I only had one close call. I was called up during the Cuban "missile crisis" in 1962. I remember it well as I was required to drive 100 miles north to South Bend, in order to catch a bus from the draft bureau office to ride a bus 140 miles south to Indianapolis, to stand in line all day in my underwear briefs. Then I had to ride that bus back to South Bend, in order to drive my car back south, arriving at my frat house after midnight with a physics mid-term the next morning at 8 a.m. Do you think my draft board would allow me to just drive directly to the physical facility? NO! Do you think my physics prof would let me take the "make-up" instead? NO! He said I should have been prepared two days before the test! I wasn't and got a "D" that helped to remove me from the pre-med program within a year as I had lost my "B" average (and full ride scholarship) that was the minimum required by medical schools then. I transferred to the U. of Houston School of Architecture! So that draft physical contributed to a life-changing event for me.

I remember I scored high on all of the tests and in an interview, an officer told me that since I was pre-med, not to worry in case of war as they would wait and "get me" when I had finished med school as I would be much more valuable to the military then! But by 1966, when they did begin drafting for Vietnam, I was over 26 and "too old" to be of service!