I was at a Missouri basketball game when, at halftime, they announced the dates/numbers for the first drawing.

I was married and had graduated that spring and immediately started that summer on my MBA. Like many others, I had put my name on the waiting list at National Guard units in Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis. When the dates were announced, those with high draft numbers dropped off the waiting lists when they were called to join. My number was borderline, so when I was called I signed up at the unit in Columbia. I got to finish that fall semester and went to basic training in February at Fort Campbell, KY. I then did AIT as an artillery surveyor at Fort Sill, OK.

I finished my MBA in the summer of 1971 and took a teaching job at Southeast Missouri State College (now University) starting that fall. Rather than drive back and forth from Cape Girardeau to Columbia once each month, I transferred to the National Guard unit in Cape G. At the end of my six years I reupped but resigned (as a Spec 5) after another year.