I was in the draft in VietNam war...I stil
recall my draft number...we also had a draft
during WW II
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/bldrafthistory.htm
"For more than 50 years, Selective Service
and the registration requirement for
America's young men have served as a backup
system to provide manpower to the U.S. Armed
Forces.
President Franklin Roosevelt signed the
Selective Training and Service Act of 1940
which created the country's first peacetime
draft and formally established the Selective
Service System as an independent Federal
agency.
From 1948 until 1973, during both peacetime
and periods of conflict, men were drafted to
fill vacancies in the armed forces which
could not be filled through voluntary means.
A lottery drawing - the first since 1942 -
was held on December 1, 1969, at Selective
Service National Headquarters in Washington,
D.C. This event determined the order of call
for induction during calendar year 1970,
that is, for registrants born between
January 1, 1944 and December 31, 1950.
Reinstitution of the lottery was a change
from the oldest first method, which had been
the determining method for deciding order of
call.
366 blue plastic capsules containing birth
dates were placed in a large glass jar and
drawn by hand to assign order-of-call
numbers to all men within the 18-26 age
range specified in Selective Service law.
With radio, film and TV coverage, the
capsules were drawn from the jar, opened,
and the dates inside posted in order. The
first capsule - drawn by Congressman
Alexander Pirine (R-NY) of the House Armed
Services Committee - contained the date
September 14, so all men born on September
14 in any year between 1944 and 1950 were
assigned lottery number 1. The drawing
continued until all days of the year had
been matched to lottery numbers.
In 1973, the draft ended and the U.S.
converted to an All-Volunteer military.
The registration requirement was suspended
in April 1975. It was resumed again in 1980
by President Carter in response to the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Registration
continues today as a hedge against
underestimating the number of servicemen
needed in a future crisis
How the Draft has Changed Since Vietnam
If a draft were held today, it would be
dramatically different from the one held
during the Vietnam War. A series of reforms
during the latter part of the Vietnam
conflict changed the way the draft operated
to make it more fair and equitable. If a
draft were held today, there would be fewer
reasons to excuse a man from service.
Before Congress made improvements to the
draft in 1971, a man could qualify for a
student deferment if he could show he was a
full-time student making satisfactory
progress toward a degree.
Under the current draft law, a college
student can have his induction postponed
only until the end of the current semester.
A senior can be postponed until the end of
the academic year.
If a draft were held today, local boards
would better represent the communities they
serve.
The changes in the new draft law made in
1971 included the provision that membership
on the boards was required to be as
representative as possible of the racial and
national origin of registrants in the area
served by the board.
A draft held today would use a lottery to
determine the order of call.
Before the lottery was implemented in the
latter part of the Vietnam conflict, Local
Boards called men classified 1-A, 18 1/2
through 25 years old, oldest first. This
resulted in uncertainty for the potential
draftees during the entire time they were
within the draft-eligible age group. A draft
held today would use a lottery system under
which a man would spend only one year in
first priority for the draft - either the
calendar year he turned 20 or the year his
deferment ended. Each year after that, he
would be placed in a succeedingly lower
priority group and his liability for the
draft would lessen accordingly. In this way,
he would be spared the uncertainty of
waiting until his 26th birthday to be
certain he would not be drafted."
CodeWarrior
goldenpi
Azurre
ShadowMom
independentm...
INeedAlover
