I don't understand your post. As I recall it, the lottery was posted each Dec. for the following year. When did Kerry graduate? His student deferment would have been up at that point and he would have been facing the draft according to his lottery number.
And you had to make the choice pretty quick if you wanted to avoid being drafted. If you got called up for your physical, you could no longer vounteer for officer's schools. When did he volunteer?
This has nothing to do with Cambodia.
the first draft lottery was in dec 1969 before that no lottery..before the lottery everyone had no idea if they would be drafted or not, but could assume so if they ended their deferments..dropping out of school usually meant "reporting for duty" ....also deferments changed due to its unfairness...take a look at the movie Big Wednesday, its a surf movie but has some very realistic scenes about the era..