In the summer of 1965, when I turned 18, I went to the draft board in Manhasset and registered. I registered for noncombatant duty, which meant being a medic or an orderly. From 1965 to 1970, when I got out of college, a lot had happened in Vietnam.

It seemed to me that the United States had no decisive plan for Vietnam. The United States used tactics like Operation Ranch Hand — using Agent Orange to kill all vegetation — and Operation Rolling Thunder, to carpet-bomb huge swaths of land with incendiary napalm. These operations did not take into account the lives of innocent civilians.

Finally, there was the 1968 My Lai massacre, in which Lt. William Calley ordered his men to kill women and children. The only reason we even know about My Lai is that it was seen by Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jr., a U.S. pilot who landed his helicopter in the line of fire, preventing further killing, and reported it.

A lot of young men my age were happy to serve in Vietnam. Many were the sons of men who had saved the world from fascism in World War II. The U.S. military had not won in Korea in the war against communism, and maybe there was a need to prove that we could defeat communism.

In the years leading up to 1970, conservatives blamed numerous boogeymen for the dismal performance in Vietnam, including Jane Fonda and so many other protesters, villainized as a significant cause for the loss.

I was in the first selective service lottery in 1969. My number was 222, and I knew there was a chance I would be called.

I had a hearing in February 1970 regarding my request for noncombatant duty and was given a draft status of 1-A-O, eligible for noncombatant duty.

I was called for a physical at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn in March and was told that I could expect a letter in the next several months. The letter never came; my lottery number was just a few numbers above the highest number called.

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