I was sitting in a dorm room at Georgia with 4 or 5 other resident friends, drinking beer and listening to the live draft on the radio. There was a lot of tension in the room as your number had a huge impact on your immediate future and the choices you faced. A low number could mean deciding to quit school early and join the military (with a few more options than being drafted), or moving to Canada, or going to jail for refusing military service, or trying to convince the shrinks that you were crazy enough to be more of a danger than the war itself.
One of my friends in the room let out a groan when his birthday was drawn first. He dropped out of school and joined the Coast Guard believing that to be a safer choice than the Army. One by one, the birthdays of everyone in the room were drawn from the bowl of destiny except mine. As the numbers drawn went over 350 I began to get very nervous as I feared my number was probably drawn earlier and I did not hear them announce it.
When the announcer said the last birth date (number 366) was June 8th, a tremendous sigh of relief and joy made me feel like the luckiest guy alive as I now controlled my near future again. I was thankful to have had the pressure removed so I could go on to get my degree and pursue a career in the musice business.