Does Uncle Sam Want You?

Well, finals are over and I couldn't be happier. My Vietnam War final was today, but that class will stick with me. I was thinking about the Draft today, and how glad I am we don't have one anymore. Life is stressful enough without having to worry about losing the young men I care about to a war on the other side of the world.


The first Vietnam Draft Lottery was held on 01 December 1969. Young men born between 1944 and 1950 and designated 1-A (fit for combat) were eligible to be drafted. 366 little blue prize-machine capsules were put in a bin and drawn out one at a time until each day of the year was assigned a number.


The master of this terrifying game of Russian-bingo-roulette was Rep. Alexander Pirnie, of the House Armed Services Committee. This was televised, by the way. I can't imagine how excruciating that must have been. You see, ideally your birthday would be one of the last ones drawn. In this lottery, all men aged 18-26 with numbers 195 and lower were required to present themselves for possible military service. 


Below is the list of dates with numbers 195 and below. Imagine you fell right in the middle of the prime draftee age range. (For most of my readers, that won't be too difficult to imagine.) Check and see if your birthday is on this unlucky list. If you're anything like me, you'll find all of your friends birthdays and then thank your lucky stars you were all born in the 1980s and '90s. The more I learn about the tragedy of Vietnam, the more I find myself thinking "There, but for the grace of God, go I."





By the way, if you think the results are a little skewed in favor of people with earlier birthdays, you're right. The little capsules were dumped in by month, in chronological order. They considered doing it again, but decided to keep these results. However, for the following years, numbers were added in random order.


JAN 02. 05. 09. 15. 16. 18. 19. 21. 23. 24. 25. 26. 28. 30.


FEB 01. 02. 07. 08. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 17. 19. 23. 25.


MAR 01. 02. 06. 07. 11. 15. 16. 17. 31.


APR 01. 03. 04. 07. 11. 13. 16. 18. 21. 24. 26. 27. 29. 


MAY 03. 06. 07. 10. 11. 12. 14. 15. 16. 17. 19. 20. 24. 30.


JUN 04. 05. 06. 07. 11. 13. 15. 17. 19. 21. 23. 25. 26. 27.


JUL 01. 03. 05. 07. 08. 12. 13. 16. 17. 18. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.  25. 28. 31.


AUG 01. 02. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 12. 15. 16. 18. 17. 23. 24. 28. 29. 31.


SEP 02. 03. 05. 06. 07. 08. 10. 11. 13. 14. 15. 19. 20. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 29.


OCT 02. 05. 06. 12. 13. 15. 18. 20. 22. 25. 26. 28. 30. 31. 


NOV 01. 02. 06. 07. 08. 09. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 20. 21. 22. 23. 25. 27. 29. 30.


DEC 01. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 13. 14. 16. 18. 20. 21. 22. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31.