Do you know what your Vietnam Lottery Number was? Or if you had been 18...

[Up2Late]

...in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 or 1973, what would it have been?

I was 8 years old the last year the Lottery was held, but according to the lottery, I would have been drafted in all but 1972-73.

Check it out.

THE VIETNAM LOTTERIES

Also you can check your registration status and the status of those in you State.

<http://www.sss.gov/records.htm>

Georgia has a 99% compliance, California, New York, Navada...WTF?

<http://www.sss.gov/PDFs/ReportCardMap2003.pdf>

<http://www.sss.gov/y2003stats.htm>

[mike_c]

1. 58, and I was an 18 year old high school dropout....

Missed it by "this much...."

Wow on edit-- I said 56 before I checked. The real number was 58. I must be getting older....

[GalleryGod]

2. Same as Big Dawg's #311 !

:patriot: Tipper didn't get one,but, she was born the same day:patriot:

[tekriter]

3. Actually, the lottery is why I enlisted in the Air Force...

My number in 1973 was 35, as in "start packing!".

[hobbit709]

4. In 1969

I was 19, 1-A and my number was 98. Being 19 you don't listen to anything your old man tells you but this time I did. He told me if I went into the Army he would kick my ass every step of the way from home to the induction center, which was 45 miles away. He spent 12 years in the Army Airborne, saw 18 months combat in korea, said it was about as fucked up as Nam except at 40 below zero. So I "proudly" enlisted in the Air Farce.

p.s. My draft notice caught up with me at Lackland AFB during basic.

[paineinthearse]

5. 9

I got my number and went for the physical, but the draft ended, thank god!

[Old and In the Way]

24. Me too!

That was a most depressing experience. I remember guys eating lots of butter and sugar to get their BP up in hopes that they'd 4F their physicals. Claiming to be "gay" was another route, but I think the Army was on to that by '72...

[paineinthearse]

36. We share the same birthday and are deadheads, too?

Cosmic!

[Old and In the Way]

39. Damn close

see my post below....who knows? Maybe we even commiserated about our fate somewhere in Boston in '73....

:-)

[stevedeshazer]

6. One

As in, #1.

[Richard D]

7. I got 350

[RoyGBiv]

8. That's a bit creepy ...

I too would have gone in all years but one. I was born in '69, and that year my number would have been 008, which means nothing, but it feels odd.

[kliljedahl]

9. 300 in 1971

Went for my physical, passed. Freaked out. Talked my way into a deferment by pointing out a swelled tendon on my foot. Got back to the local draft board & convinced them it was permanent. Otherwise, Alberta bound.


Keith’s Barbeque Central

[Lisa]

10. anybody remember this problem with the early draft lotteries?

http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v5n2/datasets.starr.html

It gets cited a lot in statistics courses. Even though I'm female, and was too young anyway -- being born in December, I remembered this!


"This lottery was a source of considerable discussion before being held on December 1, 1969. Soon afterwards a pattern of unfairness in the results led to further publicity: those with birthdates later in the year seemed to have had more than their share of low lottery numbers and hence were more likely to be drafted. On January 4, 1970, the New York Times ran a long article, "Statisticians Charge Draft Lottery Was Not Random," illustrated with a bar chart of the monthly averages (Rosenbaum 1970a). It described the way the lottery was carried out, and with hindsight one can see how the attempt at randomization broke down. The capsules were put in a box month by month, January through December, and subsequent mixing efforts were insufficient to overcome this sequencing. The details of the procedure are quoted in Fienberg (1971a) and the first three editions of Moore (1979, 1985, 1991)."

[mtnsnake]

11. That was a tense night in 1969. Mine was in the high 200's

which pretty much was a relief, although many of my friends didn't fare that well. It was then and there that some of their lives were drastically changed. I remember all the bars giving free drinks that night to anyone whose number was 1. What a bummer.

[Lisa]

14. My boss says that a guy in his dorm hurled a chair into the TV set

... after his number came up. It wasn't 1, but low enough to go.

[rfranklin]

12. Number 5

I was drafted but managed to get myself rated 4-F at the physcial.

[starmaker]

13. 18

Last year of lottery so it didn't matter

[Bozita]

15. What's GWB's birthday?

[Lisa]

17. July 6th

Growing up, I bet he thought all those fireworks were for HIM.

[roguevalley]

16. mine was 235. my brother's was 2.

[MisterP]

18. Eee! #1 at the beginning

[ben_thayer]

19. 45

1A. Managed to hang on to a student deferment from the local community college for a couple years but lost it. I was only days from being called up when the draft was ended. Closest call of my life!


:scared:

[mth44sc]

20. Who would ever forget it

Mine was 8

Did the pre-induction physical and then Nixon ended to draft trying to save HIS hide.

[Poiuyt]

21. 361!! I remember that day very well

I was driving in my car and heard it on the radio. I almost drove off the road. I came home and told my Republican parents. My mother said, "Well, you could have always gone to Canada." I couldn't believe that a Nixon supporter would have said that.

[Old and In the Way]

22. #24 in the '72 draft

I still remember that awful sinking feeling.......

[B Calm]

23. Never got a draft lottery number. I enlisted while I was 17 years

old.

[BrotherBuzz]

25. Fourteen

I was one of those dumb draftees that added "no value, no advantage, really, to the United States armed services over any sustained period of time." - Rumsfeld....The royal asswipe.

[Hubert Flottz]

30. Man, that pissed me off worse than anything that no good prick

has said or done yet! Fuck That MoFo!!!!!!!!!!!

EDIT} The very first thought that entered my head when Rumbo made the "No value, no advantage" statement about the draftees, was about my friends who NEVER CAME BACK!

[NMDemDist2]

26. I was lucky for two reasons, # 362 and I'm a female

but it didn't stop me from protesting all over the Bay Area in the 70's

[Hubert Flottz]

27. Mine was 136 in the first lotto and I got my notice the first of Feb.

1970! Talkin' about a sinking feeling!

Edit} Very shortly after I got that Greetings letter from uncle sugar I found myself in a "Military Bind"(World Of Shit)at Fort Ord California! It was not a pretty sight!

[jimshoes]

28. The year I was up

I think in 1971, my draft # was 157. The army only took up to 75 or something that year. I suspect I would have gone if it came to it, although I was somewhat relieved that I lost that lottery.

[Elwood P Dowd]

29. They got me in 1970 when I was almost 24.

I had graduated from college and worked a few weeks as 1-A and just waiting for the greetings. Somehow, they never came and I was put in the lottery. Can't remember the number - maybe 196 or 198. I was told they probably wouldn't go much past 150 in my area, so I got a better job and was living the life of Riley when the notice came 10 months later. I think they went to about 225. Talk about being not ready and out of shape for basic. I lost from 190 to 160 in like 4 weeks but got in great shape.

[onenote]

31. forty-six

It was the 1972 draft lottery (for those born in 1953). I remember that they were predicting that they would call between 45 and 50...I was called for my physical, but ultimately they didn't draft anyone that year (I think).

onenote

[mth44sc]

33. Sure they did

As I noted earlier - I was 8 that year. I'll never forget going to the pre-induction physical and seeing the faces of those who DID get drafted in what turned out to be the last call before Nixon ended the draft. I have often wondered how they made out.

[onenote]

47. Only 646

That was the number of draftees inducted into the military in 1973 (which would be the folks whose numbers were drawn in 1972). Hopefully none of them actually were sent to Vietnam.

http://www.landscaper.net/draft70-72.htm#Lottery%20Held%20February%202,%201972

[HuskiesHowls]

32. I was 4-F, so I didn't worry about it... n/t

[Up2Late]

40. What did you have to do to get 4-F? and are the grades...

...in between 1-A and 4-F?

[onenote]

49. the classifcations varied over time

Here's a list of some of them:

Draft Board Classifications
The following is a list of Selective Service classifications
that could be assigned by draft boards:


I-A Available for military service
I-A-0 Conscientious objector available for noncombatant military service only
I-C Member of the armed forces of the U.S., the Coast and Geodetic Survey, or the Public Health Service
I-D Member of reserve component or student taking military training
I-H Registrant not currently subject to processing for induction
I-0 Conscientious objector available for civilian work contributing to the maintenance of the national health, safety, or interest
I-S Student deferred by statute (High School)
I-Y Registrant available for military service, but qualified for military only in the event of war or national emergency
I-W Conscientious objector performing civilian work
contributing to the maintenance of the national health, safety, or interest
II-A Registrant deferred because of civilian occupation (except agriculture or activity in study)
II-C Registrant deferred because of agricultural occupation
II-D Registrant deferred because of study preparing for the ministry
II-S Registrant deferred because of activity in study
III-A Registrant with a child or children; registrant deferred by reason of extreme hardship to dependents
IV-A Registrant who has completed service; sole surviving son
IV-B Official deferred by law
IV-C Alien
IV-D Minister of religion or divinity student
IV-F Registrant not qualified for any military service
IV-G Registrant exempt from service during peace (surviving son or brother)
IV-W Conscientious objector who has completed alternate service contributing to the maintenance of the national health, safety, or interest in lieu of induction into the Armed Forces of the United States
V-A Registrant over the age of liability for military service

[maveric]

34. 67! I glad I was born two years too late.

I would have been shooting at Charlie!

[Up2Late]

35. Kick n/t

:kick:

[dbt]

37. 335--and Nixxon could kiss my shiny metal ASS!

:hippie:

[bikebloke]

38. Used to watch the lottery in high school

My numbers were always in the last third. By the time I was old enough, the draft had been ended.

[NoPasaran]

41. Turned 18 in 1974

Had to register, but the lottery was suspended by them.

[triguy46]

42. In 1971, I HAD THE WINNER!!!, 365.

From that day I went from worrying about my ass, to trying to stop the war, (and try to drink every beer I could find). I did get drunk that night, in beautiful Cameron, MO.

Of course, winning that lottery means I'll never win the powerball. I won my life.

[sazemisery]

43. If this lottery were held today my sons would be #3 & #41

OH MY GODDESS!!!

[drdtroit]

44. 355, thank God!

[micrometer_50]

45. I'll never forget mine - #26 1969

Joined USAF to beat the draft.

[DemoTex]

46. I watched the lotto from the "O" Club in 1969.

My number was 217, but I already had orders to Vietnam.

[Javaman]

48. I would have been prime choice, eligible for all the years of the draft...

luckly, my sisters were born first and then my brother and I. If it was the other way around, don't know if I'd still be here writing this.
Weird concept.

[Ouabache]

50. mine was #318

hate to say it this way, but Clinton would have gone before me.

I still got out and protested, even though it was assured that I would never get called. And I think this was some of the Nixon evil-genius at work, assure over HALF of the pool that they would not be called and you defuse the anti-war effort somewhat, removing some of the people, now no longer concerned that they themselves could be called up. make sense?