Memoirs Part 7

I wanted to go into the military and to Vietnam, but I didn’t want to be drafted into the Army.

I went to the Navy recruiter and they said there was a nine-month waiting list. I went across the hall to the Air Force recruiter. I told them what the Navy guy said, and the recruiter told me that there was only a three-month wait but that I couldn’t sign up until I was on the wait listwith only one month. It turned out that the Air Force wait list was also nine months. I started worrying about being drafted. My boss, Ken, told me to visit the draft board and they would tell me when my number would come up to be drafted.

I visited the draft board office. It turns out that the lady helping me lived just three blocks down the street from my house. I didn’t know her, but at least we had something in common. She asked for my name. When Itold her, she said that it sounded familiar, I jokingly said something about not being related to "Father Knows Best" Robert Young. She said no and told me to wait a second. She walked over to her desk and looked through a stack of files. She pulled out my file. I asked her what that meant, and she said that she was typing up letters to report to the draft. I explained that I wanted to go Vietnam and that I talked with the Air Force recruiter and that I was on a list but couldn’t sign up for a few months. She told me not to worry about the draft. I said something about my file on her desk and she said that sometimes things get lost. I thought, “Yeah, right.” To make a long story short, I never received my draft notice.