It was fall of 1970.  I was a junior in college, and by that time I had had the pleasure of getting to know several Vietnam War veterans who returned from Southeast Asia because of nonfatal injuries.  It seemed as though several of them were in every class that I had, and they didn't mind talking with us about the war. Although the war had been creating unrest on college campuses across the nation for some time, things intensified in May 1970 when several Kent State University students were shot and killed by members of the National Guard.  In the wake of that horrific incident, the U.S. government moved to abolish the draft and replace it with a lottery.  It was a simple process.  Each day of the year was drawn out of a hat, so to speak, and given a number.  The first date drawn was number 1, and so on.  Your lottery number was the number of your birthday.  Thanks to the lottery, young men would be called up for duty starting with number 1...(Read Full Post)