I was finishing up my final semester at NCSU… had been in Air Force ROTC in anticipation of going into the service. The lottery changed everything at the time, and perhaps for my life. I had held campus interviews and was offered a position at RCA Computer Graphics Systems. The choice was to go to work with this job or if drafted go into the service.
I listened to the broadcast, also my bride-to-be at UNC in Chapel Hill was tuned into a radio broadcast. She heard the birthdates up to about No. 36 and her radio went on the blink–by the time the broadcast came back on the lottery was up to the 100s. The further it went the more she was sure I must have been between 36 and 100. When I was called at 354 it meant that I now had the option of taking the RCA job offer with little likelihood of being drafted…mixed feeling all around as my roommate drew No. 11 and was soon off to Ft Jackson and Vietnam, as were several of my fraternity brothers.. some, not to return alive. I have maintained a life long friendship with my roommate and when we meet we often recall the first draft lottery and how it impacted our lives. Not to be forgotten are the people lost, by chance?!