I graduated from High School in 1967. After graduation I registered for the draft and qualified for a college student deferment. I kept up my student deferment through the first 2 years of Community College and then transferred to the University of South Florida.
I will never forget December 1, 1969. A large group of students from the residence hall gathered around a TV in the lobby to watch the Draft Lottery. Those in the room that drew the first low numbers were visibly upset. As the numbers got higher, there was more of a sense of relief. Although I drew a high number, I was still apprehensive because no one knew what numbers would eventually be called up. Two guys that roomed next door to me drew low numbers, dropped out of school and we never heard from them again. I continued to stay in college and graduated in 1972.
Eventually, the draft reached 195, not even close to my number of 271. I never opposed the war or supported it. If I had been drafted, I would have served because that would have been my duty. The whole Viet Nam War experience just sort of passed me by. That lottery drawing undoubtedly had a great impact on the rest of my life yet there is no way to know what the alternative effect might have been if I had drawn a lower number.