Start with a couple of assumptions: You were an American male at the time, and you were born between 1944 and 1950, and the draft year was 1970.
My number was 267. The highest number called to service was 195, so I would not have been drafted. I checked all the other years as well, and the lowest number my birthday drew was 112 in 1975, but no additional draftees were made after 1972. If I were of age at the time, I would not have been drafted.
I wasn’t even born until 1987, but had I been alive and eligible, my number would have been 207.
290, if I had been alive and also male. My boyfriend is a Leap Day baby and still has a number, which is something I have often wondered. (285, so I guess in a genderless society we would have been in the same boat.)
Was there a draft before this 1970 table?
My dad was in the 300s. He was 1-A in 1970. Had he been born a day earlier, he would have been drafted.
My uncle would have drawn 60. He died two years earlier in Vietnam as a volunteer, so I guess he was fated to go no matter what.
Pretty sobering, this chart.
Absolutely. I joined the Navy in 1967 to avoid being drafted into the Army. There was no lottery system at that point.
I was in a different year’s lottery and my number was 26. I did report for my physical, but I have asthma, and I did have a real attack in front of one of the doctors. I got a 1-Y deferment.
I am female and wasn’t born until 1987, but had I been eligible my number would have been 234.
Holy crap, I would’ve been number 14 :eek::eek:! I wonder if my natural 20/200 vision (no eye surgery back then) would’ve been enough to get me a medical deferment? If not and I couldn’t get CO status (or convince the draft board I’m gayer than a picinic basket) it’s off to Canada I’d go. Also this kind of chart would be a great thing to show any high school social studies class. I know the subject of conscription came up on a regular basis in my classes, especially after 9/11.
002 ! Wow I would have been screwed, Wait! Am not American phew!
The fact that I’m alive today is because of my high draft number: 359. And the fact that I’m gay.
Mine’s 23, which is pretty low.
My dad’s was 91, and apparently he thought it was low enough to worry about; he eventually decided that if he was going to be drafted anyway, he might as well serve a country he believed in, and immigrated to Israel (with my mom in tow). The rest, as they say, is history.
#342
It’s not a very complex formula, is it?
How common was this?
I’m 049. I’d have seen blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, kill, KILL, KILL.
female born in 1961, but if I had been eligible, 264 would have been my number [Oct 27th]
Pretty common, I think, at least for people who preferred not to be a ground pounder or a grunt. It was nearly impossible to get into the National Guard, unless your daddy was connected (George Bush is an example), so the Navy and Air Force were able to easily fill their quotas with people fleeing the Army draft system. I still ended up on the ground in RVN, but wasn’t part of a combat unit.
Jjimm is quoting Alice’s Restaurant.
311; fool that I am I probably would have volunteered.
I was 240 and a couple years too young. Was worried about it.