The Navy Years - Draft Notice

In late Spring of 1968 I received a letter to take a physical for military service. It was scheduled in New Haven, CT and was unlike a regular physical performed by a personal physician. The experience was surreal and is pretty much as described in Arlo Guthrie's classic song Alice's Restaurant.

There was a lot of sitting around on benches with lots of other guys waiting to get inspected, injected and prodded. We weren't in the service but I remember being yelled at by people who were. According to the official Selective Service Website we were being examined for mental, physical and moral fitness by the military. Some of the people on the bench had prepared for their physical by ingesting large quantities of drugs but in 1968 they were mostly interested in making the numbers so everyone was deemed moral enough for war as long as they had a pulse.

The part that stuck in my mind was when we lined up and some army guy (with a bad facial wound) had us count off  and be assigned to either Army or Marines. I kept wondering about what happened to his face as we counted off. They needed more Army than Marines. I was picked for Army. I had no ambition about being in the Army, being drafted, being in the War or having the physical but that was the reality.

After my physical I took a drive over to the Yale War Resistance center to ask for an alternative to military service. We chatted a bit about fleeing to Canada but that didn't appeal to me, my Dad and Uncles had served in WWII. I would never leave my family. I left with a really cool button with the Greek Letter Omega, the symbol of resistance. The war was just heating up.

After i was classified 1-A (fit for military service) I realized I didn't have much time before I was have to report for duty. At this time there was no lottery so I couldn't play the odds of getting a low draft number. I took the action of going  on a whirlwind tour of recruitment centers. I was motivated to find the right one and was successful. Here were my results.

• Reserves - No openings  (unless you are a Fortunate Son, which I was not)
• Coast Guard - No openings
• Navy - Yes, signed up.... good choice, school and a free cruise to Vietnam
• Air Force - Never got that far
• Space Force - Trump didn't invent it yet, but I did see 2001 when I went on Liberty from Boot Camp (movie was released in 1968), It would have been my first choice.

Draft Card issued after my Navy service, classification went from 1-A to 1-D meaning reserve status. I served 4 years and one month active duty. I was considered reserve for 2 additional years but they didn't bother me after separation.