me, "The Navy recruiter called today." "What did he say, Mom?" I asked. "Your name has come up on the WAITING LIST."

"Thanks, Mom." I replied. "But I AM IN THE ARMY NOW!"

I had a high draft number and to qualifications for a deferral; however, when the started taking guys directly from training to Nam, I joined in a supporting role. I did not think it fair to ignore what was happening to them.

I wasn't old enough to get drafted, but i was part of the 1st age group to have to register for the draft in the early 80's. At that point i had already enlisted, i got a nasty letter several years later about how i had not registered, severe penalty etc... I sent them a copy of my dd214. never heard another word from them.

Never got one. I was on active duty the day after my 18th birthday.

COL Mikel J. Burroughs never got one,

I really didn't think too much about the draft. After I graduated from HS, I worked during the summer and was destined for college in the fall. I went to college, but didn't do well, so I enlisted. At the time I was gung-ho about getting into the fight in Vietnam, but it wasn't in the cards for me in my first enlistment. I ended up on a couple of small ships, one was USS Banner AGER-1 the other was USS Peregrine AG-176. I had done fairly well on the ASVAB so I was sent to Gunnery School right out of Boot camp. While my parent didn't form my impressions of the conflict in SE Asia, my Dad was very much against me enlisting in the Army, so instead I went into the Navy. Loved it for 20 years.
Still do.

I was in boot camp when my draft notice caught up to me. The drill instructors had a good laugh over that one. As for Vietnam.....I wanted to see what it was all about. It was the war of my generation, and I wanted to say I did my part. By the time I got overseas, it was already winding down, so I never made it to the war zone. I felt cheated at the time.......but as I look back now, I guess I was pretty lucky.

I was in Boot Camp at Parris Island when I received my Draft notice.. The Drill Instructor had allot of fun at My behalf.. They yelled at me what this you want out of our beloved Marine Corps and of coarse I said No Sir hoping that was it OH NO , that wasn't it they brought the other D.I.'s into the squad bay and they too had fun at me..Needless to say I left Parris Island owing about 1 million Bends and thrust.. Thank goodness Graduation came along....

I was in the Air Force over a year and at my first duty station when I got a letter from the Delaware (my home of record) State Police. They said that I had failed to register for Selective Service. I turned 18 after I had been in the Air Force 6 months! They said they were gonna come arrest me if I didn't register. I took it to my First Sergeant. He said he would "take care of it". Apparently, he threw it in the shredder when I left because I had no end of trouble proving Selective Service as I tried to accept a Gov position after retirement!

I got my draft notice during my last week of boot camp. Company Commander took care of it, never heard from them again.