People born in December got hammered. The night of the live lotto on national tv must have been a gut punch for many.

Well I would have been up to my knees in rice paddies, with guns, going up against Charlie, slugging it out with him, while p***ies like you (above 195) were back here partying, putting headbands on, doing drugs and listening to the GD Beatles albums.

My dad's birthday was 314, but...he had walked into the recruiters office 2 years earlier and enlisted in the Marines. He says he didn't want to wait to get drafted into the Army as the son, grandson and great-grandson of Marines. Quit college, enlisted, boot camp, sent to OCS immediately after boot camp, sent to flight school, eventually served one cruise at Yankee Station 1971-72, 147 days on the Line.

Edited for clarity.

Gramercy Riffs said:

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My father was #108. When he and his friends reported, he was notified that his paperwork wasn't there for some reason. It apparently got shuffled around for several months (and I think was eventually lost at one point). He passed his physical, graduated from college and waited for the call, just weeks before his first child was to be born. By the time it got straightened out they'd put the process on hold, and he was told to wait again. When the next draft resumed, he was too old to get called.

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The military never helped me by losing my stuff. If it was an order in my favor it was lost. If it sent me to some ****hole it was laminated.

JABQ04 said:

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220s. I like to think I would have volunteered rather than be drafted but who knows back then. My dad is a self proclaimed draft dodger. Also he says it is one of his biggest regrets now for not serving.

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I think the more I study this time period and talk to relatives that served the more I change my position. I think 1965-1969 I would have immediately signed up to fly helos. Fought the Communist!

After 1969 when all the truth started coming out about the lies and key members of the White House resigning. Add to that the pointless battles to take land and then give it back. Hamburger Hill comes to mind as an example. If you aren't taking territory to hold it I just can't imagine the frustration. You can't fight a war based on body count. I don't think I would have signed up 1970-1975 but who knows.

Much like Iraq and Afghanistan, the political folks during Vietnam made rules (ROE) that adversely hampered our ability to fight. I struggled with this as I watched brave American Men die. I think Vietnam may have been worse.