by | Oct 6, 2018 | Stories
I saw the “writing on the wall” early on as I began my college years at Mizzou. I thought it was going to be a certainty that I was called to serve, as my father was before me, so I decided to make my time in the service as good as possible. To me, that...
by | Oct 1, 2018 | Stories
I had already been drafted out of graduate school, entering service Oct. 14, 1969, near the end of the pre-lottery draft. On Dec. 1, 1969, when the first drawing was held (after being announced Nov. 26, 1969) I probably was nearing the end of basic training in Fort...
by | Sep 28, 2018 | Stories
I graduated in May 1969 with a B.S. in chemistry and was immediately re-classified as I-A. The September day that I moved my clothes into my room at Mizzou for graduate school, I received my induction notice. I was inducted in early October before the lottery in...
by | Sep 7, 2018 | Stories
In the fall of ’69 it was not uncommon for young men like me to enroll in law school in the hope such a move would keep us out of the draft. I didn’t really want to study law, but it was certainly a good alternative to going to Vietnam. I received a full...
by | Aug 20, 2018 | Stories
I was a journalism student at the University of Missouri. Thanks to a few “quirks of fate,” the draft lottery was essentially irrelevant to me. In 1968, I learned that I was going to be reclassified as 1-A in the draft system because I was five hours “behind” my...
by | Aug 14, 2018 | Stories
I was not looking forward to military service during the Viet Nam war. In the fall of 1968 I applied for the USAF officer training school (OTS) and met all of their qualifications, but the USAF recruiting system lost all of my paperwork. I was offered the opportunity...
