Making it into the last-to-be-called third of the 366 dates, albeit literally just barely, was a huge relief for me and my girlfriend (now my wife of 35 years), and it allowed me to stop worrying about contingency plans.

During the Iraq war, my wife and I have been reliving the conscription nightmare a bit, since our sons are now 24 and 20 years old. Fortunately, most politicians seem to realize that advocating reinstatement of the draft is a career killer.