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

I was a winner in the first draft lottery. As a student at Wisconsin State University, I was among the crowd at the Eau Claire, WI city hall the next morning signing up. I found my niche and signed up for Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School as a Naval Flight Officer Candidate. Health history and the closure of NAS Twin Cities (and loss of my records) delayed my acceptance several months. The Navy communicated with my draft board and time passed. Finally... accepted and invited to NAS Glenview, IL to sign papers. I did so. I made sure to ask if the recruiting station would communicate with my draft board and was promised such communication. Three days later, while delivering freight in my small northern Wisconsin town, I notice the city squad car behind my truck with the top lights flashing. The Chief of Police (also my cousin) informed me of a warrant for my arrest on charges of draft evasion. I explained to him that I had NEVER received a draft notice and that my Navy enlistment papers were 4 blocks away in my bedroom. The Chief read the first 2 pages of my documents to the Judge at the County Seat, I was advised (absolute truth) NOT TO LEAVE TOWN. All resolved.

My first thoughts were that because I had been in an accident and broken my neck with dislocation and fracture and compressed 2 vertebrae in my back that I would not pass the physical. Boy was I mistaken as I did not have hernias or flat feet I was going in.
I thought about going to visit relatives in Canada were my grandmother came from. But I decided I had better enlist for they were dumb enough to let me pass the physical I had better CYA. That was before I even knew what CYA meant.

Oh shit, I'm going to Vietnam. Joined the Navy so I wouldn't have to, after a while went to OCS and was commissioned. After a tour on a destroyer I volunteered for Vietnam and spent almost 2 years in country. I worked with the Vietnamese and have absolutely no regrets.

I never got one. When I went to college, I was 17 and went to ROTC to sign up for the program. Draft Board took my name off the list. Never looked back. Am from a small Mountain Community. At that time everybody knew who who would "duck & dodge" or head to the Board when called. Dad was in WWII. The Uncle he had been named after had been in WWI. . They never really thought about it. A lot did not agree with the way the was was being fought. When you fight in Appalachia a line does not stop lead. When the problem is not just military but involves a lot of other factors then you have the other items like social, economic, and government structure if you do not address those then you lose before it starts. We lost traction at the settlement after WWI. I had gone done the Pike before we got deep into it.

I registered on my 18th birthday. Vietnam was winding down. I enlisted soon after. First duty station was 226th Signal Company 4th USA Missile Command Korea.

That I'd already did 4 years in the Navy, why were they bothering me! Yes I was a draft dodger and avoided it by serving 4 years in the Navy to include two working vacations in SE Asia. And one was kinda hairy.

Well ya see it's like this, right before I went to the "Nam"...just kidding, I was born in 67!

I got the upper hand on them. They can't draft me for I'm already in the service.

I had a brother in Vietnam at the time. It was no surprise when it came. It just gave me time to make up my mind what I chose to do. I enlisted so I could get more than learning how to kill someone. I became a Helicopter Crew Chief (67N20), later to find out Glorified Door Gunner. Being a history buff I realized we had help winning our independence, so it was only right that I return the favor. I wish our shithead politicians at the time had shared my feelings. Such a sad ending! My Parents made no comment one way or the other. Family friends on the other hand made negative statements when I returned, such as "We have no business there", and "My sons aren't going". I'm glad that I served and support the war to this day. The American Soldiers did not loose the war that was never declared, your politicians at the time did!

I registered for the draft in October of my senior year of high school at a Virginia military school. Several months later, I signed a contract and enlisted the Army Inactive Reserves as E-2 while enrolled in a four-year Army ROTC Scholarship program. Then, I received my draft number- 327. I knew my number would probably never be drawn. I knew I was exempt because I was going to college full-time and I was in ROTC.

We cadets at The Citadel knew we would receive the diploma, the commission, and orders to report to the first duty station before going to "Nam". The Citadel blue risers of the stairs had the names of fallen cadets stencilled on them, a stark reminder of our future. The C5A transport jets flew into CAFB as part of their supply mission- often carrying the coffins of those KIA.
Cadets identified with the Wylie, the silly coyote in the Roadrunner cartoons. We thought Acme (the five-sided supply house near the swamp) could provide us with all sorts of whiz-bang technology but the damn bird was going to be allowed to win at our expense.
My father asked me why I applied for the scholarship knowing I volunteered to be placed in harm's way. Like so many young men during WWII, he rushed down to enlist and came home from the Pacific theater on a hospital ship and left active service with a 65% disability. I told him I was doing exactly what he had done in his youth. He responded saying he thought I had more sense than he had at the same age. As a result, I never spoke of my time in the army. I never wore my uniform at home once I left The Citadel. I buried my sorrows at the same time.
In my mind, I understood why we were there. The US and its allies were willing to invest billions to hasten the defeat of communism. A free market could bare the enormous costs to prosecute a war but a controlled economy could not do the same. The Soviet Union took money from its citizens and spent it to support North Vietnam then moved into Afghanistan. Their economy failed as their leadership realized the investment the US was willing to make in the backwater nation of Vietnam. That curtailed their plans to spread in Europe via force. We know that know because old USSR files have been released into the public records.