For reserves anyway a friend was an engineer for Alcoa. We had professional salesman, chemist, a baker, etc. 90% were 21 and college grads in our company. Maybe there were work deferment like in ww2 but I never knew of any. But then they wouldn’t have been in. This was 1970 to 76. My mom knew the lady in charge of the local draft board and never mentioned anything outside of a student deferment or of course physical unfitness. Never anything involving work including defense work for fmc. At our home unit we had all kinds including farmers, teachers, a couple lawyers, etc. I guess it was up to th3 local draft board. I wasn’t home a week after college and had my draft notice so they wasted no time. Quotas to meet before we sleep. 
I graduated high school in 1970 and we had a draft that year. My number was 96 and they called up to 106 IIRC. I had the only surviving son exemption and wasn’t required to go. All the other engineers were my age or at least 3 years older. The older guys were the ones with the job exemption.
I was somewhere in New England on an Interstate behind a giant motorhome. The differential on the rear axle was glowing red. I figured they had their brake on. They pulled over, I followed, went up to them. They had rented the thing for a vacation, never driven one before, wondered why it was so slow. I asked about the emergency brake – oops! What with the mayhem on the roads today I’d just drive on by. This was late '70s, so no cell phones.
A friend’s son, served as a Marine in Iraq in the 2010s, mustered out at Lejeune and drove to San Diego with his new fianceé. He rented a trailer, loaded 3,000 pounds of cement he bought at Home Depot, drove to SD, returned it to an HD there.
The difference was the war, not the people.
My number in 1970 was 5. No question of my future and I was the only son. All reserve units were full but they had a pretty good turnover July first at the local unit so squeaked in. In June I actually took two identical physicals within a week during June. One for reserves and one for the draft. They said whoever gets there first gets me. My room mate was 200 and some. My bil was number 1 but was deaf in one ear so excluded. Fun times. Our unit actually had orders to activate and we’re getting ready but Nixon cancelled them. I actually don’t regret the experience but career wise with active duty looming, everyone said come back when you get home. We just laughed at the instructors that said job prospects would be great as a teletype repair person. Water over the dam.
I am not entirely sure why your son’s friend hauled the cement from San Diego to SD (South Dakota?). It sounds like he was trying to put one over on the government by shipping items not part of his Household Goods. Below is a topic I Posted almost two-years ago that the military does not take kindly to this type of fraud…
I lived those times and I was a hippy, I had long hair, I wore bell-bottoms, I did drugs, and I attended two wild, drug strummed concerts, one Strawberry Fields Festival at Mosport Park, North of Torento, Canada, and the second one in Powder Ridge, Connecticut. That one was wild, it got shut down after one day and the State Troopers come in on Horseback and tried to chase the folks out. It did not work, but it stopped the music… I lived outside Albany, New York then and the next big concert was suppose to be Woodstock, but the authorities threatened to shut it down too. So we did not bother to go…
So, I know that culture, they were “my people…” and it was best be described as “Counter-culture…” “Make Love, Not War, Don’t Bogart that Joint, Groovy, Far-out, Out-of-sight, and I Kept-on-Truckin’…”
But my “other people”, my family, all immigrants, all naturalized citizens, held a special love to America, all had served, and I felt I had to also, so I did…
It seems that those that appreciate this country the most are those that were not born here. I listened to the house presentation of Victoria Spartz, born in Russia now a representative. Her presentation was quite compelling to listen to and her concerns of current similarities to Russia.
Nuff said but worth the listen. Back to car problems. I don’t have any.
Depends on the type of engineering. I was in Nam with a couple EE engineers. Both enlisted and drafted in late 60’s.
This looks like my father’s situation during WWII. The army drafted him and he didn’t like that at all and enlisted in the Navy.
Just drive defensively and stay away from the sociopath drivers. There are always more of them and some will bait you and deliberately try to cause accidents.
I’ve heard proposals for a public service draft which only applies to those not born in the USA & new immigrants. Makes sense imo, a way to give new immigrants a shared American experience, an education on how to match up in society with the natives, helping avoid the sort of culture clashes which seem to be currently in progress.
Except the folks that don’t appreciate what we have are the ones born here and take it for granted. Those that have lived under other systems already appreciate what is here. Imho.
Lejeune is in North Carolina. He moved to SD, San Diego, with his fianceé from there. I assume he got the Navy to pay his moving expenses. His father told me the story. If it had been my son, I would have kept it quiet; I guess his father thought it a clever thing to do.
Fighting in an unjust war is a disservice to the country.
Uh oh, the ‘cabal’ appears.
@cdaquila - help!
Well gee it was D day today. You missed the above post though.
Totally forgot, thanks for reminding. Did you ever see the movie “Eye of the Needle”? Pretty good plot and acting, and while fictional, closely related to D Day intrigue.
Yeah and read the book and had the cassette version.