# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![banjoDavid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@banjoDavid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/banjoDavid)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/41 "2011-04-09T18:16:43Z")
1971 I had filed as a non-military, non- combatant conscientious objector, and was preparing to defend my claim, when the number came up high. I was classified 1-H, a holding status, so I never had to defend my beliefs. I knew I didn’t want to go into basic training and learn how to kill someone. If my claim had been approved, I would have worked as some kind of medic. As it was, the next 2 years, I worked in hospitals, halfway houses, and nursing homes, following a similar path. I have been attending a Quaker meeting for the last 6 years, finding myself again among pacifists. I haven’t changed my mind. War does not solve any problems, it only kills people. Peace, David ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/42 "2011-04-09T18:28:03Z")
1. I’d have been one of the first ones. ---
**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, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/43 "2011-04-09T19:03:20Z")
> [@Marc\_Xenos](#): > > Toward the end of Vietnam, there was also the College Deferment, which meant that as long as you were enrolled fulltime and pursuing a degree, you couldn’t be drafted until you’d graduated. A lot of people hoped that Vietnam would be over by that time. Bill Clinton was one of those. Didn’t getting a college deferment also increase the maximum age you could be drafted at from 26 to _35_? That being said I doubt the Army would’be been in much of a hurry to draft men in their 30s when they still had an ample supply of men in their teens/early 20s. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/44 "2011-04-09T19:09:24Z")
my birthday is Sept. 14. Is that bad? (Actually, my number is 345.) ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/45 "2011-04-09T19:54:00Z")
I would have been #21, but I’m female and wasn’t alive at the time. My dad was #98 that year and the right age. He didn’t get drafted because he worked for the Department of Defense in a position that supported the war effort (as did my mom). I’m pretty sure that was a consideration when he applied for the job (he started there in '64 or '65). ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/46 "2011-04-09T19:58:18Z")
My lottery number was 65. I was 4-F. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/47 "2011-04-09T20:07:43Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > They had a new lottery for every year and they got to a different number in different years too. Was that his year? The 1970 Draft lottery covered the year my father was born. From the website, I understood there were no other lotteries for the birth year 1948. Is that incorrect? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/48 "2011-04-09T20:12:27Z")
364, had I been eligible. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/49 "2011-04-09T20:18:05Z")
77 I guess I would have gone if I’d been male and over my actual age (I was 2 in 1970) ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/50 "2011-04-09T21:22:47Z")
1. No boot camp for me! ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/51 "2011-04-09T21:51:04Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > The fact that I’m alive today is because of my high draft number: 359. And the fact that I’m gay. Ditto, except my number was 322. I still get sick to my stomach remembering the day they drew the numbers. Those of you reading this who are about 18-21 or so - think what you would feel like if you watched TV, knowing if your birth date number was going to send you off to Afghanistan or not. Now you might understand why college campuses were rife with demonstrations and everyone was quite politically motivated back then. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/52 "2011-04-09T23:27:00Z")
#365… Oct 19th in the 1974 draft lottery… look it up here [http://www.sss.gov/LOTTER5.HTM](http://www.sss.gov/LOTTER5.HTM) ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/53 "2011-04-10T00:29:29Z")
The lottery for which I was eligible was held February 2, 1972. My number was 333. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/54 "2011-04-10T00:38:43Z")
OMG!!! 001 – fortunately I was too young, though I was old enough to start being worried about being drafted by the time the war ended. I was actually at just the right age – I was in a “donut hole” in the system so I was never even required to register for the draft. ---
**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 10, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/55 "2011-04-10T00:41:13Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > …Now you might understand why college campuses were rife with demonstrations and everyone was quite politically motivated back then. Plus men who weren’t even old enough to vote were still subject to the draft. You could be drafted at 18, but couldn’t vote (in most states) until you turned 21. That didn’t change until 1972. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/56 "2011-04-10T01:40:10Z")
Just missed draft eligibility by a few years but would have been #358 anyway, so no sweat. I could have proudly urged on my compatriots to go kill those Commies from the comfort of my nice, safe living room. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/57 "2011-04-10T03:20:40Z")
Mine was in the low 200s, right after they stopped actually drafting anyone regardless of number. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/58 "2011-04-10T04:30:44Z")
55, but I was only fourteen years old that year. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/59 "2011-04-10T04:32:13Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > He was lucky, but it also depends on the year. As the war wound down in 1971-72 and troops were being withdrawn, it coincided with those guard enlistments expiring and more openings happening. To this day he considers himself very lucky. He was born in 1949 so it was near the end. He had a six year commitment so he was still in many years after the War was over. > [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I was actually at just the right age – I was in a “donut hole” in the system so I was never even required to register for the draft. There are only four or five years in the hole where you were too young for Nam but too old for when Carter reinstated registration. A co-worker of mine is in that hole and had one hell of a time convincing some bureaucrat one time that he really wasn’t required to register and didn’t have a number. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/60 "2011-04-10T04:48:06Z")
Three twenty-something. Hell, no, I won’t go. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745.md?page=4)