1. Vietnam War
The Draft

2. What is Conscription (The Draft)?
The governments way of forcing young men to fight in our conflicts when their isn’t enough professional military and volunteers available.

3. History of the Draft
Civil War: The vast majority of troops were volunteers; however, of the 2,100,000 Union soldiers, about 2% were draftees, and another 6% were paid substitutes
WWI: Selective Service Committee formed in 1917 under Woodrow Wilson. These boards issued draft calls in order of numbers drawn in a national lottery and determined exemptions. In 1917 and 1918 some 24 million men were registered and nearly 3 million inducted into the military services, with little of the resistance.
WWII: The World War II draft operated from 1940 until During this time, more than 11 million men had been inducted into military service.

4. Vietnam
The 1st lottery style drawing was held December 1st, This determined the order of call for the induction beginning in 1970.
Any male born between January 1, 1944 and December 31, 1950.
4 lotteries were held during Vietnam – December 1969, July 1970, August 1971, and February 1972.

5. What did the lottery look like?
366 blue plastic capsules containing birth dates placed in a glass container. Drew the dates by hand and publically announced them via the major news stations.
The 1st date chosen – SEPTEMBER 14
CBS news report on the 1969 lottery!

6. The Lottery
1970 (drawn 12/1/1969): 001 – (drawn 7/1/1970): 001 – (drawn 8/5/1971: 001 – (drawn 2/2/1972: 0

7. Deferments Of the 26.8 million draft age men -
I-A Available for military service
I-A-O Conscientious objector – non combatant
I-O Conscientious objector –civilian service
I-S Student deferred (high school)
II-A Registrant deferred for civilian occupation
III-A Registrant with child or children
IV-A Registrant who has completed service
IV-B Official deferred by law
IV-C Alien
IV-D Minister of religion
IV-F Registrant not qualified
V-A Registrant over the age of liability
Of the 26.8 million draft age men -
15.4 million or 57% were deferred, exempted or disqualified
570,000 or 2% committed draft violation
8,750 were convicted
3,250 went to prison
3,000 went into hiding
100,000 fled the country