Since I was 24 in 1969 and would soon no longer be eligible for a student deferment from the military I anxiously awaited my draft number. When I learned that my lottery number was 059, I was worried. The Draft Resistance Union was actively helping infom people of how to avoid the draft. I learned that I was unlikely to serve in the miltary because a previous surgery, needed to repair my broken leg, left me with 4 screws in my left tibia. To avoid having to go through the anxiety and trouble of the army medical exam, only to be rejected, I asked my surgeon to write a letter to the draft board explaining my medical situation. On my 25th birthday I received a very welcome birthday present, a Draft Board notice that I was 4-F and thus permanently ineligible for military service. It turned out my ski injury was a good "break" after all.
