...landed me in CG boot camp, rather than Vietnam.
With an on again, off again 2S (student deferment) I entered the
birthday lottery. Pulled #217. They called up to #215 and drafted to
~190. My backup was the Canadian border just 100km north.
A bit of background for those outside the US. Someone thought up a
scheme to give draftable guys a bit of certainty. All birthdays were put
in a hat and the order they were drawn was the order of the draft. I
remember a lot of celebrating and/or crying going on that night in the
student union as the numbers were pulled.
I was one of the lucky ones, many of my friends were not. 2 did not come
back. All who went were profoundly affected both physically (scrapnel,
agent orange, etc.) and mentally. I lost a friend to complications from
agent orange many years after the fact. And a kid I grew up with turned
out to be a hero...
Seems history continues to repeat itself.
M
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