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September 14

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bluefish

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For all you youngbloods, this is a special day. September 14 was the first date pulled from the hopper in the very first draft lottery during the Vietnam War.
I wasn't in it because I was a year too young. If you lost your student exemption by flunking out or being graduated you'd be in the jungle in 6 weeks. Final exams carried a little more emphasis then. So the lottery could provide a respite.

On that night we were all sitting around in the old Lambda Chi house, long before the dean of men buried us for "decades of renegade behavior," although I think he was just pissed because one of my little brothers fucked his daughter. Anyway, at some very late night hour some dude who none of us knew wandered in the front door buck naked wrapped in a giant American flag with a 6-pack stringer still holding two cans of bud in one hand. He stumbled, regained his balance, looked up at us and said, "When you're asleep, I'll be awake." Then he turned, left and disappeared back into the night.

I'm guessing he was a senior and his birthday was September 14.
 
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Bluefish is just Rj except with believable stories and a grasp of grammatical conventions.
 
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mako1331 said:
Bluefish is just Rj except with believable stories and a grasp of grammatical conventions.
Click to expand...

I definitely got RJ vibes. However, blue fish hasn't irrationally lashed out at anyone, or threatened to ruin anyone's personal life. Bluefish is like cool RJ, only without RJ.

It's possible that RJ was just a giant piece of shit, and sometimes a little bit of cool old man was able to shine through. Bluefish seems like he's just cool
 
Yes, this was only about the story. No insult intended blu. Now, can we discuss how I can work my way into becoming the sole beneficiary of your estate?
 
bluefish said:
For all you youngbloods, this is a special day. September 14 was the first date pulled from the hopper in the very first draft lottery during the Vietnam War.
I wasn't in it because I was a year too young. If you lost your student exemption by flunking out or being graduated you'd be in the jungle in 6 weeks. Final exams carried a little more emphasis then. So the lottery could provide a respite.

On that night we were all sitting around in the old Lambda Chi house, long before the dean of men buried us for "decades of renegade behavior," although I think he was just pissed because one of my little brothers fucked his daughter. Anyway, at some very late night hour some dude who none of us knew wandered in the front door buck naked wrapped in a giant American flag with a 6-pack stringer still holding two cans of bud in one hand. He stumbled, regained his balance, looked up at us and said, "When you're asleep, I'll be awake." Then he turned, left and disappeared back into the night.

I'm guessing he was a senior and his birthday was September 14.
Click to expand...

We sang "America the Beautiful" to that guy out on the quad. You might remember that a Lambda Chi brother pulled #366 (they had to account for leap year).
 
Thanks, bro. I needed some backup. I'm getting mercilessly attacked here for reasons I do not know.

Actually, it was just the comparison to Rj that pissed me off.
 
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bluefish said:
Thanks, bro. I needed some backup. I'm getting mercilessly attacked here for reasons I do not know.
Click to expand...

Now that sounds like Rj.



And seriously Bluefish, I apologize. Just trying to make a joke about a 70s story. No insult intended. I enjoyed the story.
 
Bluefish, I'm going to need you to fly off the handle and start sending racist PMs to anyone in this thread. Go ahead and jump on that ASAP.
 
It would be cool if stories like this put things in perspective for people who claim that occasionally wearing a mask is tyranny.
 
mako1331 said:
Now that sounds like Rj.



And seriously Bluefish, I apologize. Just trying to make a joke about a 70s story. No insult intended. I enjoyed the story.
Click to expand...

Late 60's actually, right ?
 
The Vietnam draft era is one of those times that's really hard for me to put myself in your shoes. I can't imagine staring down the proverbial barrel for such specious reasons. Of course this can be said about most (all?) US involvement post WW2 but there was never a time I legit had to worry about being sent to Iraq. My hat's off to you dudes. I'll certainly never use the term "draft dodger" because I know damn well I would have used every trick I could to avoid it.
 
Oh I remember, a true pins and needles day/night.

I drew #106 and while they said they are only taking the top 100, I still shit my knickers. Turned out I was ok.

Told my parents the only reason I went to school in Rochester was to be close to the Canadian border, just in case. They weren't happy.
 
Here's my Vietnam-era story - By the time I graduated from HS two older friends from HS had died in Vietnam. I considered going to a military college figuring I would be better prepared when it was my time to go, but in the end, just couldn't do that.

I entered ROTC at Wake. At the end of my sophomore year, I had to commit to the army or quit. My first platoon leader and my physics lab partner had both died in Vietnam by then along with two more friends from HS, so my decision to quit was easy.

I drew #111 in the first draft. That was low enough to ensure I would be drafted and to make my employment prospects close to zero. I spent the summer after graduation managing a hotel in Ocean City, Md. with another Wake grad. Every time I saw a billboard or advertisement for some fall or winter event I wondered if I would still be alive by then.

I returned to NJ in mid-September and got the mail from our mailbox every day to make sure my mother didn't see my draft notice first. Nationally the national limit for drafting was #125, so I called my local draft board to find out what number they were working on. It was also #125, so I knew I had days, not weeks left.

At the end of September Nixon's administration announced that they wouldn't draft anyone until 1/1/72. Unfortunately, I wasn't off the hook because anyone who had been draft deferred for college for part of 1971 was automatically classified #1 for the first three months of 1972 if their number was within the last national limit (the same #125). Then Nixon announced at the end of December that there would be no drafting until April, effectively setting me free.

I have three friends left who survived Vietnam. Two were wounded multiple times and all three became alcoholics and suffer from PTSD. Thankfully two of them quit drinking 20+ years ago.

I was one of the lucky ones.

Edit: I should add that the friend who hasn't quit drinking was a marine who was wounded and when he returned to combat he was assigned to the 1st Batallion of the 9th Marine Regiment, AKA The Walking Dead. He was wounded again while in that unit.
 
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I was in that draft lottery, and my number turned out to be right on the borderline. I got lucky and they did not draft me. I missed out on going to Vietnam. Sometimes you need luck in life.
 
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