How important were Drafts during the Vietnam War? During the Vietnam War drafts were a huge part of troops and their families lives. The draft was a way that we would make our troops bigger and better by forcing American men to fight in the war.. American men had to sign up for the draft at age 18. Men from the ages between 18 and 26 were the main chosen to go over to fight. If it weren’t for the draft we wouldn't have had very many men to fight in the war. During the vietnam war at least ⅓ of the American troops were selected for military services through the draft and about ⅔ of the troops were volunteered. (Vietnam War..n.pag.) African Americans accounted for fourteen percent of our troops. Often times men that were being drafted to fight …show more content…
They required information varying from your name to your physical description. A Selective Service registration number, age, date and place of birth, ethnicity and place of residence at time of registration were all required on the draft card. If a mans name was drawn he was required to report to his local draft board for evaluation which was made up of community members who usually had political ties within the community. Men were allowed to get out of being drafted if their religion was against it, they were injured or health problems, needed at home to support their families, or were wealthy and educated. Some men would run away to Canada to get away from being drafted and were known as Draft …show more content…
That was was called the Draft Lottery. On the first of December 1969, the Selective Service System conducted the first lottery draft since 1942. There were 366 plastic capsules that were put into a jar and each capsule had a year on it. Each capsule that was drawn received a draft number. Then the way they were called to duty by their draft number until the needs were met for the military troops. After the first lottery, the second one was held for all of the 26 letters of alphabet to order the priority among the men with the same birthdays. Although there were still some disagreements about how the drafts were being done, many people accepted the draft lottery was better choice than the draft