found my old selective service card from back in the day late

60s. I was classified "IV-D Minister of religion or divinity

student"

actually I wish I would have gone to Vietnam and been

a cannon cocker. Would of been a better use of my time instead

of a worthless mission.

My number was high 300's.. Donald Trump was 356 ( figures)

http://www.historynet.com/whats-your-number.htm

anon4 2day Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>suggest: maybe not post your actual number with birthday but general area?

Our involvement in Viet Nam ended when I was 13.
So I never had a draft #.

I did register for the "selective service" when I was 18, like I was supposed to. But then the military went all-volunteer, and I was never selectively serviced. :)

Did you serve?

michaelm (not logged in) Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Did you serve?

Yes. I served my country by volunteering at food banks, by volunteering to tutor kids in math and science, and in other ways.

I did not serve in the military. While worthy of respect and an honorable way to serve, it's not the only way to serve. :)

Thanks for answering.

I missed the draft by many years. Enlisted anyways and went to Iraq. I probably would have enlisted then too.

My parents hadn't even met during the Vietnam war; no draft number for me. Registered with Selective Service (that still goes on) when I was 18 and joined the Navy when I was 20.

I was drafted before the numbering system.

256

Army recruiter calls - boy - what is your draft number?

Me 256

Recruiter - line goes dead.

Back then soldiers were paid $300 a month and 54,000 had died in Vietnam.

With a 256 number I did not need to go serve the Lord. I was an idiot.

I missed the draft by two years. When I was fifteen I thought for sure I'd die in Vietnam. My friends had older brothers who were drafted.

I enlisted in the Army when my father threw me out. I had nowhere else to go. I served in the cold war in Europe, which was easy. No shots were fired, though many were tossed back.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2017 07:52PM by donbagley.

Well I got #288 but not before I had been called in for not one but two pre-induction physicals.

Since Gordon B wouldn't let me be a mission mormonary I was fooked when my student deferment ran out. The Tet offensive was on and LBJ was running low on cannon fodder.

I knew my blood pressure was generally high but I noticed the medic was writing down numbers as our pressure was taken that were all within a few digits of each other so I requested a retest. Viola, I was given a 1-Y deferment until the lottery system came along.

My lottery number was 8. That's a BIG reason I went on a mission. (Though dealing with my parents if I had refused to go on a mission would've been almost as bad as going to Vietnam.) One of the happiest days of my life was about a year into my mission when I heard they had stopped inducting people and that the war was winding down.

My mission was to Alberta and Saskatchewan, so when anyone asks about the war I answer, "I went to Canada."

Now I have mixed feelings about not having to go to Vietnam. I'm glad I didn't go, but I'm not proud about it. Maybe it's out of pity for those who fought and died for something that did no good.

76.

My number was 206 and it was a certainty that I would go. Every day I would check the mailbox to see if a draft notice or mission call showed up first. I'm not proud of it, but then every kid went on a mission. The mission call came and I was deferred for 2 years. By then the war was winding down.

were dead by the time the rest of us graduated in June.

I was looking at photos of a peace march I participated in and I felt ashamed. Not because I attended it, but because I attended it as a social event. I felt like a jerk when I saw myself clowning around.

I wish I had reached out more to the veterans/survivors.

For my eligible year, my number was 137.

Didn't get called to serve.




Kinda feel guilty. Didn't hide, didn't dodge, just didn't get called...

Too young for Vietnam, and definitely stupid enough to have "served" a mission for the cult.

But wishing to be drafted into a pointless war? About the one time being a cult missionary actually is a better service to humanity.

Wasn't called up for 'Nam.

Later inquired about joining the National Guard. Was told I was too old at age 38.

Became a fully-sworn cop (reserve) in 1997, graduating top of my cadet class in academics. Served until 2006.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2017 03:36AM by steve benson.

I feel much the same way most of the time. I received both student and clergy deferments, and went on a mission. My number came up, but I didn't get called due to the deferment, I guess, and if your number got called, and you didn't get selected, you were home free. But I have a friend who, at 75, just retired from being the senior pilot for an air ambulance service. He did one of the Army aviation programs, possibly "high school-to-flight school," and retired from the Army as a WO-4 senior pilot. He never even went to Vietnam. But Vietnam or no Vietnam, it was wrong to presume that a Mormon mission was as or more important that compulsory military service.

After my mission and at the end of the Vietnam era, I joined the Air Force, anyway, and found myself flying reconnaissance missions (as enlisted crew member) off the coast of Vietnam. With the same Air Force specialty, I could have done this during Vietnam, too, without ever setting foot in the country. But I'd have loved "high school-to-flight school," I think. I just needed someone to sell me on it.

Having said all this, I remain quite happy that I still have all of my limbs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2017 06:29AM by cludgie.

I was in High School when the draft ended. Never served an LDS mission, joined the military,

Joined the Air Force in 65 for four years rather than go on a mission. I had a top secret job and stayed state side for my enlistment. Several of my friends died in Viet Nam. Not much respect for being a soldier in that war. Missionaries were sent off on their missions with "bands playing" and came back to families waiting in the airport with banners and hugs. My return from active duty, not so much as a handshake.

I was still in Brasil, mid 1970, towards the end of my mission and someone in the mission home had a NY Times that listed the newest draft numbers.

I was #57 and had about 4 months before I went home.

I got home in November and by January had received a draft notice for testing etc. I had already decided to apply for the Idaho National Guard since all of Utah was full.

I don't remember why, but I had to go back a 2nd time and after a physical I was told I had high blood pressure. (Which I told the doc who examined me to go on my mission)

At any rate, I've taken meds for that most of my life and for the last few years, it's been pretty normal at any exam time.

I'm SOOO glad I didn't have to go in the military.

As a company commander in 67-68 in vietnam, i never wondered about those worrying over draft numbers or deferments etc. when i returned to grad school i started to look around and see guys fleeing to canada but it was till about 10 years ago i noticed the likes of dick cheney and bill clinton etc who pulled lots of strings i imagine to stay away from the war.
everyone had to face their situations, but as a nevermo i never thought of lds using missions to get away-slick trick!

In 1965 DH got his letter to report to the Greyhound Bus Terminal where they were inducting draftees.

I was 2 months pregnant. I got a letter from my doctor and he was excused. We had friends who married around the same time, but didn't get pregnant soon enough, and they served.

I'm not sure the army would have taken him. He'd contracted hepatitis on his mission and had other mission-related problems. Still, I wonder how it might have turned out had he gone.

Yeah, I had a draft card but was never drafted.
You actually think I can remember the draft lottery number ?

My brothers number was 4. he hopped into his car and went straight over to see the stake president. He needed a rush on his mission calling before they drafted him. They came two days apart. He went to South America (Ironically got shot at a few times), but survived. By the time he got back, the war was over.

According to Mormons I was in the pre-existence not existing yet during the Vietnam war.

Steve Benson - Men born in 1954 were the first year no one was drafted from. The volunteer army has been a success.

Seventeen year old boys no longer worry if they will be drafted and killed in a foreign police action.

Or so we fervently pray.

It was an awful time. I remember as a child learning about the war, and turning the globe in my brother's room to the other side of the world. What the heck were we doing over there, in such a tiny insignificant country? How did our involvement even remotely contribute to our nation's defense?

I can't even tell you what it was like to watch the evening news during those years. Walter Cronkite of CBS was the "it" reporter, and his evening newscast was a mandatory event. We would all gather around the TV set. Every day, without fail, the death toll from Viet Nam was announced -- 4 today. 6. 3. 5. EVERY.FREAKING.DAY, healthy young Americans, mostly young men, were dying. And for what?

Young men of draft age had to make horrible, life-altering decisions. My brother said, whatever anyone decided, they all understood. My brother went Army ROTC, and it worked for him. He was an MIT trained engineer, and had good, solid computer programming skills (for the time.) He spent a good part of his hitch in Hawaii. Later, after my dad died, he got a compassionate transfer home. He never went to Vietnam. He was in the reserves by the time he headed back to MIT for grad school. Later, he deliberately destroyed the ceremonial sword that he was given at his ROTC commencement. He hated the Army, hated our country's involvement in Vietnam. And yet he served anyway. He said, "when your country calls you, you serve." I am beyond grateful that he never needed to go. Given my father's death, it would have irrevocably destroyed my family, and destroyed my chances in life, had he died. I am where I am today because of my dear brother.

One of his MIT engineer friends had a low draft number. He emigrated to Australia, where he built his life. It's been a good one. The Australian government was glad to get such an accomplished individual. Our loss, Australia's gain. He and my brother remain close to this day. They, along with their wives, often travel together.

Many years later, I visited the Vietnam veterans memorial in Washington D.C. It is a deeply moving memorial. So many lives, and for what?

I once made the acquaintance of a young Naval Academy midshipman. His father was grievously wounded in Vietnam. The young man was surprisingly understanding of my family's feelings about the war. He knew with a certainty that the war was deeply divisive.

My one regret is that a lot of people took out their feelings about the war on our country's soldiers. It was never the soldier's fault. They did what our country asked them to do.

Our country's involvement in Vietnam cost the military the trust of the country. It was the impetus for today's all-volunteer force.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2017 08:05PM by summer.

A few guys at Ricks ('66-'67) were pissed that I was "allowed" to be at a US college and not have to worry about the draft.