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July 1 has come and gone, and for many of us, the 50th anniversary of something we grew up with and knew as a fact of life: that letter that started with “Greetings”.<\/span>[\/caption]<\/p>\n Yes, the draft.<\/p>\n The draft was a fact of life in those ancient times – its existence was a constant in our awareness. It could help determine your choice of employment, marital status, education – it was not just the draft, its influence was outsized and pervasive.<\/p>\n “The last man inducted entered the U.S. Army on June 30, 1973 during the last draft conducted,” the Selective Service System said on its website.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Most draftees were out of the military by ’75 – typically being drafted meant you did minimum 2 years of active duty and a further 4 years in the inactive Reserves if I recall correctly. There were still quite a few former draftees in service after ’75, folks who had extended, re-upped, or whatever – but by and large we were all-volunteer by then.<\/p>\n Some said draftees were useless – they didn’t want to be there, they wouldn’t work, etc. Many others said they were often good troops – especially when they found out how much of the service could be a sh*t sandwich for dirtballs, they kept their heads down and tried to do their jobs well enough to be out after 24 months as smoothly as possible. My guess was that they covered the same spectrum as normal volunteers – mostly good kids, some exceptional, some exceptionally bad.<\/p>\n Nowadays – we have the all volunteer force.<\/p>\n The Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines all missed or barely scraped by to meet their recruiting goals last year.<\/p>\n Officials have pointed to numerous factors that have contributed to the shortfalls, including that the U.S. has seen some of its lowest unemployment rates in more than 50 years. Additionally, the Pentagon has released studies showing that only 23% of American youth are eligible to serve due to being overweight, using drugs or having mental and physical health problems.<\/p>\n