10/52 - Not Every Lottery Win is a Win

As I mentioned in my last post, I just read Kristin Hannah’s new book, The Women. Like her other books (I was initially hooked by The Nightingale and Four Winds), it's a good read/listen. The story centers around a heroic Vietnam Army nurse, Frankie McGrath. 

While reading the book, I kept thinking about the incredible luck I had to be born when I was. Not a blessing, not by the grace of God, not anything I did, just plain old luck.

Conversations about the draft are likely to seem as foreign to my children's ears as conversations about the days of rotary-dial phones or Swanson TV dinners. These are things that are so far removed from my children’s existence as to be incomprehensible. 

My children were lucky to be born in an entirely volunteer Army era. The United States military transitioned to an all-volunteer force at the end of January 1973. Before this decision, the military relied on draftees to fill its ranks.

We all owe an incredible debt of gratitude to these brave people. We take them for granted until some horrible thing occurs in the world. Even then, those of us of whom nothing has been asked can sit back and keep the horror of war at a distance. 

Is this fair? Certainly not. I think back to the sense of community that surrounded the Greatest Generation. No one would voluntarily give up a few years to serve the broader community. We've given up something precious in our collective decision to outsource the pain and the dignity of service.

The United States implemented draft lotteries during conscription from 1947 to 1973. These lotteries determined the order of call for military service during the Vietnam War. Specifically, on December 1, 1969, the Selective Service System conducted two lotteries to establish the priority of call for men born between January 1, 1944, and December 31, 1950. These lotteries marked the first time a lottery system had been employed to select men for military service since 1942. The goal was to address inequities in the draft system and bolster the number of military personnel deployed to the Vietnam War.

Except it didn’t.

During the Vietnam War, the Selective Service System began granting college deferments to enrolled men to delay their eligibility for conscription. These deferments allowed men to delay their eligibility for conscription. These deferments strongly incentivized men who wanted to avoid the draft. For instance, the college entry rate of young men rose from 54 percent in 1963 to 62 percent in 1968 (the peak year of the draft). Educational deferments continued to be issued until September 1971.

The Army constituted around two-thirds of the personnel serving in Vietnam and over 80% of the fatalities.

• Army - 1,736,000 - 38,209 fatalities

• Air Force - 293,000 - 2,584 fatalities

• Marines - 391,000 - 2,277 fatalities

• Navy - 174,000 - 2,559 fatalities

70% of those who served in Vietnam were volunteers; by comparison, about 70% of those who served in World War 2 were draftees. Most Vietnam draftees served in the Army; 50% of Army casualties were from among those drafted. 

The draft lottery had social and economic consequences because it generated further resistance to military service. Those who resisted were generally young, well-educated, healthy men. Reluctance to serve in Vietnam led many young men to try to join the National Guard, state-based military reserve forces, as they were aware that the National Guard would be less likely to send soldiers to the war in Vietnam. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_lottery_%281969%29)

The point is that the system of student deferments created the reality that those who could afford college could avoid service, and those who could not either volunteered or were drafted. College students were entitled to deferments (2-S status) but could be subject to the draft if they dropped out or stopped making "normal progress." This dichotomy had a significant long-term impact on societal cohesion that we still live with today.

19-year-old Sgt. Wayne M. Kidwell is buried next to our friend Kate in the Chestnut Grove Cemetery in Herndon. I think about him every year on Memorial Day. He volunteered, loved his country, and needed his parents' permission to enlist because he was underage. Sgt. Kidwell loved go-carts and fast cars and earned the Purple Heart. Like many of the characters in The Women, his service was likely disparaged by many.

(https://www.searchformygrandparents.com/home/a-memorial-day-stroll-through-chestnut-grove-cemetery)

I was born in 1955. The lottery system ended just two years before I was eligible. The draft lottery was based on birth dates. 366 blue plastic capsules containing birth dates (including February 29) were placed into a glass container. The capsules were drawn by hand, opened individually, and then assigned to a sequence from 1 to 366.

[Administrative processing number (APN) denotes the highest lottery numbers called for each table year. The last draft call was on December 7, 1972, and the authority to induct expired on June 30, 1973.]

Here were my numbers for each year:

• 1975/birth year 1955 — 101

• 1974/birth year 1954 — 296

• 1973/birth year 1953 — 231

• 1972/birth year 1952 — 009

• 1971/birth year 1951 — 054

• 1970/birth year 1950 — 235

Assuming I was born a few years earlier, I likely would have been "safe" by the student deferment. But would I have made that choice? We'll never know.

 And if I wasn't lucky enough to go to and stay in college, what then? What choices would I have made? We'll never know.

 Would I have loved my country enough to volunteer? Volunteer in a war that, in retrospect, seems misguided? We’ll never know.

 We'll never know. I was never put in that situation. Why was I spared these decisions, and others were not?

 So lucky.

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This is part of a series of posts designed to keep me busy and off the street. My New Year’s Resolution was to do one per week. Hopefully some of these musings will contribute to a successor to Immigrant Secrets.

(https://www.amazon.com/Immigrant-Secrets-Search-My-Grandparents/dp/B0B45GTTPP).

 You can get the posts directly HERE (https://www.searchformygrandparents.com/subscribe) or use the subscribe button on this page (https://authory.com/johnmancini).