I started college in 1963 (age 18) at SUNY Stony Brook New York and continued for 5 semesters before joining the Marine Corps. I expected to serve 2 years then return and complete my engineering degree. We all knew that service of some kind was bound to occur sooner or later.
After 4 years enlisted and completing college at Kansas Univ. I was commissioned in the Marine Corps and ended up finally in Pensacola Naval flight school where the point of this story happens.The Navy (and Marines) like to believe that the most highly motivated officers in our country volunteer to fly and land on carriers. The "Elite" they believe. Well our class instructor one day took a poll of the 32 flight officers training to fly. Results were surprising: 29 of the 32 were there because of the presence of the DRAFT.