Читать книгу Racing Toward Recovery. The Extraordinary Story of Alaska Musher Mike Williams Sr. онлайн

63 страница из 77

I had picked out the Oregon College of Education to attend college and I was being awarded a small football scholarship, too, with plans to enroll in school in the fall of 1972. I was spending the summer fishing in Hydaburg in Southeast with some friends when the notice came to my home that I was being drafted into the United States Army.

In 1970, the government changed the draft to a lottery system based on your birthday. It was a random drawing that listed when you might be called to serve with numbers 1 through 365, for each day of the year. They did this for a few years and then dropped the lottery altogether. In 1972 I was one of the last draftees into the army.

I had to report in August. I had my physical done in Anchorage. I should have tried to get a deferment because of college, but I did not do that. I thought I would serve my time and then take advantage of the GI Bill to go to school. So I decided to follow through with the draft and report. They sent me to Fort Ord, California, for my basic training.