# What Would Have Been (Or Was) Your Draft Lottery Number During Vietnam? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 9, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745 "2011-04-09T02:28:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/1 "2011-04-09T02:28:20Z")
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. [Here is a link to the table.](http://www.sss.gov/LOTTER8.HTM) 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. ---
**Author:** ![feppytweed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/feppytweed/32/4280_2.png) [@feppytweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feppytweed)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/2 "2011-04-09T02:33:57Z")
I wasn’t even born until 1987, but had I been alive and eligible, my number would have been 207. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/3 "2011-04-09T02:44:14Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/4 "2011-04-09T02:51:23Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/5 "2011-04-09T02:59:41Z")
Absolutely. I joined the Navy in 1967 to avoid being drafted into the Army. There was no lottery system at that point. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/6 "2011-04-09T03:00:02Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/7 "2011-04-09T03:42:38Z")
1. I am female, so I wasn’t involved, but my brother was, and his number was 160. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/8 "2011-04-09T03:47:49Z")
I am female and wasn’t born until 1987, but had I been eligible my number would have been 234. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/9 "2011-04-09T03:59:10Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/10 "2011-04-09T06:41:07Z")
002 ! Wow I would have been screwed, Wait! Am not American phew! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/11 "2011-04-09T07:35:21Z")
The fact that I’m alive today is because of my high draft number: 359. And the fact that I’m gay. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/12 "2011-04-09T08:09:40Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/13 "2011-04-09T08:15:59Z")
#342 It’s not a very complex formula, is it? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/14 "2011-04-09T08:22:00Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Absolutely. I joined the Navy in 1967 to avoid being drafted into the Army. There was no lottery system at that point. 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. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/15 "2011-04-09T10:55:41Z")
female born in 1961, but if I had been eligible, 264 would have been my number [Oct 27th] ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/16 "2011-04-09T13:11:31Z")
1. But I would have been drafted the next year (115). ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/17 "2011-04-09T13:33:08Z")
1. Guess I would’ve been drafted. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/18 "2011-04-09T13:47:20Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/19 "2011-04-09T14:00:04Z")
**Jjimm** is quoting _Alice’s Restaurant_. 311; fool that I am I probably would have volunteered. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/20 "2011-04-09T14:57:57Z")
I was 240 and a couple years too young. Was worried about it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745.md?page=2)