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

I enlisted when I was 17. Never registered for the draft.

Warms my heart to hear from all of these 'Nam veterans. Love my brothers-in-arms.

Hysterical laughter as I had enlisted in Dec. '69!

I was raised in a conservative Republican family that viewed Richard Nixon reverently, saw Vietnam as a necessary war to hold the line against communism and I enlisted as an infantry/RVN volunteer--much to the consternation of my recruiter, who tried to talk me into going into a field for which it was harder to find qualified recruits to meet his quota. . . .

My wife and I returned home from eloping. I was 19 and underage in Illinois to get married without the parents consent and mine did not want me to get married. My wife, by the way was 18 and legal. I knew I was to was suppose to let the draft board know of any changes to marital status, so I went to the court house to let them know and they told me they had mailed it out the prior week. (We had eloped over the Christmas shutdown at the factory I worked at, so the mail was slow due to the holiday rush.) I left the court house and went straight to the Air Force recruiter, took the AFQT, passed and was sworn into the AF 24 hours prior to having to be in Chicago to be sworn in the Army. I as a mustang Captain after 21 1/2 years (almost evenly divided between enlisted and commissioned) and we are still married after celebrating our 48th anniversary this past Christmas Eve.

Heh, heh. Judging by other comments here, I reckon my experience wasn't unique. I had been on active duty for about six months when my notice arrived to my home of record.

I was a volunteer, but my Dad's story about his draft notice was pretty epic. Back in town from a while at sea with the merchant marine, my pop calls my grandparents to see about swinging by for dinner. "That's great, Son, but you had better call the draft office. They have been looking for you." So he gets the number and calls straight away from the phonebooth. "Where have you been, Brabenec? We were going to swear out a warrant for your arrest." His brilliantly simple reply, "Saigon." I know that was not exactly the question asked, but I had to share.

I'm post-op Vietnam but I entered boot camp at Great Lakes four weeks before my 18th birthday...three days after my birthday, Company Commander called me to go to personnel and sign my Selective Service papers. I asked if he was serious and his reply was "I don't make the dumbass rules, I just make sure you follow them. "

I never got one. Coming from a military family, both parents served during WWII and father was career Air Force, I was taught that it was not the military's place to question orders but to carry them out. I actually volunteered for the Nam. I still blame the politicians for that fiasco and the fact that many good men and women sacrificed for what was essentially nothing.

In 1970 my number came up, I could have been college exempt. Instead I volunteered for service.

I was in the Navy when my noticed came. My dad said I got some mail from the government. Not sure what he did with that notice,