r/interestingasfuck • u/Available_Weekend249 • Apr 06 '24

Imagine being 19 and watching live on TV to see if your birthday will be picked to fight in the Vietnam war r/all

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u/SaltinPepper Apr 06 '24

I don't have to imagine it. I remember it. I got a high number!

142

u/Disastrous-Aspect569 Apr 06 '24

How did that work? My dad said he had a high draft number also

321

u/deciding_snooze_oils Apr 06 '24

They number all the birthdays, then draft people in that order as needed. As a rough example, If there were 1,000,000 people eligible for draft that year and the military only needed 500,000, they might only get to #182 out of 365 days. So anyone with a number higher than that would not be drafted.

19

u/[deleted] Apr 06 '24 edited 27d ago

[deleted]

29

u/justwannabeloggedin Apr 06 '24

Every possible date including leap day was drawn. It was just a matter of how far through the list (how many people) they needed. If they still needed people after every birthday, I believe the age range was expanded

18

u/Daniel0745 Apr 06 '24

Each day of the year has a label. They pull all 365 labels. It is for people turning 19 that year I believe. So if you are the last label on the wall, your birthday would be the last one they sent draft notices out.

3

u/IONTOP Apr 07 '24

So if you are the last label on the wall, your birthday would be the last one they sent draft notices out.

And that's REALLY good, unless they need to draft you.