Sheer panic ran through my veins in anticipation of the lottery. Like most of us, I had a II-S student deferment and thought I would not be exposed to the draft. Well, the lottery came and I did OK (#215) but my cousin, born on Sept. 14, drew #1. He ended up in Vietnam. I went on to graduate in March of 1970, BS in Aerospace Engineering. Got a job with Pratt & Whitney in West Palm Beach and since they were a defense contractor, I was all set up to get my deferment…..so, lo and behold, Mr. Nixon decided to revoke all defense contractor deferments shortly after I started working….I got called for a physical and promptly flunked it for being underweight. They told me they would re-weigh me in six months, months that I found myself dieting as hard as I could, like I have never done since……I’m still waiting for them to call me back. They never contacted me again. By now, I don’t think they will. But even to this day, I still open the mailbox very sloooooowly.
