Vietnam War draft

The United States ran a draft, a system of conscription, during the late 1950s and early 1960s, the peacetime years before the Vietnam War. It was administered by the Selective Service System. But the number of men actually drafted each year was modest. There were enough volunteers to meet most of the personnel needs of the military. In the second half of 1965, with American troops pouring into Vietnam, there was a substantial expansion of the US armed forces, and this required a dramatic increase in the number of men drafted each month. But the number of men drafted each month remained far below the number who potentially could have been drafted, the number of young men of draftable age who were considered adequately fit, physically and mentally, for military service.