# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Marc\_Xenos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Marc\_Xenos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marc_Xenos)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/81 "2011-04-11T22:10:07Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Now, I don’t want to minimize the implications of that 4% - but it’s a far cry from a death sentence. I was the one that referred to the Draft during Vietnam as a death sentence. Now we can quibble about the semantics of exactly what a death sentence is. Certainly, being drafted was not an absolute guarantee of death. But knowing the odds were astronomically higher than normal that a draftee would be killed, it FELT like a death sentence. Especially with the Johnson administration’s stated goal of a War by Attrition. To stand back and analyze it, isolated from any effect of it, is one thing. To live in it, it becomes another. We can hypothesize that if I point a gun at you, there is only a 50% chance that you’ll die. (Either I shoot or I don’t.) That means there is also an equal 50% chance that you’ll live without any harm. Sounds real good in hypotheticals. Now let’s see you analyze it in person with that muzzle in your face. Sure seems like a death sentence, even if the trigger hasn’t been pulled yet. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/82 "2011-04-11T22:23:13Z")
But saying that it felt like a death sentence and saying the reason you’re alive today is because you didn’t go are two very different statements. ---
**Author:** ![dawson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@dawson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dawson)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/83 "2011-04-11T22:34:43Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > #342 > > It’s not a very complex formula, is it? I’m 342 also if I was alive . I guess we share a birthday then? ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/84 "2011-04-11T22:43:56Z")
> [@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. According to the ‘secret’ family story, my brother’s soon-to-be-father-in-law managed to pull strings to get him into the National Guard in order to avoid the draft. He wound up in Vancouver, BC. His number was 192. I wasn’t born until 1967, but I would have been 145. ---
**Author:** ![Marc\_Xenos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Marc\_Xenos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marc_Xenos)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/85 "2011-04-11T22:44:26Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > But saying that it felt like a death sentence and saying the reason you’re alive today is because you didn’t go are two very different statements. Are we nit-picking semantics or even drama? If it felt like a death sentence, real or only perceived, what’s wrong with it feeling like a miracle of the lottery to be alive today, real or only perceived? I’ve been shot, stabbed, sliced, taken prisoner, held hostage, tortured, and beaten up on numerous occasions, and even suffered two separate heart attacks. So if I feel it’s a miracle to be alive because the house I sold a couple months ago got flattened by a tornado last night, I still feel lucky. All those circumstances work in a peculiar way called Fate and no one can say that one incident in a long chain was NOT responsible. ---
**Author:** ![Marc\_Xenos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Marc\_Xenos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marc_Xenos)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/86 "2011-04-11T22:55:41Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > According to the ‘secret’ family story, my brother’s soon-to-be-father-in-law managed to pull strings to get him into the National Guard in order to avoid the draft. He wound up in Vancouver, BC. His number was 192. A lot of us tried to join the Guard, for the express purpose of avoiding the draft. For that reason, they always made their quota, so a lot of guys got rejected just for being too late. Others joined the Air Force. Same story, and same for Coast Guard, as well. Navy, too, for that matter. Toward the end, there was the student or college deferral. I had one teacher who openly admitted that his primary reason for becoming a teacher was to keep from being drafted. I really didn’t, nor don’t, care what someone reasons were for avoiding the draft or how they chose to do it. Clinton took the college deferment. Bush was able to get into the Guard. Hell, if MY number had been lower, I’d have just enlisted in the Navy earlier. I don’t even fault the guys who ran to Canada. Everyone has to make his own decision. I did disagree with the amnesty for them to come back. They made a conscious decision to reject their citizenship, which I respect. For them to renege on it shows a lack of integrity, but hey, it was out of my hands. There was no “dishonor” in joining the National Guard, for whatever personal reasons it may have been. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/87 "2011-04-11T23:52:57Z")
They used my birthday in that example, so 322. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/88 "2011-04-12T00:52:45Z")
My lottery number was 107. Fortunately for me, my draft board had a large population of men who either volunteered or couldn’t get a deferment, so I was never called. Three of my friends had lottery numbers below 25 – two of them made it through with student deferments; the other one lost his deferment, had some relatives pull strings to get him into the National Guard, and ended up still pulling Guard duty two years after the Paris Peace Accord had been signed. Nevertheless, he was convinced he got the better end of the deal. ---
**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 12, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/89 "2011-04-12T01:51:38Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > That’s overstating things quite a bit, isn’t it? After all, not all draftees went to Vietnam. The ones that did didn’t all go into combat. And even if you went into combat there was less than a 4% chance of being killed in action, according to my quick math. > > Now, I don’t want to minimize the implications of that 4% - but it’s a far cry from a death sentence. Let’s not forget all the lucky bastards who got legs blown off from land mines, yet still lived. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/90 "2011-04-12T03:33:21Z")
interesting and sobering table. First year of eligibility, if I were of age, I was toast. My number was under 50. I took a look at all of the years they ran the draft, and I would have been taken in half of them. Life is truly a random event. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/91 "2011-04-12T03:35:04Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > 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. Were you in Israel when you turned 18, or were you back by then? What is the draft age for Israelis (and isn’t it compensatory?) If you were there, did you go? ---
**Author:** ![yola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/48db29/32.png) [@yola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yola)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/92 "2011-04-12T05:11:32Z")
I remember listening to the radio that December 1st when they announced the numbers one by one. Being a 14 y/o girl at the time I wasn’t fazed by being #109. I was fazed about having 2 of my favorite teachers getting pulled out of class to be drafted. I know quite a few names on the Wall. ---
**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 12, 2011, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/93 "2011-04-12T05:34:12Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Were you in Israel when you turned 18, or were you back by then? What is the draft age for Israelis (and isn’t it compensatory?) > > If you were there, did you go? I’ve lived in Israel for 29 of my 36 years, so yeah, I was here when I was 18. I went. It’s a different experience than the U.S. draft was - you have years to prepare, and all your friends are also going in, so it feels like the normal thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/94 "2011-04-12T17:24:36Z")
Thank goodness, I got shinty-six. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/95 "2011-04-15T03:29:32Z")
in the 72 lottery, I was 202 ---
**Author:** ![Navy\_draftee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ec9cab/32.png) [@Navy\_draftee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Navy_draftee)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/96 "2016-10-18T03:01:27Z")
"YOU WERE BORN BEFORE 1944 AND 1950 " I was born in 1945 and by the time January of 1970 arrived I had been out of the service for over 2 years. I was drafted into the Navy on October 14,1965. Age 20 years, 2 months (over 4 years before the lottery was started)) ---
**Author:** ![I.Dunno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9f8e36/32.png) [@I.Dunno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I.Dunno)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/97 "2016-10-19T03:01:58Z")
Yeah, I know this is a zombie thread. Why is there no number for Jan. 1, 1971? [Vietnam Lotteries | Selective Service System : Selective Service System](https://www.sss.gov/About/History-And-Records/lotter1) And I was number 123 for that year. I was a freshman in college and had a deferment but dropped out after my sophomore year. I was then given a 1-H classification (holding) but the war and draft were winding down by then. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/98 "2016-10-19T05:20:36Z")
By the time the lottery came around, people my age had already mostly been drafted, unless they were exempted. Not me, I was in Canada. In 1970, my number wold have been in the 300s, but I never bothered to find out. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/99 "2016-10-19T07:18:36Z")
Birthday Dec 30th 1970 - 003 (yikes) 1971 - 192 1972 - 167 1973 - 281 1974 - 226 1975 - 266 1976 - 149 I’d have been screwed the first year. Still, my poor eyesight might have kept me out. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745/100 "2016-10-19T11:08:49Z")
IF I had been born one year earlier in 1956, my number would have been 086. Not good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-have-been-or-was-your-draft-lottery-number-during-vietnam/577745.md?page=6)