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...
by | Aug 13, 2018 | Stories
I was at a Missouri basketball game when, at halftime, they announced the dates/numbers for the first drawing. I was married and had graduated that spring and immediately started that summer on my MBA. Like many others, I had put my name on the waiting list at...
by | Aug 9, 2018 | Stories
One month after graduation from Mizzou in May 1969 I received my draft notice, ordered to report for induction at the end of September. Two days after my draft notice I got my acceptance letter from the Peace Corps. Had I gotten the Peace Corps letter before my draft...
by | Aug 2, 2018 | Stories
I was near the end of my undergraduate degree and remember seeing groups of 10-15 men huddled around radios in the Missouri University Student Commons. I heard my birthdate and lottery No. 70 announced, which elicited groans around the room vs. the many cheers when...
