Back in the vietnam draft what was the conditions of the draft.Age requirments, physical, educational etc.?

Question

Back in the vietnam draft what was the conditions of the draft.Age requirments, physical, educational etc.?

Answer 1

Basically 18 years old and you had to pass a physical.  That's about it.

Answer 2

War draft use to be as long as you could breathe you were in.  By the time WWII was here all men between 21 and 36 years of age went in.  However, during WWII and Vietnam (never declared as a war) I am told men as young as 17 got drafted - however, a lot of young men lied about their ages.  For more info go to the site below.  I am sure some Vietnam Vets (Super Heroes) could give you more details.  

Answer 3

If you were 18 you registered just like now, 25 was the upper cut off age, just like now. If you were qualified for a student deferment you had to do the paperwork. Once out of school you were no longer unavailable. The Army and the Marines (43000 were drafted into the Marines) would ask a local board for a certain number of men. They would recieve the love note and have to show for physical. At that time they would be classed (1A - 4F). Then off you would go either home or to the Army or Marines. The local boards used to select the men by some means of random selection. You will have to do more research on that. The Lottery system began in 68 or 69 ( around that time) and they would pick you by pulling dates out of a drum. If you B day was the 1st, you would be in the first group called up. My number for 1973 was 20. How far they went into the numbers depended on how many men were requested. The old system had holes allowing the local boards to overlook certain young men. It's random now (if it should happen)!

During the Viet Nam war around 9.5 million  people were in the miltary. 2.6 million set foot inside Viet Nam. 1.7 million were drafted with 650000 actualy being sent to Viet Nam. That group did have the highest causulty rate of 25% (17,000). I have 2 neighbors, one a volunteer that was with the 173rd Airborne arriving in country May 1965. They were the second combat brigade, the Marines 9th MEB being the first. The other was drafted in 1970 and was a Recreational Services guy in Germany, the point is that the great bulk of guys in combat were volunteers, not draftee's

Age and a lack of deferment was the only factor.

SSG US Army 73-82