I had been assigned a II-S educational deferment during my undergraduate college days which continued through my second year of Veterinary Medical School in 1969. I was on track to graduate from "Vet" school in 1971. Before the draft lottery I was not exactly sure the career path I would follow after graduation, but private practice in a rural location seemed most likely. Volunteering for Military Service, though not something I had any reservations about, was at that time not very high on my post grad list. When the 1969 lottery pulled my birthday in the high 40s I did some reordering of my lifeline’s priorities and realized I would be going into the service very soon after graduation. As a result I decided to sign up for a couple of US Army "early commissioning" programs which were available at the time. Making this choice set in motion a cascade of choices, a new destiny if you will, which influenced the rest of my life.
The short version is I had a very illuminating assignment for three years on an isolated Army post in Arizona’s desert southwest. From there I moved on to a small rural desert community in the southeast corner of California where I practiced medicine for the next 35 years, met my wife and raised our children. During this time I had the opportunity to re-establish my past childhood involvement with the Boy Scouts of America as an adult volunteer. For the next 30 years, related in part I believe to my isolated residence, I was given opportunities to do things at every level in the Scouting program (starting at the local Unit level and carrying on up to the National and International levels), a pathway few have the opportunity and privilege to experience.
I humbly believe that because of the numerous varied volunteer Scouting positions in which I have been privileged to serve, that in some small measure I have played a contributory role in the progression of Scouting’s overall program content and mission for both the present and into the future. These contributions may, in the future, have some degree of influence on the development of our next generation of Scouting citizenry albeit one boy at a time. Down the road these kids will be our "best of the best" and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to play a role in that part of their lives and our nation’s future.
I have had many other blessings in my life both professional and personal. However looking at the sum total of all those experiences, an unbeknown single moment in time, the 1969 Selective Service Lottery Draft, probably "nudged" me more than others into making life determining choices that later became the new trails of my destiny.