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

I enlisted in the Army, 7 months after I registered for the Draft. August 19th, 1962. Vietnam was just an unknown and faraway place then. The "hot" spot, then, was the Cuban missile crisis. Our DI's told us that they were going to load us into cattle trucks, and ship us off to Florida.

I enlisted in '57 at 19 !

didn't get drafted joined the navy july 1958 but didn't go until Jan 1959

Never saw a draft notice. In 1970 I joined the military to fight and defend freedom as soon as I could. No regrets.

My number in 1972 was too high for me to be drafted. I volunteered for service as did my father without expectation. It was a war that needed to be fought, but even at the tender age of 17 I knew that something was wrong with how it was being led. My family was lock step with my father's opinion (WWII & the Cold War).

I already knew I was going to enlist in the Navy! Didn’t know it would turn out to be a career and the best job I’ve ever had!

That they were a little late and uninformed . Because I was in the Marine Corps and overseas . My Bn CDR took care of my draft notice to report .

I received the draft notice, freaked out, and called the Air Force recruiter in San Francisco, asking if it was too late to join the AF. He said he wasn't sure because his allotments were all filled up. And they would be leaving for Lackland AFB on Monday morning (this was a Friday, getting my notice the night before).
He said he would call me if any of the recruits dropped out. I sweated all day because if I had to go to Vietnam, I would at least have a bunkbed to go to instead of a foxhole for many months. Sweating all day at work wondering if it was going to be the Army or Marines if I was drafted.
It was five minutes before quitting time at work when I was acquiescing to the fact that I would be at the recruiter reporting station drafted in one of those two services. As I was getting ready to quit working my supervisor walked up to me and said, "An Air Force Master Sergeant wants to talk with you". I picked up the receiver and the recruiter asked me point blank, "O'Neill, can you report on Monday morning?" He then told me one of the recruits backed out. I told him, "Yes, thank you, Sergeant, I will be there".
After basic, I went through Security Police Training at Lackland and was stunned because, instead of Vietnam, I went to Germany for three years, then got a six-month early out.

Along with 395 other high school graduates, forming the Army’s 12th All Hawaii Company, I volunteered. And, served 4 tours in Vietnam.

I was just 18 when my number came up and my inclination was to join so I could puck my own job instead of being put into something. Best decision a poor city kid could make!