I'm also a fan of the service requirement being placed right after high school graduation because it would help disrupt the incredibly flawed high school-to-college conveyer belt that's developed over the last couple of decades. It would give kids time to have some introspection, get exposed to trade skills/manual labor (depending on where they did their service requirement) and expose them to mentors who aren't family or academics.
1970 Vietnam Draft chart....
- Thread starter UK_Dallas
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Just want to say how much I respect and admire those that fought.
Popped in We Were soldier's. Haven't seen it in a long time but dam.
Thank you.
Popped in We Were soldier's. Haven't seen it in a long time but dam.
Thank you.
Did your dad have a big block Dodge?
My number is 344. I would've been safe that year.
The cutoff in 1970 was 195. No one higher was drafted:
Selective Service System - The Vietnam Lotteries, Administrative Processing Number, 1970
I would've been 167. Mixed emotions, really. Pretty much every generation of my family has served in the military, so I suspect that I would've been fired up about going to war with so many people my age, and no doubt many of my friends.
I'm just glad that we all have a choice at this point. That's not a comment on national service requirements. Those are far different than actual military service.
Selective Service System - The Vietnam Lotteries, Administrative Processing Number, 1970
I would've been 167. Mixed emotions, really. Pretty much every generation of my family has served in the military, so I suspect that I would've been fired up about going to war with so many people my age, and no doubt many of my friends.
I'm just glad that we all have a choice at this point. That's not a comment on national service requirements. Those are far different than actual military service.
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# 300
I missed the daft by several years, having been born in 59. But I still recall watching nightly news updates about the war, the draft and the protests. I was convinced that I was going after HS. Wound up joining the USAF after HS and fighting to the front lines of The Cold War.
I missed the daft by several years, having been born in 59. But I still recall watching nightly news updates about the war, the draft and the protests. I was convinced that I was going after HS. Wound up joining the USAF after HS and fighting to the front lines of The Cold War.
In 1969 my number was 195, in 1970 it was 224. After Nixon was elected, he started winding down Vietnam. I graduated in 1969 and feared the draft. I had decided to join if my number ever got close. Nam was a mess, a political war with no meaning and no strategy to win it. Over 50,000 killed and the ones that survived had issues and scars their whole life. I had a fist cousin that served there and had mental issues his whole life.
Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara should have been tried for treason for the way they managed that. You send 19 year old kids into combat and tell them they can't shoot back when attacked unless you have orders to shoot..
Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara should have been tried for treason for the way they managed that. You send 19 year old kids into combat and tell them they can't shoot back when attacked unless you have orders to shoot..
You need to read up on Agent Orange.. It has been proved that it caused cancer in adnormally high numbers.
2 years of military discipline would do wonders for almost any 18 year old.
My dad was out of the Army and re-enlisted in 1967 to go to Vietnam. He was thirty one at the time. I was born only a few months after he left. He's now eighty.
My original point was really more that people that are old enough to have served in Vietnam are also at the age to have cancer show up. Regardless of your exposure or other factors, about one in three will have cancer of some type. I never said that agent orange doesn't cause cancer. I took a quick look at the American Cancer Society website and I see that they list Agent Orange as having Sufficient evidence of an association for several different types of cancer. I can't recall everything that I learned in epidemiology, but association does not necessarily mean causation.
My dad was drafted to go fight in Vietnam. Army - 1st infantry division(Big Red 1) as a sniper. He died a couple of years ago at the age of 69. Probably due to agent orange, just by going what his VA papers had listed.
Because the government refused to acknowledge the effects of agent orange for years. I understand your point about age.
Armed Forces Entry Station, drop your britches boy and grab your ankles! :grimace:
From the 1970 draft I would say very likely, yes, without a deferment. The highest draft number "used" from the draft lottery was referred as the APN - Administrative Processing Number. The APN for each year was as follows:
1970 = APN 195
1971 = APN 125
1972 - 1976 = APN 95
But the APN would not necessarily be an indication of who was going to get drafted. It would be more of an indication of who was going to get screened. e.g. summoned for a physical, evaluated for military duty.
The first Vietnam draft lottery (for the year 1970) was held Dec. 1, 1969. But some lotteries for draft years were held much earlier in the previous year. For example, the draft lottery for the year 1973 was held Feb. 2, 1972 while the previous draft lottery (for year 1972) had been held slightly less than six months prior (Aug. 5, 1971). The final Vietnam "era" draft lottery was held Mar. 12, 1975.
From my understanding, there is no way to determine what lottery numbers would eventually go on to become dubiously associated as that "highest number" which got a young American in SE Asia in the early 1970s. The best scientific process that may have ever achieved that determination was among recruits sharing information among themselves during in-processing or "in country."
Last thing and very important: young people must understand that the Vietnam era lottery system was a re-instatement of a WWII system. Prior to the 1970 lottery method, even more young people were being drafted through the selective service process using the "oldest man first" method.
Almost exacly in the middle. I didn't have a deferment and missed getting drafted by around 10 numbers.
I graduated high school in '97, went to UK for a year right after, and drank myself out of school in a year. I was unprepared like someone here mentioned for life after high school, and the freedom it provides. I was scared to death that I was going to end up being a complete failure, so I went and talked to the Navy recruiter and was off to Basic Training just over 2 months after college. It was the best decision I ever made. I saw parts of the world I would have gotten to see other wise, I had to grow up quick, and it made me a better and more responsible person, and gave me education and job skills.
Getting out to chase money was the worst decision I ever made.
Getting out to chase money was the worst decision I ever made.
I think each draft board had a quota. My number was under 195 and the draft board didn't call.
Mildly funny story. Every young male in the country (it seems) watched the lottery the first time. I had a crush on a girl whose boyfriend had the same birthday as me so we watched the broadcast anxiously together. Me hoping for the best in all manner of endeavors. At 200 we started to breathe easier. At 300 we were clapping. At 365 we were stunned: we'd somehow missed the date.
It's a carcinogen, but it's also heavily involved in birth defects. And that stuff lingers around for just about 2xforever.
Personally I have no interest in the draft for military. We are already neck deep in a 14 year political war that is not stopping anytime soon. Who knows what the politicians would do with an expanded military. On the other hand, I would like to see a return of the Civilian Conservation Corp. Learning discipline, life skills and a trade while doing work to better the country sounds very appealing.
1970 my # was 18 but when it counted in 1972 I was #29 and they owned my ***! Also served later when was voluntary and will say we should never have a draft unless all out world war. Draftees just don't have the best military servant attitudes let's say.
I was #100 in 1970 (definitely drafted) but was able to join a National Guard artillery unit in Kentucky. Most of my fellow basic training soldiers went to Vietnam, with the rest going to Germany and Alaska. After serving for 6 years, I was free and moved to California!
Here's what I remember (or misremember).
I was a freshman in Haggin Hall.
The general thought was if you were in the lower 1/3 of the numbers, you were likely to go (be drafted).
The highest 1/3 you were UNlikely to go.
The middle third was a tossup.
I remember that when the first number was announced, we heard screams from 2-3 guys.
My number (I think) was 235. I was nervously pleased.
I was a freshman in Haggin Hall.
The general thought was if you were in the lower 1/3 of the numbers, you were likely to go (be drafted).
The highest 1/3 you were UNlikely to go.
The middle third was a tossup.
I remember that when the first number was announced, we heard screams from 2-3 guys.
My number (I think) was 235. I was nervously pleased.
A question for you since you were on campus during that time:
I've always heard the Buell Armory (ROTC Building) was burned during a Vietnam War protest.
I've also heard that the uneven stairs going up the hill near the building were intentional to slow down any protesters.
Are either of these rumors true or just folklore?
People interested generally in the era of the early 1970s -- and it was a hell of a time, even for those of us a bit too young for Vietnam -- might enjoy the series Quarry on Cinemax.
Its about a guy who comes home from Vietnam into 1970s Memphis and ends up embroiled in contract killing. What they do well is capture the atmospherics of the time -- the music, the cars, the cultural iconography -- along with some decent T&A.
Its about a guy who comes home from Vietnam into 1970s Memphis and ends up embroiled in contract killing. What they do well is capture the atmospherics of the time -- the music, the cars, the cultural iconography -- along with some decent T&A.
As I recall, it was "OMG!" (They felt like they were f----ed!)
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I have a friend from HS who did 2 (count 'em: two) tours on the Mekong River in one of those boats that you see in Apocalypse Now. Never saw an enemy. Never fired a gun in anger. That was one of the spooky aspects of the fight in Vietnam and one of the reasons why the story of the psycho Vietnam Vet was so prevalent. There wasn't a place you were guaranteed safety and wasn't a place wheres you'd absolutely see action. Stress was off the charts for the soldiers who were over there.
It would not do wonders for the military