I just missed the draft loto by a short amount of time, couple weeks. The classes ahead of me in high school were all trying to figure out what to do enlist or be drafted some got college deferments.
I had a good friend at work that was drafted into the Army and served on the front lines in the war and he told me the worst part was getting past the first few weeks and figuring out how to not get killed. He had a short time to go and got a letter from home that his younger brother was drafted and would be shipped over. At that time they had a rule that two brothers wouldn’t be in the war zone at the same time. He took it on himself to reenlist for 2 more years knowing his brother would likely stay state side or go to Germany or something. His girlfriend was looking forward to him getting out and getting married and she wasn’t too happy. He said he had hunted with his younger brother for years and just knew he made too much noise and didn’t think before he acted and would be one of the ones that wouldn’t make it a day.
It was a different time to grow up watching the news each night and hearing the death reports every night like a weird score card and wondering if it would end before it was our turn. Amazingly our town and high school only lost one guy in that war. I always thought there should be a monument or something in the town park but nothing was ever done for him.