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Anon describes past
(lemmy.ml)
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this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
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If OP was 20 in the Summer of '69 then he most certainly was eligible to fight in a war.
Wasn't it like 8.25% of eligible men were drafted? Which doesn't include college deferments, "bone spur" avoidance, etc?
More than 9 out of 10 people didn't get drafted. It certainly sucked for those who did, but the majority didn't have to worry about war.
I would not have wanted to take my chances of being one of the 1/12. They not have had to worry once it was all over, but while it was happening a lot of people were at risk of being sent to die in a foreign land.
Oh yeah I get what you're saying, and I'd agree cause I'm sure I'd have been picked (Although I guess we could probably look at the records and see if we would have been drafted based on our birthdays). It still doesn't change the fact the economy was way better for everyone though.
About 40% of that generation was in the military. 8% were drafted, but a lot of the 32% who voluntarily joined did so in order to exercise some control over where they ended up. Even those who didn't serve, often had to deal with the overall risk hanging over their head, or were actively committing crimes to avoid the draft. The draft might have only directly affected 8%, but the threat of the draft, and people's decisions around that issue, was a huge part of that generation's lived experience.
It's not like you knew; you were still fucking worried even if you were in the 9/10. Also, human beings don't exist in isolation, and even if you didn't get drafted, there was still a significant possibility that someone you loved (eg Elvis) got drafted.